In last week’s column, I challenged us to consider the ramifications of the fact that God revealed Himself to us in a book rather than via pictures, feelings,video, or other means. I derive from this that reading is of central importance in the lives of Christians (or at least it ought to be). I brought it up in connection with the fact that I’ve recently begun rereading The Norton Anthology of American Literature—over 2500 pages of classic American poetry, biography,and fiction. But why read secular literature, which isn’t inspired nor powerful to save? Here are a couple reasons I hope you’ll consider as you select your next book…
The classic fiction of Stephen Crane, Samuel Clemens, Flannery O’Connor and others engages my imagination and my heart. So does the poetry of Henry David Thoreau,Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and company. Plus, great stories and poems shed light on human relationships, the struggle between good and evil, and other aspects of human existence. In short, reading the classics is enjoyable and enriching. It helps me better appreciate and better understand the world God made, the world to which He has called me as an agent of His truth and grace;and the more I understand and love God’s world, the more effectively I can engage it.
But there’s another, more important reason to read classic fiction and poetry. Have you ever thought about how much of God’s word is written either as a poem or a story? They make up the vast majority of the Bible! And it takes a certain degree of skill and practice with these genres to get the most out of them. So here’s the point: reading the classics helps me better appreciate and understand God’s world and God’s word both.