The idea that struck me most in this chapter was that of Cosby’s example of reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy to his son. He explains it out, that they read through the series from beginning to end, without skipping sections or personally deciding what was happening, but through careful analysis of the story, pieced together what was going on. Obviously this is the way that a book or, in particular, a series of books should be read.
However, when he mentions that the Bible should be approached in the same way, it made me stop and think. Somehow I suppose I’ve always thought that the Bible was in a category all it’s own as far as acceptable reading styles goes. After all, my whole life I’ve been going to church and been told by the pastor which random passage we will be discussing. It seemed natural to skip around and only read what you feel is relevant at the moment, aimlessly wondering the Bible’s thousands of verses in looking for what you felt like reading that day. Yet, when presented in the context of Lord of the Rings, it seems absurd that anyone would randomly flip open books and only read certain sections or chapters – how ridiculous, how would you have any idea what’s going on?
I have, especially recently, been increasingly careful of context when I read my Bible in that haphazard manner. If I find a verse that I like because I believe it says one thing, I always try to read above and below it in order to better understand what the author was actually trying to say instead of accepting my face- value interpretation. I think that this is definitely a step in the right direction and better than how I used to approach the Bible, but I still feel that it leaves something to be desired in terms of ensuring what is truly being said. Along with the striking example of not reading random sections of contemporary books, Cosby’s explanation of how easy it is to misunderstand passages because the author assumes things are implied and obvious likewise made me stop and think. I feel as though I’ve known my whole life that the Bible must be approached in light of the times it was written, yet I still feel as though I lack an understanding of what that truly means. Somehow, as a good little Christian who has been hearing these stories my whole life, I guess I assumed that I had it all figured out.
Caroline's Encounters 