The overarching theme of the Guide to Daily Meditation and Praying the Bible is the deep desire of the authors to hear from God through the prayed and meditated reading of scripture. Magrassi and Bonhoeffer fundamentally agree on the premise that prayer and meditation are a necessity and that to study scripture is to learn more about God. As students of the text and children of God, one evolves during the process of reading the sacred words. To simply read the words without deep contemplation severely limits the capacity to grasp any depth of the text, much less hear God speak in a personal way. Magrassi states that to “go beyond the letter of scripture to its spirit, I personally encounter the living Christ” (Magrassi, p. 21). While Bonhoeffer passionately says, “I am sinning against my own office if I do not daily seek the word in prayer that my Lord would speak to me today” (Bonhoeffer, p. 932). Both theologians also agree that study of the Bible must be a consistent part of one’s life. “Read, read slowly, keep reading, reread it” comes to mind (Strawn). The first line of Praying the Bible, Magrassi …show more content…
Nonetheless, there is a distinct difference in the two frameworks previously mentioned. Magrassi’s outline for studying scripture highlights a set of guidelines and provides principles by way of describing dispositions associated with the use of those guidelines. The dispositions are described as ascetical, diligence, wisdom, dialogue and commitment. These dispositions will hopefully assist the reader to experience more productive and fulfilling time with God by preparing the heart before reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation of the Bible. The guidelines provide flexibility in such a way that allows one to come as they are which honors the person as an individual and honors God as our