Reading the Bible

Rowan Williams delivered a lecture in 2007 called, “The Bible: Reading and Hearing.” I think it's the best (though very dense) explanation of the nature of Scripture I've ever read. It's well worth reading. Here's a taste:

If it [the Bible] is not the present vehicle of God speaking in the risen Christ, it is a record only of God speaking to others. For it to be an address that works directly upon self and community now, it must be given to us as the continuation of the same act, the re-presenting and re-enacting of the same scriptural reality of invitation and the creation of a people [that we see in Israel and Christ ...]

If you read it closely, carefully and repeatedly, you will have saved yourself many books.