Shock and Awe
Pierre Bayard’s, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read is a shocking, non-traditional, and awe-inspiring reading approach that challenges readers not only on how to read, but specifically on how to not read books. Bayard says that “non-reading is not just the absence of reading, but a genuine activity” that keeps us from “drowning” in a sea of books.[1] This book inspires me to struggle against the academic status quo and schoolhouse traditions to achieve an awkward type of metamorphosis into a next level scholarly-reader paradigm. To do that, I need to modify my reading lens so that I can see relationships, connections, and correlations between authors, books, fields of study, and most importantly ideas.[2] This is exactly what I need to search for the spiritual connections, disguised schemes, and supernatural influences that have led to the desensitization of the North American church and its response to the threat of spiritual warfare. This post will survey three subsections of Ways of Not Reading, Literary Confrontations, and Ways of Behaving to show how the book impacts me, what I discovered, and how I can use Bayard’s non-reading techniques to advance my dissertation preparation and research.
First, “Books You Don’t Know” caught my eye because those books that I do not know are important for my search for bibliographic and historical information for my dissertation.[3] My goal for enrolling in LGP-8 is to know God. As such, I want to identify books, authors, and themes that I do not know yet that will connect me to the past, present, and future scholarly narratives on the specific topic of spiritual warfare. As Dr. Clark says, I want to “drill” the data fields, examine historical core samples, and find the divine treasures of truth, wisdom, and spiritual discernment regarding the churches weakened posture in training, equipping, and sending the body of Christ into spiritual warfare.[4] Like Bayard’s librarian, I want to “orient” myself to all the books and libraries on spiritual warfare and identify what is true, false, myth, and unknown.[5] Equipped with Bayard’s reading and non-reading techniques, I will strive to stay on the literary periphery, maintain perspective, and use a bird’s-eye view to examine the relationships, themes, and connections uncovered during my research. If I can use the agricultural analogy; I plan to plow, plant, prune, water, weed and harvest the first fruits of my bibliographic orchard. Finally, I will work on my non-reading techniques to “grasp the essence” of many books, focus on connections, and discover relational ideas that will help the church survive and overcome the advance of spiritual warfare.[6]
Second, “Encounters in Society” is another chapter that encourages me as a non-reader to speak and share my reflections on books that I haven’t read.[7] This section stimulated me because I thought, “What a great way to inform, inspire, and challenge others to put on, pray, and persevere within the relational context of spiritual warfare.” For example, I have not read Ferdinando’s The Message of Spiritual Warfare.[8] I scanned the cover, read about the author, and can now speak to his message without even opening the book. How? Because the author’s biographical bullet on the back page told me he was a pastor and professor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Yep, that’s all I need to speak in society about the book, and relate his insights on spiritual warfare with mine and other works I have absorbed over the years. First, I know the DRC; French speaking, Lord’s Resistance Army, jungle, mutations, animism, club feet, addictions, abuse, and Jane Goodall. So, my experience, impressions, messages, signals, and cross-culture insights give me license, according to Bayard, to engage Ferdinando’s work and discuss it in society within the greater theological themes surrounding spiritual warfare. My strategy, adapted from Bayard’s non-reading theme, is to honor the author for his work, thank him for his service and sacrifice, hail him for calling out Satan as the author of evil, connect myself to his CRC context, connect him to my armor of God artifacts, relate my encounters with spiritual forces in the DRC, and stay close to the Pauline principles on spiritual warfare. One book review says, “One need not have read a book to talk about it aptly and accurately; in fact, it may hinder it.”[9] I believe, at the end of the day, Ferdinando would thank me for my critical and in-depth review of his book, that yes, I never read!
Third, Bayard’s storytelling to further his non-reader position about “Imposing Your Ideas” caught my attention at 20,000 feet.[10] Yes, while flying I scanned Bayard’s Table of Contents and landed on his chapter about imposing your ideas about books I haven’t read. My abstract notes, while time-sharing other tasks like flying, monitoring flight gauges, talking on the radio, loading data points onto inflight computer, and looking at the world from an elevated position were as follows. Imposing Ideas: forcing, enforcing, instilling, mentoring, and demanding. Did God impose? Yes. Christ? No. Holy Spirit? Yes and No, it depends. My next thoughts went to the parable of sowing and specifically to Paul’s warning and principle that we “reap what we sow.”[11] So, to wrap Bayard together with my calling to sow seed worth reaping, I will continue to impose (levy, execute, enforce, enact) my Pauline based spiritual warfare ideas to anyone and everyone for their good and God’s glory.
Overall, a radical book that actually makes sense to me. Integrating Bayard and Adler, like oil and vinegar, does not mix well in a traditional scholarly salad, but it sure tastes better with a little salt and pepper. I did pick up some new techniques on scanning, drilling, and deep-diving narrative sections when needed. The best part of the book for me, was that it pushed me into another academic dimension, abstract as it might be, to interpret the world, books, theology, and extend my reach toward knowing God. Stand firm.
[1] Pierre Bayard. How to talk about books you haven’t read. (Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2007) Kindle Edition, Location 291.
[2] Ibid., 245.
[3] Ibid., 173.
[4] Jason Clark. Face to Face, LGP-8, Zoom Video Conference, 9 October 2017.
[5] Bayard, Books you haven’t read, 207.
[6] Ibid., 296.
[7] Ibid., 852.
[8] Keith Ferdinando. The Message of Spiritual Warfare. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016.
[9] Liedeke Plate. “Unreading, Rereading, and the Art of Not Reading.” Symploke 17, no. 1 2 (2009): 262.
[10] Bayard, Books you haven’t read, 1907.
[11] Gal. 6:7, ESV.
About the Author
Mike
3 responses to “Shock and Awe”
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Hi Mike,
Your first quote is exactly the first one I fixated upon, “Bayard says that “non-reading is not just the absence of reading, but a genuine activity” that keeps us from “drowning” in a sea of books.”
This one quote will be worth the whole read, especially as we do research for our papers and dissertations.
Thanks for reminding me not to drown in a sea of books…
Mike I appreciate how you have helped us remain focused on the on going work of God and those forces that oppose His work. I appreciate you dedication to finding those unknown books, those resources that I know you will use for His glory.
I like the idea of purposefully looking over a book, its cover and contents so you can utilize it as a conversation piece. I was thinking in my own context how I need to understand and pick out books local Chinese are reading so we have a common connection point, common area to connect to Christ.
I too thought that Alder and Bayard were an interesting choice in a scholarly world but I recognize the need to use the skills they pass on so we can gain a broader understanding of the fields we are interested in.
Hi Mike,
Your post is excellent and early! I noticed last week you were also the first to post…but now I know you can make use of your valuable time in the AIR. Perfect quiet time!
Each of your analogies were spot on – from agriculture (planting, sowing, harvesting) to the oil/vinegar in a traditional scholarly salad. I really appreciated your connection and link to your research – including discussing Ferdinando’s book even though you haven’t read it. I have struggled to make the research interest connection these past two weeks with Adler and Bayard.
Hope all is well with your mission! Seth so appreciated getting to connect with you.