The Challenge of Reading
One of my New Testament Professors in seminary was asked to speak to what he believed was the biggest challenge facing the Church, and specifically the Protestant Church, today. Questions like these can be frustrating, as they tend to require alarmist answers that, in my opinion, reveal a lack of faith in the part of the one who asks and the one who answers the question. This time, the answer surprised me. His answer was not communism, secularism, or any other dubious “ism” that tend to frighten Christians, often with good reason. Nor was it the rise or fall of a political figure, party, or agenda. No, his answer was surprising in both its clarity and conviction: the Church’s greatest challenge now is, and will be even more so in the future, that its people are not reading.
Reading has always been, alongside prayer and public worship, one of the primary means God uses to work in and through his people. It was the reading and hearing of the Torah that shaped the worship of Israel. When the apostles handed down the teachings and deeds of Jesus Christ to those who would follow Him, they did so using the written word in the common tongue of the world at that time. Saint Augustine, in a time of trial as he wrestled with God, was instructed by a voice he heard to “take up and read” the book of Romans. Two of the greatest moments for the shaping of Protestant identity revolved around the close and careful reading of Romans. It was by wrestling with Romans that Martin Luther re-discovered and articulated in new and fresh ways the truth that God needs nothing but our full and active trust in His work on our behalf to save us. Likewise, Karl Barth re-reminded Christian believers that the only way to God is through God in Jesus Christ, and not through philosophy, psychology, or any other human way of thinking and living. These two examples only highlight how God works through one particular book in Scripture, and so much more could be said of God moving through the other sixty-five books of our Canon, as well as the countless classics that have shaped and been shaped by Christians.
I say all of this because I pray that Christ Church Anglican would be a reading congregation. We will begin a new series in adult education this summer about the creeds and confessions of the church through history, with a special emphasis on the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds. What a tremendous opportunity this summer may be to curl up (or lay out under a fan), with a powerful book about God and how He has worked in history. I want to conclude by offering a few suggestions for reading material this summer, a list which is by no means comprehensive or limiting to any of you. This particular list connects well with the content of the coming adult education series:
- Basic Christianity by John Stott
- Simply Christian by Tom Wright
- Documents of the Christian Church by Bettenson and Maunder
- Introduction to Christian Theology by Cornelius Plantinga
- One Faith by Thomas Oden and J.I. Packer
- Knowing God by J.I. Packer
These books are all available in our wonderful library (thanks to Karen Woods!) and can be checked out while they are still available. I would additionally like to mention a new devotional written by Tim Smith and available in the office, in which he shares meditations on his own life and God’s promises in Scripture. May God Bless You all in your reading, and in all you do, this summer.
Peace,
Matt Rucker