Enjoying the Bible. Matthew Mullins. 2021. 224 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence from the introduction: When was the last time you visited your local bookstore or logged in online and bought a book of poetry? When was the last time you read a poem, whether because you wanted to or because you had to? Can you name a single poet you didn’t learn about in school? Regardless of where you live or where you are from, if you are anything like 93.3 percent of Americans, then the respective answers to these questions may very well be these: Never, I can’t recall, and No.
Enjoying the Bible is not the book I expected--for better or worse. I'll do my best to describe exactly what the book is like so that you can make an informed decision on if you want to read it or skip it.
I'll start with the author's stated goal: "In short, this book is about the pleasure of understanding. First, I mean that understanding what we read can be pleasurable. But second, I mean that, sometimes, you must take pleasure in something in order to understand it. The basic argument of this book is that much of the Bible is written to be enjoyed. The implication is that if reading the Bible does not enact pleasure in you, then you may not understand what you have read."
He goes on to say that the book has two purposes (that relate to the main stated goal): "Therefore, this book has two purposes. First, it seeks to change the way we think about the Bible itself as a text, to expand our sense of it from instruction manual to work of literary art. Second, it attempts to teach us how to read the Bible as a work of literary art. These purposes presuppose a radical assumption: that understanding what we read is not merely an intellectual exercise, and so we need more than our brains to understand the Bible."
He argues that most people who read the Bible see it mainly or exclusively as an instruction manual. Most who read it take as much pleasure in reading the Bible as they would any instruction manual--that is very little if any. He supposes that these readers feel that the Bible is not something to be delighted in, enjoyed, treasured, feasted upon, relished. The Bible is something that you read for tips, guidelines, instructions, applications.
He spends the majority of the book urging readers to change their perspective and approach. Throw out the notion (mainly) that the Bible is an instructional manual. Embrace the notion that the Bible is literature and that it is literary. Adopt a whole new way--a way that sees the Bible mainly as literary literature--to spend time in the Word.
This is without a doubt where he spends the most time--unpacking, rearranging, repacking, reshaping what words like "meaning" and "understanding" mean. It can be a bit all over the place. If you hold all his views and opinions at once--presupposing them all to be equally true--then your mind might start spinning and you might have to reboot.
For example, he insists that no literary text has a single central meaning. The very literariness of the literary text make room for a spectrum of meanings. He argues that the number of meanings is not limitless however. There is a spectrum. Readers use their experiences, imagination, feelings, and emotions in response to the words on the page. The words on the page will exclude certain renderings--but can never be reduced to one single, central, absolute, abstract meaning.
He is all about MEANING and UNDERSTANDING and how these two terms relate to each other and to the reader's practical experiences. Because readers (who see the Bible as an instruction manual) are essentially learning how to reread from the very beginning (do, re, mi) and throwing out (mostly) everything that they think they know about how to understand what they read, he becomes teacher. And since he's a teacher in real life--teaching AMERICAN POETRY--this is where he turns.
For better or worse, right or wrong, Mullins seems determined to tie one's ability to read poetry-poetry to one's ability to read the Bible...and enjoy it. If you don't learn how to read, how to understand, how to appreciate, how to enjoy POETRY poetry, then you will never learn how to rightly read and enjoy the Bible. (I personally do not buy into this notion...at all...not even a little bit.)
So he spends his time doing two things--giving readers examples from American poetry (well, mostly poetry, there is one short story). He will present a poem. Introduce the poem. Invite you to read and reread the poem. Walk you through exercises on how to understand and enjoy the poem. Present the poem again. Keep talking about the poem. Arrive at a conclusion about how this illustrate his reworked definition of meaning and understanding. That's one aspect of the book. But he also presents two possibly three passages of Scripture. Psalm 23. And a snippet of Psalm 119. Same thing he will coach you through step by step by step on how you "should" be approaching the text to arrive at a reworked meaning and understanding of the text. Remember no literary text can have a central meaning.
At the core of this reasoning seems to be the logic: you can never arrive at a meaning until you understand the text; you can never understand the text until you have experienced the text; you cannot experience a text until you've reacted emotionally to the text. Therefore meaning = words on the page + emotions and feelings. For example, if you read Psalm 23 and fail to FEEL comforted, reassured, loved, cherished, valued--etc., then you haven't understood it and you don't know what it means. If you read Psalm 119:105 and fail to feel an increased longing for the Word of God and a desire for more of the Word, then you've failed to understand the text and don't know what it means.
He argues that the Bible is literature and a work of art. "Works of literature are what they say, whereas nonliterary works mean what they say." and "Literary texts mean by creating a world in which we must imagine ourselves." and "We need emotion to understand literature. Thus, to ask what a literary text means is always to ask what kinds of emotions it evokes. But my main point here is that to understand literature we must do more than identify or acknowledge these emotions. We must feel them." and "What we need to make peace with is the fact that the experience of reading is, itself, the meaning of the poem." and "The meaning is a negotiation between you and the poem, and the materials you have to work with (the poem itself and what you bring to it) are the parameters of the meaning."
He does have opinions and advice on how to read and how not to read the Bible.
When you want to read the Bible, don’t try to “extract” anything from the experience. By this I mean don’t open the book looking for a truth. Try this first with a story or poem. Imagine yourself in the world of the story. Maybe you’re an Israelite who’s just heard that the leaders are summoning the ark of the Lord to the battlefield. How do you feel? Does it give you hope, lift your spirits? Now what happens after you barely survive the ensuing fight while your friends are killed and the ark is stolen by the enemy? How do you react? Imagine learning that while the ark didn’t seem to work for you, it’s been rumored that the Philistines’ gods are falling down before it. What’s up with that? Are you confused? Encouraged? Fearful? Immerse yourself in the story. Don’t ask, To what end? or For what purpose? Read the Bible as you would anything else designed to capture your imagination.
and
To read the Bible well, slow down. Is there any reason you have to read an entire testament, book, chapter, passage, or even verse today? Why are you in such a hurry?
and
What we’re aiming for when we eat is the same thing we should be aiming for when we read the Scriptures: delight. When you eat well, you’re in a better position to train. But the relationship goes both ways; when you train hard, you’ll find yourself hungrier. You need both if you’re going to grow spiritually and learn to love God’s Word.
and
Our hearts must be inflamed, captured, taken by a vision; they must be appealed to differently than our heads. They must be trained and habituated over time so that in moments of intellectual storm we have a trustworthy anchor. While we might normally think of our hearts as less stable than our minds, it’s much easier to change our ideas than it is to change our desires.
and
Do you read, watch, and listen to the Bible like it’s the very food that will constitute your being? There should be evidence of the Scriptures in our breath, in our stride, in our body language toward one another, in the way we listen to and embrace each other. We need to read as if our very lives depend on it, even as our bodies rely on food. Read the Bible like you eat: to live. Practically, this means we must read it every day, we must read it at regular times, we must read it for both meals and snacks, we must read it because we have to and because it gives us pleasure, we must read it well.
and
If you can learn to read a poem like you experience a painting, you’ll be well on your way to cultivating a different set of expectations that you can then bring to the Bible.
and
The approach we’re beginning to develop attempts to let the text drive our reading. But by letting the text itself drive your observations and questions, you are not simply allowing it to speak for itself. In fact, I have emphasized the role of noticing what you notice and asking the questions that come from your observations to help us see that there are two horizons shaping your reading of the text at this stage: the horizon of the text and your own horizon. By “horizon” here, I mean perspective or point of view. The text is what it is, but you’re always reading it from your perspective. Right reading is not a matter of overcoming, or setting aside, your own perspective in favor of that of the text at hand. Right reading is a matter of bringing those two horizons into relation with one another.
I have very mixed feelings on Mullins' book. I do. I am bothered by one major thing he leaves out completely. That ONE essential thing is this: the Bible is a spiritual book and to understand--truly understand--the Bible one must be filled with the Holy Spirit. You must have spiritual eyes to find true meaning and understanding. Without the Spirit, the Words may be the very Word of God but they will never be more than words on the page. One cannot have a right understanding of Scripture without the Spirit. The Spirit is both AUTHOR and TEACHER and GUIDE and COUNSELOR. One's emotions, feelings, and experiences cannot guide one to a right reading, a right meaning unless one is filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit, walking with the Spirit, abiding and growing in the Spirit. Then again, according to Mullins, because of the literariness of the Bible, there can be no central, singular meanings of a particular passage or text.
The next thing that concerns me is this notion that one absolutely MUST come to an appreciation of poetry BEFORE one can rightly come to the Bible and enjoy the Bible. I think HIS horizons as a poetry teacher are limiting his reality! One does not need to appreciate ANY poet or ANY poetry--from any century--in order to ENJOY THE BIBLE.
So where does ENJOYMENT OF THE BIBLE come from if not born out of a love of literature a love of poetry? I think it is the outworking of the Holy Spirit and/or the result of PRAYER. We develop an appetite for the Word of God when we feast on it. Feasting leads to delight. Delight leads to feasting. There is a circle of NOURISHMENT and PLEASURE. I do think we can and should change our approach to reading the Bible. I think we should a) actually read it, b) actually read it daily, c) actually read enough each day that we are not STARVING and lacking nutrients d) actually read enough so that we are satiated and satisfied, feel FED e) actually read it in such a way that OUR natural instincts of reading kicks in.
Reading the Word of God invites WONDER and AWE. It is such a gracious gift that God invites us to know him, to know HIM as HE HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO US. It is such a gracious and loving act of worship to spend time READING THE VERY WORD OF GOD. There is nothing routine or mundane about it.
I also took issue with him for this insistence in SLOWING DOWN. I am not on team rush, rush, rush, speed. I am not on team snail's pace. I think if one wants to take PLEASURE in reading and build up an appetite, it's going to take more than SLOWLY reading a verse or two a day. Can you imagine taking a year to go through the gospel of Matthew because you are only reading two or three verses a day? And some days not even that? How would you ever CONNECT to the text and fall in love with the words on the page if one doesn't read at a NATURAL pace? It would be like taking A YEAR to watch a movie. Today we'll spend two to five minutes watching Fellowship of the Ring. We'll pick up tomorrow...or not.
That being said, it's not that I'm opposed to NATURALLY pausing when we're reading and saying WOW, I want to read that again...and again. THAT IS AMAZING. THAT IS TRULY SOMETHING. Some verses should strike us with AWE or HUMILITY or JOY or GRATITUDE. There should be natural moments when we want to say HALLELUJAH or AMEN or PRAISE THE LORD. I'm not opposed to these natural heart-felt moments of wonderment. OR even those natural pauses where we have questions. Where we want to slow down and ponder.
I do think the Bible cannot be reduced to being a literary work. It is so much more than that. Mullins knows it. He just wants to place the "rules" of literature onto the Bible. But what perspectives and theories rule over "meaning" and "understanding" in the world of literature cannot be cut and pasted into reading something SACRED and God-Breathed.
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