Reading discipline

Reading is on my agenda again - a lesson from the sabbatical is how the discipline was being lost

My particular problems with reading were/are:

1. Envy of people who seem to be able to read at a phenomenal rate and in depth - which at times kind of paralyses me and leaves me thinking I can't do that. What a really erudite clergy writer called the "Rowan" factor! This is not just a clergy thing - but wonderfully present in the immediate family were everyone else reads at great volume!

2.Having too many books on the go at once - with some drifting off the horizon unfinished - I found 12 such books in the first week of my sabbatical.  (Resolve to allow myself only 4 bookmarks at a time).

3. Reading superficially and too fast - so I only take in the bits that confirm what I already know - but a really useful skill for the vast amount of junk that clergy get sent

4. Not really reading for pleasure as such - I tend only to read things I want to know about or technical information in magazines etc - not even sure what genre of general literature I would like to read

5. The inevitable - simply finding the time in creative blocks - I think I am learning that "readings days" are not actually helpful to me because I cannot maintain the concentration needed over that period of time - afternoons or a couple of hours integrated into other time seems helpful

6. Buying books in batches  (visit to bookshops or Amazon orders etc!) which mean that I don't read as I buy - buy one at a time seems really good advice

Though rather daunting I found this post at Reformissionary helpful - I have never heard of the original author but there seems to be some wisdom there:

1. Maintain regular reading projects. I strategize my reading in six main categories: Theology, Biblical Studies, Church Life, History, Cultural Studies, and Literature. I have some project from each of these categories going at all times. I collect and gather books for each project, and read them over a determined period of time. This helps to discipline my reading, and also keeps me working across several disciplines.

2. Work through major sections of Scripture. I am just completing an expository series, preaching verse by verse through the book of Romans. I have preached and taught several books of the Bible in recent years, and I plan my reading to stay ahead. I am turning next to Matthew, so I am gathering and reading ahead -- not yet planning specific messages, but reading to gain as much as possible from worthy works on the first gospel. I am constantly reading works in biblical theology as well as exegetical studies.

3. Read all the titles written by some authors. Choose carefully here, but identify some authors whose books demand your attention. Read all they have written and watch their minds at work and their thought in development. No author can complete his thoughts in one book, no matter how large.

4. Get some big sets and read them through. Yes, invest in the works of Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and others. Set a project for yourself to read through the entire set, and give yourself time. You will be surprised how far you will get in less time than you think.

5. Allow yourself some fun reading, and learn how to enjoy reading by reading enjoyable books. I like books across the fields of literature, but I really love to read historical biographies and historical works in general. In addition, I really enjoy quality fiction and worthy works of literature. As a boy, I probably discovered my love for reading in these categories of books. I allow some time each day, when possible, to such reading. It doesn't have to be much. Stay in touch with the thrill.

6. Write in your books; mark them up and make them yours. Books are to be read and used, not collected and coddled. [Make an exception here for those rare antiquarian books that are treasured for their antiquity. Mark not thy pen on the ancient page, and highlight not upon the manuscript.] Invent your own system or borrow from another, but learn to have a conversation with the book, pen in hand.

Comments

[Paul Fromont]

Much resonates for me too, Tom. Thanks

[Guiltyrevd]

Thanks for this Tom. In the Methodist tradition I suspect that our minister training makes huge assumptions about our ability to read at speed and in depth. I struggled but never acknowledged this with my tutors, and many times found myself bluffing my way through tutor meetings. In my current Circuit I am in a similar position with much younger colleagues who have read widely and continue to keep up with the latest books. I wonder whether it is possible to be taught reading skills, and whether it could be made available to clergy?

[tony]

Good post. If it's any consolation - to me too - Richard Foster et al say it's not the quantity you read that matters, but the depth. Read few books, but read them well...

[Karen]

Hi Tom
Really surprised by this - I would never have known that it was such a struggle for you - always had the impression that you were widely read and perhaps been a little in awe of your breadth of thinking - early memories of how you would tour the Library at Hull - reading here there and everywhere - music, physics, architecture etc. Have you lost that love of reading? I have always thought that you may not have left with a 1st class degree - but you left with so much more - and it was no surprise that you were the first to get a job. Does that breadth now not apply to being a Vicar?

[Tom]

Thanks to you all for the comments.
I've touched a real issue here it seems - 7 confessional emails from clergy in addition to the comments - its good to know its not just me!

I am preparing a consequential post which picks up on some of issues involved for clergy - and it which in part answers Karen's question - I feel that reading has become different as a priest - and that some of the real enjoyment has been lost.