Biblical Reasoning and the value of devout reading

Abstract ‘Biblical Reasoning’ is an experimental practice of shared scriptural reading amongst Christians from different churches. A central motivation for its development was the hope that it might provide a space within which ecumenical differences could be explored, and in which strands of deep mutual learning could grow across those differences. Some recent experiments in Biblical Reasoning have not worked out in quite this way, however: the ecumenical differences of the participants have seldom risen to the surface, and the forms of discussion sustained have neither taken us deep into those differences, nor created explicit possibilities for learning across them. They have certainly provided opportunities for the deepening of trust and for enriching interpersonal relationships, but the differences that they have brought most visibly to the surface have been differences in participants’ assessment of the status of lectio ‐like practices of shared reading, and of their capacity to be the site for the generation of authentic readings of scripture.