From “World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading” by Jeff Crosby
In the entry on the BIble in his “theological ABC” titled Wishful Thinking, Frederick Buechner offered some helpful, practical guidance that was important to me as I was becoming a more serious reader of Scripture. He suggested that at least when we are new to reading the Bible, we not start at the beginning and attempt to read straight through to the end. “If you do, you’re almost certain to bog down somewhere around the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus,” he writes. Instead, Buechner suggests what he calls the “high points” of the text, such as the Joseph stories in Genesis, the Job story, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), or Paul’s letter to the Romans, especially chapter seven. I would add reading the poetry of the Psalms and the wisdom of Proverbs.
Buechner also suggests having a good commentary with you as you approach your reading of the Bible to help illuminate the backgrounds and context. We are prone to read Scripture through the eyes of our own culture and experience, and commentaries, reference books, and other works can help us avoid misreading the text. Even though he was writing at a time prior to the explosion of modern translations and literary paraphrases like Eugene Peterson’s The Message, he encouraged the reading of a variety of versions.
The guidance Buechner offered me decades ago proved helpful and still resonates with me today, in large measure. Commentaries and Bible background reference books that aid us in our understanding of text are important. But other approaches to Scripture engagement have also shone a light on my path as the years have increased and as I’ve entered seasons that called for a reset.