What comes to mind when you hear the phrase – “the close reading of a text”?
I picture someone holding a textbook really, really close to his eyeball.
But, imagination aside, that is not what it means.
It means reading attentively.
It means being observant, very observant, of what the text says.
What would be the opposite?
Scanning, skimming, a cursory reading, a glance.
I am all for cursory reading of magazines, news articles, web pages and blogs.
But I am for the close reading of the text of Scripture.
The sheer pace of an electronic media-dominated culture is entirely too fast. Electronic media flash sounds and images at us at a remarkable rate of speed … We become acclimated to distraction, to multitasking, to giving part of our attention to many things at once, while almost never devoting the entire attention of the entire soul to anything. The close reading of texts would be an antidote to such a pace because such reading is time-consuming and requires the concentration of the entire person.
From the book Why Johnny Can’t Preach by T. David Gordon