C. S. Lewis started his lecture, “De Audiendis Poetis,” with the assertion that “there are more ways than one of reading old books.”  What Lewis said to be true of many works of medieval literature is also and ultimately true of the Bible.  Consider this short clip featuring author Eugene Peterson:

I remember talking to a student just last year about how I had hopes that of all the books she had read in school, the one we hoped she would read again and again would be the Bible.  She laughed and said that once would be enough for her.

Reading the Bible is an odd thing.  I know many Christians who, assuming they read it, don’t talk about it very often.  And yet many get up in arms either defending it or their particular view of its nature without giving any real sense of its significance in day-to-day life.  I get asked about the particulars of the Bible occasionally (it’s part of my job), but I’d much rather talk about the stories and letters than particular words or phrases or interpretations (though I have started talking Hebrew terms with my Old Testament class, if only to remind them that the text itself is ancient and its culture different from our own).

I am convinced that we are on the verge of a Bible-less Christianity here in 21st century America.  The more culture shifts, the less we know what to do with it, which really is a shame.  I can’t help but believe that God has an awful lot to say with it, if only we would read and listen.