Lately, I’ve been feeling a pull (more like a shove) to read Scripture more. Fortunately, I was coincidentally (or perhaps, God-incidentally) given the opportunity to read Ignite: Read the Bible Like Never Before by Deacon Harold Burkes-Sivers and Sonja Corbitt. I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I LOVED this book! Ignite begins by unwrapping the practice of Lectio Divina. The authors carefully explain the process, its benefits, and provide examples. Corbitt gives an easy-to-remember and very appropriate acronym; LOVE. The authors end each chapter with a beautifully written example of the LOVE Lectio Divina method which helps solidify both the practice and the topics described in the chapter. The book covers a variety of topics that help enrich understanding of Scripture. What I really appreciated was though they were giving a lot of information about the intellectual interpretation of the Bible, they also provided connections to our lives and relationship with God. The information in the book was phenomenal, and though it was heavy, it was presented in an accessible way. Though two people were collaborating on this book, it read smoothly.
I really only have two pieces of criticism for this book, and they are minor. There was one image in the book, and it was very low quality. I am all for providing graphics to illustrate the topic, but it should be of decent quality. My other criticism is the random “Amens!” and “Hallelujahs!” Personally, I found them annoying. Obviously, we should praise God, but reading them tripped me up. There were definitely points where I paused just to talk to God because I sincerely was in awe of what I just read, but I could’ve done without them added in by the authors.
All things considered, I think this was a phenomenal book, and I recommend it to any Christian who wants to read the Bible better.
If you want to read my other book reviews, click here.
If you want some shorter books on how to read the Bible, I recommend The Bible by Trent Horn and Scripture and Tradition by Jim Blackburn.
I’ve also written several posts about interpretation of Scripture:
- 10 tips
- Why we don’t follow every law from the Old Testament
- Why Jesus not speaking on a specific topic doesn’t negate its importance
- Responding to non-Christians who want to see biblical principles inconsistently applied
