The Demise of Reading

Christian writer Philip Yancey wrote a piece for the Washing­ton Post entitled, “The death of reading is threatening the soul” (July 21, 2017).  He’s the author of many works, including The Jesus I Never Knew, The Bible Jesus Read, and What’s So Amazing About Grace?

Yancey begins by saying, “I am going through a personal crisis.  I used to love reading.”  And he’s been a very avid reader:  “I am writing this blog in my office, surrounded by 27 tall bookcases laden with 5,000 books.  Over the years I have read them, marked them up, and record­ed the annotations … for potential references in my writing.  To a large degree, they have formed my professional and spiritual life.”  “My crisis consists in the fact that I am describing my past, not my present.”

Then he turns to analysis.  “The Internet and social media have trained my brain to read a paragraph or two, and then start looking around.”  Yancey quotes Nicholas Carr (author of The Shallows), sharing his lament:  “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words.  Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.”  Among the grim effects of this brain-flitting loss of focus, spirituality and creativity are stunted.

And it’s not about having time for deep reading.  Yancey does the math:  most Americans spend around 2,000 hours per year on social media and watching TV.  Even if that figure is high, the issue isn’t about having time.  It’s about distrac­tion, and the lure of multi-tasking, and the dopamine rush from clicking into some­thing new.  It’s also about our priorities and convictions—yet will­power alone won’t do it.

We need one another’s support to form a calm, thoughtful, counter-culture during this data bombardment called the digital age.  We need to be willing not to be up to speed on the latest trending trivia.  Most of all, we need the gracious work of God’s Spirit to humble us and help us look up and gaze, at length, into his radiant face (Psalm 27:4)!

Reading great books is vital.  And reading God’s Book is paramount!  The Bible orders us to slow down and ponder:  Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything (2 Timothy 2:7).  Think it over, reflect, consider, meditate, review—that’s the only path toward true knowledge.  By contrast, flitting guarantees a future of ignorance.