How Reading the Bible Led to Reading Literature

After twenty-some years of studying literature it is only recently I started to study hermeneutics, which is the subject of interpreting texts, specifically the Bible. It is only in the last five years that I started to read Christian texts beside the Bible, (except C. S. Lewis’s writings for the love of the author, not for commentary on Scripture). I was content to read the Bible devotionally, that is, for personal edification and application. It was something to read, re-read, and meditate on. I still read it devotionally, as think it is fundamental to relationships with God, the Church, and the world. But I had not really studied Scripture; that is, looking at information about authorship, historical/cultural context, the English translations, etc. It is strange that I had done this kind of study of literature, but did not apply it to the Bible. What prompted the change was readings about integrating Christianity and non-ministerial professions, and books on Christian approaches to literature. These readings helped me to see the separation of the sacred and the secular interests was not so necessary nor so wise.

I graduated from college in 2004, a non-traditional graduate at age thirty-seven, (I’ve always been a little late to pick things up), with a Bachelor’s degree in English. I studied the subject for interest in it, for love of it. This actually stemmed with reading the Bible devotionally, starting at age nineteen. From reading the Bible devotionally I learned what could be learned from literature – wisdom. I did not treat all literature as a sacred text, but each text is someone’s knowledge, someone’s perspective, someone’s interpretation, and might be considered to represent the worldviews of others, views to which to relate Christ. Since wisdom does not refuse counsel, these other voices should be considered when making decisions, even if I disagree with the view.

My story is, in a way, the opposite of C. S. Lewis’s. Lewis was a student or teacher of literature, especially medieval literature, all his life. He was an atheist until age thirty-three. For some time he was well read in Christian texts, since the subject of medieval literature was commonly Christianity, and the perspective was that it was the truth. But Lewis did not see this truth himself. In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, Lewis writes of how reading of Norse mythology had given him glimpses of what Christianity entailed. He came to realize Christianity was the myth that is true (p. 235, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). For me, knowing how the text of the Bible could reveal much, not only about God, but about myself in relation to God, and what I consider to be God’s revelation of the desire to learn, I sought to read other works too. I believe this was God’s revelation – this desire to learn – because it was a turn-around. Through high school I read little; I could have been a good student but chose not to. Immediately after high school I certainly was not college bound. During the five years between high school and my eventual admission to college it was the study of the Bible that stirred the desire to read, to know more, to seek wisdom.