Bible Reading: Exercise or Encounter?

The discussion on Bible reading continues at Christians in Context. A reader shares that he thinks of Bible reading in terms of exercise, particularly jogging. His point, I think, is that Bible reading may involve delayed satisfaction, but it's genuine satisfaction, nonetheless.

Totally valid. I was struck, though by the reader's metaphor of jogging, since it's it’s essentially a solitary activity.

I’m not faulting the reader, since most of us feel the same way about reading the Bible, but maybe it’s problematic that we often think of Bible reading as a solitary activity.

I’m reminded of Andrew’s earlier comments about prevailing acquisitive, consumerist attitudes. It’s not only that we want instant gratification, it’s also that we approach the Bible as yet another source of information for our consumption, like Wikipedia or US Magazine.

It would be better, I think, if our metaphors for reading were more relational. For example, maybe Bible reading should be more akin to catching up with one’s spouse after work, rather than jogging.

We can’t change metaphors or thinking patterns by fiat. Our attitudes need to change for our metaphors to change. But I think attempts to rethink Bible reading in relation terms, as an “encounter” rather than an “activity” or “exercise”, would be fruitful.

Reading vs. Hearing

Andrew Faris has a great post about the aridity he feels in reading the Bible:

... most times I don't feel anything when I read my Bible. Nothing seems to change. I still fight my same old battles with lust, pride, selfishness, a foul mouth, and so on. "This is the Word of God," I tell myself, "so why don't I notice it doing its work in my life?" Why doesn't anything really happen when I read my Bible?

Honest stuff. Andrew goes on to consider the social pressures that shape our expectations, and briefly mentions the value of reading with 'godly' friends.

I think there's a lot to be said for and about reading the Bible with friends.

One of the curious scenes in Augustine's Confessions involves Ambrose reading in silence; Augustine mentions that he'd never seen that before. You and I, of course, wouldn't think anything of it, but in the 4th century, silent reading was a big deal. Books were ordinarily read aloud, often by servants.

I think listening to somebody else read a book can help preserve the 'otherness' of a text.

"And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Can't "they" just read it for themselves? Apparently, not.

For those of us firmly in the digital age, I think small, online Bible-study groups can play a similar role in simulating the preaching-hearing experience Paul describes above in passage from Romans 10.

It's not just that reading with other people increases our chances of discovering a new idea; I really think it alters our overall experience of texts, preserving their 'otherness', readying them to be encountered -- to be 'heard'.