Reflections of a Canadian Churchman

A parishioner recently asked me about the rather pretentious-looking list in the right-hand column of this page labeled “Currently Reading.” He asked if I was really reading that many books at one time. Before I get around to telling you how I answered him, perhaps a word is in order as to why this list, and its companion list “Recently Read”, are even on this page at all. Many will know that I was, for many years, the Retail Sales Manager of Toronto’s Anglican Book Centre. I spent a good deal of my time reading catalogues, meeting publishers’ sales representatives, ordering books, classifying books, recommending books, publicizing books, and of course, selling books. One of the great joys of bookselling was to receive what we called the “front-list” catalogues, that is, the catalogues of new titles for the upcoming season. It was as much an art as a science to come up with order quantities for any given new title. Much was involved in making that particular decision. In additio...

In Part I of this series ( click here ) I discussed how the Daily Office and its lectionary can be used as a devotional tool in reading Scripture. A resource such as the Daily Office, or any other daily devotional routine with a set pattern for reading Scripture, can be of great assistance in building a spiritual understanding of the text through the discipline of daily reading and meditating on the word of God. However, it must always be remembered that the Biblical text is an ancient text, created over a lengthy period of time by and for specific groups of people. Unfailingly, we will come across words, idioms, place names, political structures, religious concepts, and other cultural and historical details that simply befuddle us and make no sense. Fortunately, there are many study helps available that help us “crack the code” and enable us to reinterpret the text in order that it may continue to speak to us today. Study Bibles First and foremost, every reader of the Bible should own...