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19 – One book at a time
IT’S the easiest thing in the world to start reading a book or a magazine, but then get diverted part way through and leave it unfinished. That might have become your standard approach, if you are preparing an address or doing some personal Bible study. Perhaps you just look up a particular point, in a book or on the Internet, and then move on to something else. Some people eat like that as well: raiding the fridge when they’re peckish and never sitting down to a proper meal.
Balanced diet
It would be a strange way of reading a detective book or a thriller, just to dip in here and there. Imagine reading the end first, finding out who did it, then working backwards to see just how the author contrived the plot and built up the suspense. That would have some merit if you wanted to try writing the same thing yourself; but it is not how the book should be read. God’s word is the finest work ever written and it deserves our full and undivided attention. We would deplore anyone who suggested that you should only read those parts that take your fancy, and leave the rest alone. We believe in reading the whole Bible all year long, not dipping in here and there. But how can we get a better understanding of its message and come to terms, year by year, with the background to various parts, the meaning of particular passages, and the unifying themes that bind the sixty-six books together?
Here’s an idea which might improve your spiritual digestion, without overloading it. Decide on a short Bible book that you find difficult: something like Joel or Colossians; then track down a Christadelphian book that has been written to help you understand it. Read that book right through. By picking a short book, you won’t have made life too hard for yourself. The available books on Joel, for example, comprise thirty-four and eighty-six pages respectively. Or, if you just wanted to read the twenty-two pages in Brother Fred Pearce’s From Hosea to Zephaniah (1979), you would have made a promising start. Brother Tom Barling’s Letter to the Colossians (1972) is a bit longer, at 189 pages, the first fifty pages being an introduction to the letter; all of it written in an easy and elegant style by a brother who has made a lifelong study of the Apostle Paul. This month’s Appendix details Christadelphian writings on different Bible books, many of which would be suitable for this way of reading a book at a time.
Remember, remember …
There is a real advantage to be gained from reading the whole book, rather than just homing in on the comments on a particular passage. First, you get the full benefit of the author’s insight, including knowledge of the background and circumstances. Second, by taking time to absorb the whole thing you stand a better chance of being able to remember what you have read and where you read it.
Of course there are other ways of getting things to stick in your mind:
- You can write comments in the margin of your Bible, with the author and page number attached. For example, alongside Colossians 1:17 you might find yourself writing “Christ an integrating and cohesive force (Barling 87)”.
- You might decide to draw a light pencil line alongside a significant passage in the book. (Try to avoid using fluorescent markers or coloured pencils, which spoil the book for future readers.)
- Really interesting points can be indexed in blank pages at the back of the book, with the appropriate page number. For example, if you wanted to find the comment mentioned earlier, you might pencil in: “Christ integrating and cohesive 87.” Brother C. C. Walker was a very keen indexer and underliner (in ink). If you see a book advertised in the second-hand section “Ex CCW”, expect to find it annotated with his comments, including his disagreements. Sometimes they make entertaining reading.
- Try summarising the main themes of the book when you have finished it. This is a tip suggested by Brother Alfred Norris in Preaching the Word, and he gives some examples. It’s a wonderful discipline to ensure that you followed the writer’s main ideas, but do the summary soon, otherwise the next book you read will already be preoccupying you.
- To ensure that you finish the book (unless it is so awful you have to abandon it!) try the discipline of jotting down the titles of those books you have read year-by-year, and compare how you are doing as the years pass. But bear this in mind: as your understanding improves there is every chance that you will get even more benefit from books that you have already read once. Be prepared to pull them out of the bookcase and re-read them (or scan the passages you identified as especially helpful).
It was wise King Solomon who once said: “Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh” (Ecclesiastes 12:12), but it seems he was an old man at the time. His recommendation was that we should use our youthful energy to the full in seeking after those things and thoughts that really matter.
