Reading Assignment May, Herbert G., Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Revised Standard Version. Oxford University Press, 1977. Gabel, John B., Charles B. Wheeler, and Anthony D. York.
Some standard reasons follow.
It is the revealed Word of God. It is a tissue of primitive laws, superstitions and folktales that some people unaccountably still believe in, and I want to understand something about how such benighted minds work. It is the book on which Judeo-Christian religion and morality are based, so I should know about it. It is a book that knowledgeable people seem to know about, so I should know about it, too. I keep seeing it quoted in the literature courses I take, so I should look into the source of all these allusions.