Reading for the Love of God. Jessica Hooten Wilson. 2023. [March] 208 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: Imagine you are resting in a cave on an unpopulated Greek island.
I love the premise of this one--reading as a spiritual discipline, a spiritual practice. I love the idea of embracing reading as more than a hobby, more than a distraction. I love reading. I do--obviously I do. Always have, always will. I have three book review blogs. My love of reading is not in doubt. I went into this one expecting one kind of book and I got another kind of book. It just wasn't the perfectly perfect fit I imagined.
The book is definitely more academic, more scholarly, more "elevated" for lack of a better term. I felt the author was up in the clouds with her narrative--in other words, so much going zoom, zoom, zoom right over my head. The act of reading is not complicated. (Usually). So why does reading books about reading have to be so incredibly complicated??? I wanted the book to be conversational, written for the lay person, a fellow book lover that loves, loves, loves reading. I wanted to find a kindred spirit--not be lectured and judged and judged and lectured.
I did find myself agreeing in parts--at the very least--with some of what she was saying. In particular, I think reader response theory is a bit overrated. When that is the one and only way that is "acceptable" to approach READING, and reading in all aspects of life. It's one thing to have a light reader-response philosophy when it comes to reading say, poetry, or something. Quite another when it infests--manifests in???--your reading when it comes to say the Bible, or theological books. For decades this has been the primary theory being taught. And it's problematic...because then as a believer you have to say, well, when I read x, y, and z this is the way to do it...but when I switch over to this then I have to throw everything I know about reading out the window and approach this completely differently. And you *can* do that. Hopefully most realize that you should be approaching the Bible differently from any other text.
Just to backtrack a bit, reader response theory for those who don't know the term is something like this:
The author doesn't create the meaning. The text doesn't create the meaning. The meaning comes when I the reader read the text. I bring the meaning. It doesn't matter what the author meant when he/she wrote the text. It doesn't matter what the literal meaning of the words on the page mean literally. The text means what I *feel* it means. Without the reader there is no meaning. And since every single reader brings or potentially brings his/her own meaning to the text--there is no one "right" way to read the text. Everything is subjective. Not just I like this, I don't like that. Reactions can be--and often are--a hundred percent subjective. But meaning, well, meaning that's a different story.
I thought the book was not as clear as it could have been, should have been. I felt the author never clearly and emphatically defined exactly, precisely what she meant by her words--special vocabulary. She used specialized words throughout. And I was left trying to puzzle out my own definitions based on context, context, context. Which is a reading skill. Some words might have been helpful to go to an actual dictionary, but others I feel are too specialized to find help. For example, one of the things this book is about--learning to spiritually read, reading spiritually, approaching all reading as a spiritual practice. I don't know that any dictionary could help me puzzle out precisely what she was talking about. In most basic building-block terms--what do you mean exactly. She talks of finding truth and beauty in ALL types of books--even those with off-putting vulgarity. She talks of the importance of not hunting for moral lessons in reading, or over-hunting, I guess.
She also occasionally would say things that I found slightly worrisome. I don't want to assume that I know her intent as an author. I don't. And I don't want to assume that the meaning I took away from reading the text lines up with her intent. (I'm willing to admit the confusion may be more on my end than her end.) But when she said things like you have to learn to read other books so that you can read the Bible. I was stumped. I don't know if she means that at its most literal--you must learn to read Go, Dog, Go and Cat in the Hat before you can come to the Bible. Or if she has somehow elevated the Bible too much. I'll try to explain.
I believe the Bible is the Word of God. 100% I believe the Bible is accurate, authoritative, breathed-out and inspired, infallible, inerrant--all the things. But I also believe that the Bible is for everyone. The Bible is not "elitist" reserved for the highest intellects, the brilliant, genius scholars. EVERY person regardless of education level can read the Word of God and read it well. By read it well, I mean read it with spiritual eyes. It is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that enables readers to READ the Word of God in any meaningful way. Without the Holy Spirit indwelling the reader, without the new birth in which the Spirit gives spiritual eyes to see, spiritual ears to hear, spiritual heart to respond, then there is no reading of the Word. No matter how brilliant, how intellectual, how academic, how perfectly-perfect you understand grammar or language or original languages--without the Holy Spirit GIVING and graciously giving you understanding, it is all in vain.
The Bible is not a book for some--the super-smarty-pants--and too difficult, too complex, too weighty for the rest of us. Everything that is necessary for salvation is clearly illuminated--for believers--in the Bible.
Instead of making the Bible sound accessible and relatable and WONDERFUL it made it sound like you'd have to do a lot of groundwork to get to a place where maybe one day you could begin to grasp it. As if there is a final "it" to be grasped. The Bible is a book that GROWS with you--you never outgrow it, you never exhaust it, you never move beyond needing it. But it's a book for beginners too. From day one to the very end--the Bible is just what we need it to be.
Am I blowing up a few paragraphs and making a very minor thing major???? Probably. As I said, I don't know her intent. I don't. I wouldn't pretend to know what she meant.
I will leave on a very positive note. I love, love, love this quote:
The words of God should be like the song that you cannot get out of your head, the one that you find yourself humming without meaning to, the song that you thoughtlessly tap your feet to, and that echoes from your heart through your whole body.
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