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Another Article on Youth and Reading
Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 9:56 AM by Jason Barker
Albert Mohler has a new post about an article in The Washington Post by a librarian at a private school in Washington, D.C. The librarian laments the decline in reading among all youth, including the privileged for whom access to books in not a problem.
Mohler has a very significant conclusion to his post:
Librarians and secular educators have ample reason for concern, but Christians must look at this reality with an even greater concern.
Reading is an important Christian discipline. Further, growth as a Christian disciple is closely tied to the reading of the Bible, as well as worthy Christian books. This is why the Christian church has championed the cause of literacy. It is why the Reformers fought for the translation of the Scriptures into vernacular languages.
A loss of literacy and respect for the book amounts to grave danger for the Christian church. The transmission of Christian truth has been closely tied to scrolls, codices, and books throughout the history of the Church -- a legacy inherited from the Jews, who often protected the sacred scrolls with their lives.
The electronic media have their places and uses, and I am thankful for the accessibililty of so much worthy and important information through digital means. Nevertheless, the electronic screen is not the venue for lengthy, thoughtful, serious reading. The vehicle for serious reading is the book, and the Christian should be a serious reader.
At the moment there is some truth to Mohler's point that "the electronic screen is not the venue for lengthy, thoughtful, serious reading." Studies repeatedly show that reading - both the physical act of seeing the text, as well as the mental act of comprehension - is easier with the printed page than with electronic screens, and readers overwhelmingly prefer hard copy to electronic screens for lengthy reading (see the reference here to a study by M. Ziefle for one brief example). This is one of the reasons for which I provide the ability to print articles from my Bible studies (in the Romans study, which was designed for CD distribution, users could print directly from the application; in the Acts and upcoming Luke studies, users can open and print PDF copies of the articles) - the other reason is that it allows users to take the articles with them to group Bible studies, and keep copies for reading when they do not have access to the electronic versions.
At the same time, as The Washington Post article demonstrates and my recent post also states, teens generally prefer to incorporate computers and multimedia into their learning. Therefore, even though books are currently more effective than electronic texts for extended reading and learning, it is imperative to provide texts in a format that teens will use. Furthermore, as computer technology becomes easier to use, more portable, and easier to read, there will be a time when electronic texts will effectively compete with printed material not only for popular usage, but also for effective educational usage. It is essential that Orthodox Christian publishers be part of the movement toward that day, rather than belatedly attempt to respond after that period has already arrived.
My interest in Mohler's post is not, however, focused upon the effectiveness of electronic texts versus printed texts: my interest is in his accurate assertion that "growth as a Christian disciple is closely tied to the reading of the Bible." As I wrote in an earlier post:
The Bible is a substantial collection of texts: it is long, it can be difficult, but it is also vital and transformative. It is the written word of God to His people. The biblical text not only cannot be understood with a cursory reading or video-viewing, and thus the Christian cannot be transformed through such an approach, but such an approach is an affront to the God Who gave us the Bible, and His people who through the centuries faithfully wrote, translated, taught, and learned these vital books.
Concessions must be made to the learning levels and styles of youth who are not currently adept at extensive reading, and we make these concessions by providing the "Fast" overviews. We must not, however, leave Bible study at this rudimentary level. We must fully delve into the Bible with our commentaries and other articles, both for those Christian youth who are currently able and willing to immerse themselves in the Bible, and to provide resources for youth who will do so in the future. While it is conceivable that in the future there will be a more effective medium than text to engage in such extensive and transformative study, at this time text (supplemented, when possible, with other media) remains the primary vehicle for communication, and thus extended articles remain the best way for us to communicate the transformative truth of the Bible to youth.
Therefore, even if only a handful of youth are currently willing to engage in extensive Bible study - and even if in the future still fewer have developed the literacy skills necessary for textual study - you and I have an obligation to these youth to provide them with the best Bible studies of which we are capable.
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