Friday, May 05, 2006

Eat this Book


Bryan and I are reading Eat This Book, a new book by Eugene Peterson about the "art of spiritual reading." He uses the metaphor of eating to give meaning to his phrase "spiritual reading." To put it simply, Peterson is proclaiming that the Bible is a book to be "eaten" and acted out, rather than reduced to information. I am excited to see how to do that. Wow, what a concept- living out what we read in scripture! Here is a quote that speaks to the smorgasboard, do it yourself evangelical church we live with today:
We don't form our personal spiritual lives out of a random assemblage of favorite texts in combination with individual circumstances; we are formed by the Holy Spirit in accordance with the text of the Holy Scripture"
( Peterson, Eat This Book, p. 15).

How often do we all do this- wrestle control from the author of our faith and take creative license with the life he has given us?

1 comment:

Matt and Missy Kamps said...

What is a better way to put it than "creative license"? I don't like to make a phrase like that negative, as it somehow takes away from our personality in this life. I suppose it is still the work of the author.