More to Read

Just had to link you up to another great Justin Taylor post on reading literature.  You can read it right here.  (If you're confused about where this came from, check out this post.)  While I'm at it, I might as well tell you that Justin Taylor's blog is pretty cool, and if I were you, I might add it to my favorites lists.  Or follow it in RSS or something.  I just started looking at it this past week, but I've found that he makes some really interesting posts.  And once you actually click on that link and read the post about literature (wink, wink), you can also read what I think about it...

This post reminded me of a chapter from a book I started this summer, How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster.  (Side note: I've been told that there are several inappropriate chapters in this book, so don't, don't, don't just pick the book up at the library and read it cover to cover!)  However, in one chapter I read, Foster made a point that you have to relate with the literature you read - or, in his words, you can't read it with "your eyes," meaning your own eyes, that bring with them their own perspectives and beliefs.  There's truth to this, as is mentioned in the first paragraph of the mini-article Justin Taylor posted on his blog.  But it would be foolish to entirely shed "your eyes" when reading a book, because what good are strong beliefs and convictions if you don't apply them in life?  We must apply what we believe - and apply it to every single thing we encounter, including literature.  This especially important when it comes to Christianity: the Bible, the gospel, and the character of God must be lenses for viewing everything else through.  Why?  Because they're the most important realities in the universe, and they really do impact the way we view everything we encounter.  There's a balance to me made here, and I think, for being a short article, the post on Justin Taylor's blog very clearly captures this balance.  We can't read with our eyes, yet we must read with our eyes.  We must listen to literature, yet we must talk back to it as well.

So when you read books, do you talk or listen?  Or both?