The Spiritual Practice of Engaging Scripture
What we miss by reading for information only.
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An excerpt from a recent paper I submitted.
One of the most transformational practices I experienced was engaging the Bible in a formational way. Since Western culture is very logically driven, we tend to move towards gaining knowledge, creating measurable practices, and attempting to control things around us. When this is applied to Bible reading, it reflects a desire to intellectually understand the text, and in doing so we place restrictions on our own formational growth.
While I don’t disagree with this method of reading, it becomes problematic when it is the only way we engage or are taught to engage the text. This becomes even more pronounced when individuals are formed through a “plain reading” of Scripture - a fundamentally impossible task since no one in our current timeline has a full understanding of the ancient languages used to write the Bible. It’s further exacerbated in that even writing today can be misinterpreted based on the personal experience and bias of the reader. This naturally leads me to the question - What is the difference between reading informationally, and reading formationally?
Author and Professor of New Testament Theology M. Robert Mulholland Jr. (1936-2015) wrote a foundational book about this topic called Shaped by the Word. For him, informational reading is
the acquiring of knowledge, information, techniques, methods, and systems, rather than serving to change the quality of our being” (Mulholland 2023, 55).
Informationally reading the Bible means we want to read it quickly, from a linear framework of moving toward a goal, with the desire to master the text from an arm’s length perspective so that we may control or manipulate it for our own purposes through an analytical, critical, and judgmental position to solve a problem (Mulholland 2024, 56-57).
I believe, and have noticed, how informational reading leads to the desire for certainty. However, Bible Scholar Pete Enns shares in The Sin of Certainty,
if having faith means holding on to certainty, when certainty is under ‘attack,’ your only option as a good Christian is to go to war – even if it means killing your own (Enns 2016, 46).
This causes me to wonder how a church may move past the informational reading of Scripture that is tied to certainty to embrace the mystery of faith and trust through the process of spiritual formation. Perhaps even more concerning is whether they even desire to.
If we consider all the ways we read Scripture informationally I shared, reading formationally is in direct contrast to each one of them. This type of reading engages the relational aspects of ourselves, the world around us, and how God moves through it. It avoids reading for quantity and instead seeks depth from the text. Formational reading allows Scripture to master us because we become the object to be controlled through our posture of humility, receptivity, and an openness to mystery (Mulholland 2023, 60-65).
We do not attempt to “manipulate the scriptures to authenticate our ‘false self,’ [which is] all pervasive structures of self-referenced being” (Mulholland 2023, 26). Instead, we come to the Bible with curiosity, wondering what God will share with us through his Word, and sitting in the uncomfortable resistance where we seek to understand our own reaction or aversion to what God shared. This type of reading doesn’t want to find support for our ideologies but instead may cause our ideologies to break apart underneath us.
Mulholland (2023, 160-167) offers four separate techniques for reading scripture formationally - the meditative technique, the harmony-dissonance technique, the imagination technique, and the “if you were there” technique. However, since formational reading tends to engage smaller portions of text he wisely advises,
we should, in our reading of any portion of scripture, relate the dynamics of that particular icon to the larger scope of kairotic existence revealed through the whole scripture (Mulholland 2023, 158).
The purpose of formational reading is not to proof-text Scripture, manipulating it to say what you would like to hear. It means that you may become uncomfortable with what the text is saying to you. Formational reading may cause you to question what you thought you already knew.
The meditative technique for reading Scripture takes the portion of text and narrows the focus of it to a word or feature in the story that you reflect on. You may question why it is important to you, or what you would like to learn from it. Mulholland (2023, 160) suggests praying, “God, what are you saying to me here?” as you sit quietly and ponder in God’s presence. Meditating can be a difficult process because we naturally seek to be doing something, and in this instance, we are simply being with God through the Word.
The harmony-dissonance technique may be used for larger portions of the text and can be helpful when you are using a lectionary. As you read, pay attention to where you may feel agreement and disagreement with the text, and go back to those places when you are finished. A couple questions to consider are, is God pointing out a habit you may have in your life that you did not realize or is there an area that is crying out for healing (Mulholland 2023, 163)? In this way, the text reads you and not the other way around, since you are attempting to understand your reaction to what you have read.
The imaginative technique places you in the story so that you experience what it’s sharing through the five different senses. For example, when Jesus calls the first disciples you may smell the fish in the air, feel the heat of the sun, or notice the emotion of Peter who goes fishing after a long night. You may consider where you find yourself in the story, and why that is significant to your spiritual walk. Perhaps you ponder what you avoid, and what God is sharing with you through that realization. This method is also called gospel contemplation, and it opens us up to a whole new experience when we read the Bible.
Finally, the “if-you-were-there” technique, like the imaginative technique, places you in the story, allowing you to ponder what your reaction or emotions may have been. Using the previous example of Peter, would you be excited that Jesus is calling you or resigned to his command because it was a long night of fishing? We often, though inadvertently, read our emotions into the text. This method of reading Scripture allows us to become aware of the practice and ask ourselves why we may feel that way.
Each of these techniques are helpful ways to read the Bible, yet I did not experience them through sermons, small groups, or other church activities. Instead of participating in God’s Word I passively observed or tried to control it myself, and it showed in my spiritual formation. When I began entering the text I learned more about myself, and in return, I learned more about God.
Coincidentally, I now consider all these methods of reading the Bible as acts of prayer. Prayer is not limited to a specific time, stance, or activity – though it can be. However, instead I now believe that our whole life is an act of prayer.
Reference List:
Enns, Peter. The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our “Correct” Beliefs. New York: Harper Collins.
Mulholland, M. Robert Jr. 2024. Shaped By the Word: The Power of Scripture in Spiritual Formation. 40th Edition. Nashville: Upper Room.