The Feeling Intellect

Book excerpt: Christians of all backgrounds agree that the Bible is the unique sourcebook for our understanding and knowledge of God. Yet reading the Bible is often as neglected in believers' homes as amongst the skeptics. Moreover, there is much evidence that the Bible is as often misread in the modern church as we suppose it to have been widely misunderstood in the darkest days of Medieval superstition. It would be an enormous help to sit with a deeply learned scholar--one devoted to the historic Christian faith, who yet taught with the common touch--to help us mature in our reading of Scripture. Such tutorials might rekindle our desire to read the Bible more skillfully with the humble discipline of daily practice. C. S. Lewis has inspired a generation of readers, both skilled and beginner, to deepen their understanding and enjoyment of Scripture. Perhaps Lewis's unique contribution to reading Scripture is his disciplined use of the imagination as the forgotten cognitive tool of our day. This kind of reading attends to the text's emotional tone alongside the conceptual content in order to engender not just more knowledge about Scripture nor mere entertainment for dulled sensibilities, but to enable a knowledge of God: a reading for discipleship. This is the kind of reading I hope to support in these chapters.