The Institute of Biblical Studies (IBS) is the only academic entity in Poland with such extensive teaching and research activities. Fifteen members of the Institute conduct scientific research in the spirit of the best traditions of Catholic biblical exegesis, both at home and abroad.

 

The IBS's teaching activities cover all faculties of the University, where introductory lectures on the study of Scripture are given. At the Faculty of Theology, lectures on the Old and New Testaments are offered to theology students in accordance with the general rules of the curriculum. Within the framework of the biblical specialization, the Institute runs an undergraduate-doctoral program with a wide range of lectures on biblical exegesis, the history of Old and New Testament times, and the philology of biblical languages. The latter component of the program is particularly developed, with courses in Biblical Hebrew and Greek preparing students for independent philological work with sacred texts. In addition, with a special emphasis on the philology of Semitic languages, students have the opportunity to study Aramaic, Syriac and Ugaritic.

 

A separate area of research includes targumic literature, the apocryphal literature of the Old Testament, texts from Qumran, and such important works of early Judaism as the Ethiopian book of Henoch, the book of Jubilees, and the Apocalypse of Abraham. As part of their scholarly research on the Old and New Testaments, the Institute's researchers are preparing a new series of commentaries on individual books of the Bible entitled "The New Bible Commentary."

 

Members of the Institute publish their scientific works both at home and abroad. The Institute publishes biblical journals with an exegetical profile - "Biblical Annals" and with a theological profile - "Verbum Vitae", as well as publishing series: "Materialy Pomocnicze do Wykładów z Biblistyki [Auxiliary Materials for Biblical Lectures]", "Studia Biblica Lubliniensia" and "Analecta Biblica Lubliniensia". On the initiative of the Institute's staff, "Biblical Work", a separate association, was established in Polish dioceses to promote biblical culture and knowledge at the level of the Church's pastoral activity.


In 2020, the staff of the Institute established the Association for the Support of Biblical Studies Verbum Sacrum.