Take, Read: From Seuss to Scripture - Part I

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” ~ John 1:1

Words have a certain power, whether spoken or written. The Bible is the greatest example of the power of the Word, however many books over the centuries have instructed us, influenced us and captured our imagination. One must have a certain appreciation for books whether one is an avid book reader or not or whether the last book read was Goodnight, Moon or something written by C.S. Lewis. We cannot take lightly the privilege of being literate when the majority of the world’s population since the beginning of time has not been. And in this day and age with libraries, bookstores and the internet, we have the world and its knowledge at our fingertips.

If we go back several centuries, suggests Steve Jones, a communications professor, we find that “people were enormously suspicious about the printed word. Somebody’s words, written down and distributed on a mass scale, were thought to be dangerous.” There must still be anxiety about the disruptive danger of reading, or books wouldn’t continue to be banned from schools and burned by political regimes. Books arouse us, challenge accepted ideas, and stimulate new ones.*

Many of the stories that first captured our heart and imagination were read to us while sitting on our mother’s or father’s lap. We probably all have our favorite children’s books we still remember and treasure and have possibly even carried on the tradition by reading them to our own children. For many of us, our lives take shape, as another author says “under the curve” of a parent’s arm or surrounded by the “calm caress” of a parent’s reading voice.

Having children rewards an adult with the privilege of reading just for fun. It gives us permission to read children’s books, read aloud, and read with a warm body or two or three pressed close. Children are a gift. Books are a gift. Engaging both can be an immense pleasure in life.

But reading for pleasure and capturing our imagination is one thing. Can we truly enhance our spiritual life simply by reading? What does Dr. Seuss have to do with Scripture anyway? For young children, a story is true not because it is factual, says theologian Ann Thurston, but because it “connects with their own experience.” Children who recognize such imaginative truth are especially open to the “myth and poetry and truth of the biblical stories.” She likens story to both play and liturgy. So there is a benefit to opening up fantastical and imaginative worlds through stories for children. Maybe that’s why the lore of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy still persist, and most of us are ok with that (though some have decided to use alternative methods to teach similar messages). Several centuries ago the father of eastern orthodoxy, John Chrysostom, ranked storytelling high on his list of ways to nurture children in a Christian “pattern of life.” Stories from scripture are best, he says, but he also encourages parents to use the heroes and marvels of pagan stories to stir a child’s imagination and prepare them for stories of faith. The author is quick to mention that though books need not be overtly religious to be valuable, reading as a practice of faith must include books that offer an alternative to some of the prominent stories of wider culture.

Seuss may seem to have written nonsensical stories that are simply for fun and pleasure (in fact, his first script was rejected 27 times for not having any purpose or moral to the story) however through his many books, there is an undercurrent of morality without being preachy. “Without being a moralist, “ assents Anderson, Seuss “managed to provoke the moral imagination of children ‘who have ears to hear.’”

Books bring us into deeper moral and intellectual relationship with ourselves, others, our world, and God.

* italics mine

All text in green comes from Chapter 8 of In the Midst of Chaos by Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore