Description
Book SynopsisChristianity Today 2022 Book Award of Merit (Beautiful Orthodoxy) Many Christians view the Bible as an instruction manual. While the Bible does provide instruction, it can also captivate, comfort, delight, shock, and inspire. In short, it elicits emotion--just like poetry. By learning to read and love poetry, says literature professor Matthew Mullins, readers can increase their understanding of the biblical text and learn to love God's Word more. Each chapter includes exercises and questions designed to help readers put the book's principles and practices into action.
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction:
The Hatred of Poetry and Why It Matters1. How Reading Literature Became a Quest for Meaning
2. The Bible Is Literature
3. Meaning Is More Than Message
4. Not
Anything
5. Reading with Our Guts
6. Delight and Instruction
7. Why We Worship
8. Changing Our Approach
9. How to Read--General Sense
10. How to Read--Central Emotion
11. How to Read--Formal Means
12. A Short Compendium of Forms
Conclusion:
Negative Capability and HabituationAfterword:
Reading AloudIndex
