Paul J. Griffiths, in his book Religious Reading, speaks of the Christian way of “training the conscience” as involving three practices: worship, prayer, and reading scripture. His book is devoted to making that third element a more deliberate, religious act, learning to read “in a particular way.” His endeavor is about more than developing personal spirituality. A primary focus of religious reading, for him, is how reading scripture enables believers to gain hold of their own faith as “a religious account.” What Griffiths means by “a religious account,” though, is what is important. He means that our experience of our faith tradition must provide a “comprehensive” narrative. It must be “unsurpassed” by competing versions, offering us the best available interpretive matrix, and it must address in a “central” way the most pressing issues and questions in our lives.1
One might quibble about the exact criteria Griffiths selects, but...
