How important is reading for the Christian? Tony Reinke uses Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books to make the case that it’s not only important but essential. Think for a moment how God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. We know from Romans 1 and other places that some level of understanding of God is possible through observation of the natural world. However, one cannot truly know God in a saving way apart from special revelation, which God has chosen to provide through the written word.

In the first part of the book, Reinke makes the case that God’s choice to use words as His primary means of revelation should lead us to prioritize the written word above visual representations of things. The visual certainly has it’s place in the lives of God’s people but it is not a substitute for the written word. He quotes Os Guinness here:

The world of sight, the world of the eye cannot take us beyond what is shown. Because sight can only go so far, it takes words and thought to give the real truth and meaning behind what was seen.

Reinke points out that the primary temptation of God’s people in the Old Testament was to abandon the Word of God given to them by Moses in favor of the images worshipped by their pagan neighbors. Images can be powerful and helpful but apart from a word-provided context they can be damaging to the life of the Christian. We live in probably the most visually driven culture in history and so should be especially aware of this danger and of the importance of using reading as a counterbalance to the barrage of images that comes our way each day.

In the second part of the book Reinke provides practical advice for such things as prioritizing our reading, finding time to read, the fine art of marginalia and how to avoid letting the Internet hobble our ability to thoughtfully read books.

I especially appreciated his discussion of how he categorizes and schedules his reading. He has six categories of books that he reads, in this order of importance:

1. Reading Scripture
2. Reading to know and delight in Christ
3. Reading to kindle spiritual reflection
4. Reading to initiate personal change
5. Reading to pursue vocational excellence
6. Reading to enjoy a good story.

He is clear, as his categories show, that “no single book should receive more attention in our lives than scripture” (p. 95). In fact Reinke puts all books into two broad genres: Scripture and everything else. It is only through an emersion in scripture that we can rightly understand the things we read in the other categories.

I highly recommend this book. Christians should, of all people, be readers and Tony Reinke’s book is an excellent tool to help us read better and more often.