Planning my Christmas Break.

As I have two and a half weeks free after this Friday, and I really should be studying for exams right now, I decided to make a reading plan. Well, not so much a plan, more like a strong self-suggestion.

I was reading this book last night, and was struck by how the early church fathers and the mystics used the Bible. They read it in a very different way than we do now (although if you listen to some Christians, it is not that much different). They did not attempt to go for what the original author intended the meaning to be, but were more allegorical in many cases, and much 'freer' with the meaning of the text than we are now.

Quite honestly, I think that the way we do it now, at least officially, is better. It (ideally) leaves less room for subjective ideas and influences, and can get at the meaning of a text more clearly. But the question I pondered for a few minutes last night is this: does this mean that there is no room for reading the Bible in other ways? For example, is the way that the mystics or early Church Fathers read the Bible wrong if the way we do it now is right?

I certainly don't want it to be. The way I have worked it out for now is that officially, when preaching, getting at the original context and the authorial intent is the best way to go (cf. this book). But in terms of personal reading and devotions, we have to make room for a different way of the Bible impacting us. There are subjective ways of reading the Bible that will impact a person, speak directly to his or her present situation. These readings then cannot be made into an interpretation that ought to hold for everyone, but are private readings.

Anyways, I haven't thought it out all the way yet, and I hope to do some reading on this during the Christmas break, if I can find some sources to read on the matter.

Any suggestions?