Peter Enns: 3 biggest reasons why Bible reading is down

Apparently, Bible reading is way down in churches, and Biblica has dug into finding out why. Here’s what I learned at the conference I attended last week sponsored by Biblica (see here).

Bible reading is down because people read it

1. in fragments,
2. a-historically,
3. in isolation.

In fragments, meaning in the verse level rather than in large sections. A focus on verses not only encourages prooftexting but prevents readers from seeing the larger points of biblical works–whether we are talking about a letter like Romans, or large narratives such as we find in the Old Testament.

To remedy this problem, Biblica has formatted the NIV (New International Version, 2011) without chapter and verse numbers, calling it The Books of the Bible, which is also available in 4 separate volumes: The New Testament and the Old Testament in three volumes (Covenant History, Prophets, Writings). Keep reading