The importance of poetry and novels is that the Christian life involves the use of the imagination, after all, we are dealing with the invisible. And, imagination is our training in dealing with the invisible, making connections… I don’t want to do away with or denigrate theology or exegesis, but our primary allies in this business are the artists… One of the Devil’s finest pieces of work is getting people to spend three nights a week in Bible studies…

Well, why do people spend so much time studying the Bible? How much do you need to know? We invest all this time in understanding the text which has a separate life of it’s own and we think we’re being more pious and spiritual when we’re doing it. But it’s all to be lived. It was given to us so we could live it. But most Christians know far more of the Bible than they’re living. They should be studying it less, not more. You just need enough to pay attention to God…

Study is normally an over intellectualized process… I’m just not at all pleased with all the emphasis on Bible study as if it’s some kind of special thing that Christians do, and the more they do the better… [And t]his might sound strange, but I’m a writer and writers like to write. But The Message isn’t writing, it’s translating. (Online source)

Eugene Peterson

HT: My Word Like Fire

See also:

JOHN MACARTHUR: GREATEST THREAT TO AMERICAN CHURCH

DON’T BE FOOLED BY THOSE WHO ONLY SAY THEY LOVE SCRIPTURE

NEO-ORTHODOX APPROACH TO THE BIBLE PERFECT FIT FOR EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY

THE EMERGING CHURCH SOWING ITS NEO-ORTHODOX CONFUSION ON SCRIPTURE

NEO-ORTHODOXY: AN EMERGENT OVERVIEW

ROB BELL AND KARL BARTH

ROB BELL SAYS SAYOUNARA SOLA SCRIPTURA