I don't think any Christian would disagree that Bible study is important, both individual and in a group, however I am coming to see that the way in which we study the Bible is also important, particularly given the recent rise in alternative methods such as Lectio Divina. I am not going to comment on that particular method here, but would encourage anyone who is interested to follow this link. Instead I want to concentrate on an increasingly common way of doing Bible study, particularly in groups, where those involved are encouraged not just to read the passage and understand it but to try and think their way into the emotions of the characters, including the writer of the passage. It is meant to be a way of making the scriptures come alive, and it can be quite successful in doing that, however it can also be fraught with dangers, the main one being that we read our own emotions into the story.
Feelings are not ignored in the Bible - one only has to read the Psalms to see that - however many of the stories in the Bible tell of what people did, rather than what they felt. The type of study mentioned above seeks to fill in this gap, however I can't help but wonder if we are really meant to do that. If God wanted us to know how individuals felt, would he not have said so? When we read emotions into a passage primarily concerned with actions, are we not adding to scripture? In Jeremiah 17:9 we read that 'The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.' however in the next verse we find that 'I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.' (NIV - emphasis mine.) So our emotions (which come from the heart) are not to be trusted but God rewards us according to what we do, rather than feel, which is a relief, to me anyway.
It seems to me that the rise in popularity of this kind of Bible study is linked to the general rise of Romanticism in the church - the elevation of imagination to the status of revelation, the elevation of experience over obedience, the elevation of emotion over action. Christianity ultimately is a decision, not a feeling. It is not of works but true faith manifests itself in works i.e. actions. Perhaps that is why so many Bible stories are about actions, not feelings.
