I was raised on Bible reading guides. To be ‘spiritual’ meant chunking the Bible into sections and reading it systematically. As technology improved, my Bible-in-a-Year list, complete with empty squares beside each chapter for check-marks, evolved into Bible.com digital check-marks, but the idea was the same. The gamification of scripture was satisfying.

In Bible College I learned how to interpret the Bible. That is, how to extract timeless truths from that big unruly book. Scripture was something to distill. It went from narrative to Truth to applicable bite-sized truths.

The problem with this method is that the emotions are neglected. In fact, we’re often told not to trust our emotions—that they’ll lead us astray. In the method I just described, reading and understanding scripture happens in the mind.

If you’ve had a similar experience with scripture, you need to read Matthew Mullins’ Enjoying the Bible. He argues that emotions and imagination should be an active part of Bible reading. The text, for Mullins, is not something to “complete” or “conquer,” but something to “delight in” (29). He advocates for a holistic reading of the text:

I have asserted that experience is integral to understanding, that emotions are inseparable from ideas and ideas inseparable from emotions.

When we only read scriptures like a miner, seeking to extract ore that we can use (Andy Stanley’s “take-aways,” anyone), we miss out on the richness of the text. We may think more correctly, but do we love our neighbour any more? Are our imaginations captivated by the love of God? Are we being wholly transformed?

In order to deeply engage the text, Mullins invites the reader to read the Bible like literature—which it is. When we read literature, ambiguity is not a puzzle to solve, but a mystery to mull over. Is Jacob a scoundrel or an example of faith? Yes. Was David a man after God’s own heart or a tragic figure who sought to rule in place of God? Yes.

There’s a reason why people continue to return to Scripture and Mullins shows us why.

In short, you can’t understand the Bible if you don’t love it. (181)

Mullins, Matthew. Enjoying the Bible: Literary Approaches to Loving the Scriptures. Baker Academic, 2021.