Product Description

Eugene Peterson is convinced that the way we read the Bible is as important as that we read it. Do we read the Bible for information about God and salvation, for principles and "truths" that we can use to live better? Or do we read it in order to listen to God and respond in prayer and obedience?

The second part of Peterson’s momentous five-volume work on spiritual theology, Eat This Book challenges us to read the Scriptures on their own terms, as God’s revelation, and to live them as we read them. With warmth and wisdom Peterson offers greatly needed, down-to-earth counsel on spiritual reading. In these pages he draws readers into a fascinating conversation on the nature of language, the ancient practice of lectio divina, and the role of Scripture translations; included here is the "inside story" behind Peterson’s own popular Bible translation, The Message.

Countering the widespread practice of using the Bible for self-serving purposes, Peterson here serves readers with a nourishing entrée into the formative, life-changing art of spiritual reading.

Study Guide available.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5821 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 186 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780802829481
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Peterson is a retired pastor and popular author best known for The Message, a paraphrasing of the Bible into modern idiom. In this slender book, he invites Christian readers to encounter the Bible anew. Drawing on language in Ezekiel and Revelation, Peterson says that we ought not read the Bible the same way we read a cookbook, a textbook, or even a great novel. Rather, Christians are to absorb, imbibe, feed on and digest Scripture. Peterson recommends a type of Bible-based prayer called lectio divina, in which the person praying meditates on a short passage of Scripture and listens for God to speak through the text. Peterson's exposition of lectio divina is one of the fullest to appear in recent years. Throughout, he cautions that lectio is not a systematic way of reading, but a "developed habit of living the text in Jesus' name." The last chapter, in which Peterson ruminates on his own experience translating the Bible, will be fascinating to Peterson's devotees, but is more myopic than the rest of the book. However, this is a worthy sequel to Peterson's 2004 hit Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places.
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Review
"Rich, generous, and wise, Peterson's `conversation' will help readers at every stage of faith to live their faith more deeply." -- -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A tour de force in spiritual theology, combining incisive cultural analysis and biblical exposition with a sweeping and engaging vision of the Christian life." -- -Christianity Today

About the Author
Eugene H. Peterson, author of the best-selling contemporary translation of the Bible titled The Message, is professor emeritus of spiritual theology at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Customer Reviews

Live this book
Too often we USE the Bible, but Eugene wants us to enter into and LIVE it. He presents lectio divina (sacred reading) as the best way to do this. Lectio divina is a four-part way of reading Scripture:
Lectio. Read. God is speaking, so I listen intently to what he says.
Meditatio. Engage. God is speaking to me, so I listen personally.
Oratio. Pray. God is speaking to me, so I listen personally and reply personally in prayer.
Contemplatio. Live. God is speaking to me, so I listen personally and reply in prayerful living.
The final section of the book is an illuminating introduction to Bible translation and ultimately to The Message (his translation) itself. He argues that literalism in translation encourages USING the Bible as a tool, in which case we're in charge, not God. But putting the Bible in the same language as our day-to-day lives encourages LIVING the Bible, in which case God's in charge, not us.
The publisher is also releasing a study guide for small groups that I have written with Eugene. Once you read the book on your own, I think you'll understand why it is so important to study (and live!) together as a church.
Don't just use the Bible. Eat it! Let it get inside of you and change you. Live it.

transformational reading
Peterson has become my new favorite theologian. I wish reading him had been an option when I was in seminary. I have a suspicion that he's still not on the menu because he sees theology as something more than an academic exercise. Theology is ultimately about experiencing God and serving the Kingdom-goals that are not always in tandem with the academy.

This second volume of a projected five volume series is an exceptional work on the nature of scripture and how we relate to it, absorb it and live it. Rather than treating scripture as a still life from which we extract a theology, Peterson emphasizes the reader entering the story and allowing the story to transform our lives. More than just telling us to read and absorb, he helps us rediscover one of the church's older practices, lecto divina. He emphasizes that this is not a technique but an attitude of prayerful, respectful reading. So, rather than telling us what scripture is and isn't in cold, sterile categories, he shows us its value for the spiritual journey.

Peterson is distilling a lifetime of teaching, growing and ministering in this series of books. I hope that we as church are wise enough to push the academy to listen to his voice.

Make a meal of it!
This is the first book I can recall reading that addresses "How to read the Bible" ...

There's 3 essays here:

Eat this Book - John the Revelator, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah all ate God's message on command. What does the gastronomic lesson teach? Consuming God's message goes beyond the typical scriptural read.

Lectio Divina -Christ asked "How do you read?" in Luke 10:26 ... God only talks with you ... not through someone else. You can only hear him when you are addressed. Here's a discipline for creating the opportunity.

The Company of Translators - A great walk through the back alleys of translating the Good News for contemporary consumers through the ages. Is the 16th century King James hard to digest? Unless you read ancient Hebrew or vernacular Greek bolstered by late 19th and 20th century linguistic revelation, it makes sense to try to understand the message as close to the dirty, dusty streets of the gospel writers as you can get with words alone. The language of place and time needs transport into terms we can grasp. We recognize the limitations of the written word ... words don't capture body language, the emotional state of the participants, the state of mind of the listener, the smells, the backdrop ... all things that make for understanding beyond words. The job of the translator is indeed a challenge to strangle the most complete sense of the words into contemporary context. The job of the message consumer is no less challenging .

This can be an easy read or a study. It depends on your appetite I guess.