Book Review: Eat This Book

Eugene Peterson's newest work Eat This Book is certainly well worth your time. He begins the book by pointing out that the way we read the Bible in contemporary America is not only out of touch with the way most Christians through the millenia have read it, but it is also out of touch with the way the authors of our Sacred Writings intended for them to be read. Peterson, a pastor for 29 years and currently professor of spiritual theology at Regent College, proceeds in an almost poetical and prosaic tone to encourage the reader to do exactly what the angel of the Lord told Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and John to do -- "Eat This Book." His description of exegesis is of such a high caliber that I doubt a finer one could be written. He pulls the Holy Writ out of the ivory towered halls of academia, and brings it back where it was meant to be...in the rough and tumble of life. He does this, though, without criticizing scholars and theologians. Far from it, he actually shows us our incredible debt to such men. Through the course of the book Peterson introduces the ancient practice of Lectio Divina (roughly translated Divine/Spiritual Reading) which is a technique for reading the Bible that is aimed at putting yourself in a position to assimilate and live out the text of our Sacred Scriptures. The four parts to Lectio are Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio which means Read, Meditate, Pray, Contemplate...or even more contemporarily Read, Think, Pray, Live. Peterson then gives a brief history of the Bible and Bible reading, and then shows the reader how understanding to read the Bible rightly has impacted his life and spirituality. Incredible. This book is the finest book about the Bible I have yet to put in my hands, and I can't recommend it enough. By the end, you too will be wanting to "Eat Your Book." Bon Appetite!