Like many of you, I have felt called to a ministry of what I have heretofore called, “Biblical Literacy.” Since being called into ministry I have sought to understand the “backstory” of scripture. For me that backstory enriches the application for my life today. I hear what I believe the Spirit is saying to the churches today most clearly when I first listen to what the Spirit was saying to the churches through time. I understand God to be a “new thing” God, but in my experience, that means God uses new methodologies to proclaim timeless truths. Biblical literacy, then, means not only knowing the biblical narrative itself, but also understanding the “metanarrative” – the overarching themes and truths. I, like many of you, felt that I was serving the Kingdom of God best by teaching Biblical Literacy in the classroom, and by preaching Biblically Literate sermons.
I’m feeling a shift in that call, or maybe it’s just a shift in my definition of what’s needed. Literacy just isn’t enough. It’s not even close to enough. We need Biblical Cogitancy.
Don’t bother searching for “cogitency.” I made it up. But, hear me out here.
“Literacy” and “literally” share a common root meaning of precision (littera, meaning “letter”). To be literate means to understand the meaning of, and be able to use, letters. To be literal is to understand the meaning and application of those letters precisely as they are presented (i.e., “the letter of the law”).
To be aware of overarching themes and truths, and to be enslaved by their literal definitions and applications, leaves us no options to hear what the Spirit is saying today. Our seasons of deafness in the Church writ large have always outlasted our brief moments of cochlear clarity. But to be on this side of the Protestant Reformation, with incredibly rich biblical scholarship available so easily to so many, it’s an absolute abomination that so many of us today cannot contemplate what God’s word means today, and not just recite what is says.
We need Biblical Cogitency – to know what God’s word says, as well as the ability to think (Latin = cogitare), to “chew on it” as Eugene Peterson directed us in his book Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading (a formative read for me). Too many of us surrender that responsibility to others, and there are plenty of others waiting eagerly to oblige.
Peterson uses the image of a cow chewing her cud, which is helpful in making my point. The cow needs to chew that cud thoroughly so she can digest it properly. When she was a calf, she relied on her mother to chew cud, because she could only properly digest mother’s milk. Now, she chews her own cud. One day, she may chew cud for another, until they can chew cud for themselves.
She can’t rely on nourishment from another cow’s regurgitated cud, anymore than we can rely on another’s regurgitated teaching. It’s like trying to suntan in the shade – something is between you and the real Light.
How do we begin to encourage Biblical Cogitency in our churches? One idea might be to occasionally (and eventually regularly) spend an extra several minutes during worship using the (or a) text for the day in Lectio Divina (divine or sacred reading) – an ancient method of “praying the scriptures” and (in my experience) a powerful way to hear the Spirit of Christ in ways not previously heard. It allows for the gathered saints to really hear the text through repetition, and gives space for both rumination and action.
There are many guides to engaging the text this way, and I would guide the reader to search for “Lectio Divina” for more information.
What are your suggestions for encouraging deeper engagement with scripture?