Sed Contra: An Essay on the Modern Culture

A “sed contra” essay is to engage a cultural concern and to address it with the help of some philosophical or theological authority. Henceforward, a “sed contra” essay will be published once per month during the academic year.

Nicholas Carr chronicles this statement in The Shallows—a sociological commentary on the way the internet has shaped the human brain. Carr’s thesis: Web-use has changed the way we relate to words. Screen-time breeds certain mental habits, which effect, among other things, the way we read. Carr notes that contemplative reading—the kind of reading that stays committed to narratives, arguments, and ideas—is falling out of vogue.  Instead, most reading takes the form of scanning text messages, scrolling through newsfeeds, skimming articles: in a word, power-reading. 

But to our Rhodes Scholar’s point: power-reading has its advantages. Why waste time reading a book cover-to-cover, when the same information can be found by a few deft Google Books Searches? Does it really matter how we read, as long as we are coming away with the same information?

TO THE CONTRARY, “In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them” (Dei Verbum, 21). 

The way we relate to words matters, because God has chosen to reveal himself in writing. In a sense, God is “incarnate” in the words of Scripture:

The words of God, expressed in the words of men, are in every way like human language, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness, became like men.

(Dei Verbum, 13)

Before he assumed a human nature, God first veiled himself in human words. God has hidden himself in the Bible, in the words of the inspired authors. God himself is the “reality” most profoundly signified by the words of Scripture: all of Scripture is fulfilled in Christ.

The way we relate to words matters, because in the words of the sacred books we meet the God who reveals himself to us.

We can take the Bible for granted as a means of revelation. But nothing forced God to reveal himself through words: theoretically, he could have made himself known in some other way (what if instead of the Scriptures, we had inspired icons, or music, or even architecture?). But God, in his wisdom, chose the medium of words to make his message known. This means that Christians must be able to meet God where he is: in the words of the sacred books. God tied himself to words, so we must do the same. 

But God’s revelation of himself through the Scriptures can’t be reduced to the mere communication of data. Revelation doesn’t just mean that God has told us about himself, but that God is inviting us into a personal relationship with him. When you read the inspired words with faith, you step into an ongoing dialogue. For God speaks to each of us personally through the Scriptures: 

When I pick up the sacred Book … God speaks those words for me. God wishes to create a dialogue of love, to take hold of my life and insert it into God’s life. What power there is in those words, if I receive them from God’s lips in this way! They become truly able to reach the very depths of the human heart, ‘piercing until they divide soul from spirit.’

(Archbishop Mariano Magrassi, Praying the Bible, 83) 

Stepping into the world of the Bible means stepping into a relationship, and like all relationships this one requires commitment. Moral commitment, yes. But this relationship also requires a sort of literary commitment—the commitment of focused, unhurried reading. If we want to hear God speaking from the sacred page, we must listen, which means, we must read with attentive ears: 

Full hearing requires attentive reading. Even before we reflect, we must listen and receive. In fact, the most important attitude before the God who speaks is openness. But this will not be complete unless we read with commitment.

(Magrassi, 105)

There are many reasons why contemplative reading ought to be preserved, cherished, and promoted. But the most fundamental reason is that God is now speaking to us in the words of the Bible. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mt 11:15). 

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Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash