Strong Caffeine for the Soul

Commenting on the conversation between the religious scholar and Jesus, Eugene H. Peterson notes that Jesus asks the scholar "How do you read?" [the text], not "What did you read?" Peterson continues,

"Why does the scholar ask for a definition? Clearly, because he needs to defend himself against responding to the text [love God, love your neighbor] personally. Defining "neighbor" depersonalizes the neighbor, turns him or her into an object, a thing over which he can take control, do with whatever he wants. But it also depersonalizes the scriptural text. He wants to talk about the text, treat the text as a thing, dissect it, analyze it, discuss it---endlessly. But Jesus won't play that game. The scholar has just quoted words of Holy Scripture that witness to the living word of God. They are words to be listened to, submitted to, obeyed, lived. So instead of inviting the scholar to join him in a Bible study of Deuteronomy and Leviticus under a nearby oak tree, Jesus tells him a story, one of his most famous, the Good Samaritan story, concluding, as he had begun with a question, "Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man...?" The scholar is impaled by the question: The words of Scripture can no longer be handled by means of definition, "who is my neighbor?" The text insists on participation, "will you be a neighbor?" Jesus insists on participation. Jesus dismisses the scholar with a command, "Go and do..." Live what you read. We read the Bible in order to live the word of God."
Eat This Book, 83-84.

Sadly, there is a way to read the Bible, even enjoy the Bible and yet not obey the One Whose Voice is the very life of Scripture. That's not how you read it.

Eat This Book by Eugene H. Peterson

Eat This Book.

"Or to put it in the terms in which we started out: It is possible to read the Bible from a number of different angles and for various purposes without dealing with God as God has revealed himself, without setting ourselves under the authority of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who is alive and present in everything we are and do.

"To put it bluntly, not evereyone who gets interested in the Bible and even gets excited about the Bible wants to get involved with God.

"But God is what the book is about."

Eugene Peterson is concerned that we have learned to read the Bible for intellectual (theological) stimulation, for moral guidance to the good life, and for personal inspiration and comfort--all of which are good things. Yet, each of these purposes falls woefully short of personally relating to the personal, relational, interactive and present living God.

I know people who really like the Bible: like to study it, like to debate it, and like to almightily defend it. Yet, all their biblical bluster is a way to not have to deal personally with the Living God and be personally changed into a more Christlike person. Christianity for them is an argument to be won or lost, not a relationship with the Triune God to be lovingly lived. Sad.

Eat This Book:A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading is the third volume in Eugene Peterson's series of books on Christian Spirituality. Eat This Book was preceded by Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places and The Jesus Way.


Correction: Eat This Book is actually the second volume in the series. The Jesus Way is the 3rd.