Reading made possible the intimate knowledge of the Bible thought necessary to salvation, which every Christian had both the capacity and the obligation to seek.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Minders of Make-Believe'

Although both believe that the Bible contains the core of all Christian faith and thought, traditionalists tend to talk about the tradition of the Church of England, tracing its routes back to the early church, while evangelicals support their view with specific passages from the Bible.

BBC: The groups threatening to split the Church

There is already speculation about whether he could be the man dubbed "Bible John", thought to be responsible for the deaths of three women in Glasgow in the late 1960s.

BBC: Peter Tobin's wife: 'I was raped and left for dead'