Subtitled “Read the Bible like never before,” Sonja Corbitt and Deacon Harold Burke-Silvers’ book Ignite (Servant Books, 2017) challenges both individuals and groups to try a reading the Bible.

Acknowledging that many faithful people try reading the Bible but are daunted by dry and difficult readings and commentaries, Sonja and Deacon Harold share some strategies that work for them, setting up a Lectio-Divina-based study structure that can include technological resources such as Bible apps, online daily readings, and print or audio resources. They specifically suggest that readers begin with the Gospel reading for the day, which is always available at USCCB.org (simply use the calendar in the right sidebar to navigate to that day’s readings).

After describing the process of Lectio Divina, address the who, what, where, when, how, and why of the Bible, in separate chapters that go into detail about how the events of the Bible speak to us today.

In encountering God in the Scriptures, we can then consider that the whole Bible is about this same gradual, increasing self-disclosure to a particular race of people just like me: the revelation of a person to persons, like ourselves, who also actually lived in a certain place at a certain time. (18-19)

The last two chapters, “Which Voice is His?” and “The Word is a Person” sum up how reading the Bible will bring us into closer communion with God, addressing both the issue of authority and the need to “read and study the Bible with the heart and mind of the Church” (193).

“The Word of God is a person, not a book,” the authors note (192). Scripture and Tradition, they affirm, go hand in hand.

Both are directed at the life of the Church. Together sacred Scripture and Tradition convey the Word of God. Apart from the living teaching authority of the Catholic Church, we are easily led into serious mistakes and error … (196)

Each chapter ends with a “God Prompt” that invites the reader into a guided exercise of Lectio Divina on a selected passage.

Let Ignite help you dive more deeply into the Word of God.

Copyright 2017 Barb Szyszkiewicz
This post contains Amazon affiliate links; your purchase through these links helps support this blog. Thank you! I was given a free review copy of this book, but no other compensation. Opinions expressed here are mine alone.