New technologies have drastically changed the way we access texts of all kinds. In addition to the classic printed book, people read written works on phones, tablets, computers, and purpose-designed e-readers. I myself am an avid Kindle user; I use it to do a good portion of my own reading, whether academic or recreational.
Ebooks do offer many advantages over physical books-- they are easily searchable, generally more portable and accessible anywhere, fonts and other formatting can be adjusted-- the list goes on and on. If one uses an actual e-reader which is optimized with things like e-ink, many of the benefits are increased, and many disadvantages which one might suffer when reading on a computer or phone are diminished.
However, physical books do have some distinct advantages which make them worthwhile in certain cases. Studies so far do seem to indicate that the tactile nature of a physical book is better for retention and for understanding how parts of a book fit together. There is something about a physical book that you can "get to know" in a way you can't do so easily with an ebook.
With the wide variety of options for textual access, we should reflect about our engagement with Scripture. Does it matter how we read the Bible? Is our choice of medium indifferent, as long as we are reading the Word of God?
Of course, the first and most important thing to say is that any Bible-reading is better than not reading. If you are reading on your phone, tablet, or computer screen, you are still reading the Word of God, and the Lord can and will still use his word powerfully.
And yet, there is more to say when it comes to Bible-reading for Christians.
It is important for us to remember that the Christian life is a long-haul endeavor, and we read the Bible for the long-haul. It's not for nothing that the book of Hebrews is so focused on encouraging believers to "run with endurance the race that is set before us" (12:1, ESV). When we conduct our regular Bible-reading as Christians, the goal is not simply extracting information quickly, but being slowly shaped and sanctified by God's word over weeks, months, and years.
Both our information age and Christian culture's tendency is to try to quickly scan and pick out verses or phrases that give us a spiritual boost, but Bible-reading for the long-haul will have a different approach to the Scriptures. If we want to be people who are deeply formed by God's word, we need to take it in slowly and deliberately. We need to understand the big picture, and we need to meditate on the smaller pieces which make up that picture. As Psalm 119 tells us, we must "study" the Lord's precepts and "meditate" on his statutes.
If we want to be fed by Scripture to endure the Christian life and run the race well, we need deep, immersive engagement with God's Word.
This long-haul perspective on Bible-reading informs our choice of medium when reading. When it comes to quickly checking what a verse says, an app is just as accurate and often more accessible than a paper Bible. But when it comes to long term reflection and formation-- if your goal is to study and meditate on the Word of God-- a physical Bible is clearly superior. There are a number of reasons for this (see the study linked above), but below I will unpack just two major reasons why this is the case.
Reading Undistracted
One reason why reading a physical Bible is so much better for the kind of long-haul reading we need as Christians is because it provides an undistracted reading experience. Studies have shown and anecdotal experience supports the fact that reading on a digital device is an inherently more distracting experience. When notifications go off, the temptation to check other apps lurks, or even when we see interactive features in the reading app we are using, it creates distractions which shift our attention from what we are reading.
Some of these distractions are vanishingly brief, but even those momentary, unconscious distractions reduce our comprehension and retention.
Admittedly, dedicated e-readers suffer from this problem less than other forms of electronic reading, but a physical Bible solves the problem most easily and conclusively. When one uses a physical Bible, there is the opportunity for undistracted reading. While it is still up to you to manage other, outside distractions, there are no features in the Bible itself which continually draw your eyes or mind away from the text.
Getting to Know Your Bible
A second reason physical Bibles are far better for long-term growth in the Scriptures is because of the way in which we can "get to know" a physical book. Our minds have the incredible capability of getting to know the physical "geography" of a Bible in a way that isn't possible with an app or document that we scroll through. The tactile experience of handling the book and flipping the pages, of seeing the text in the same place on the same page repeatedly, allows us to become incredibly familiar with a Bible over time. This effect can be enhanced further if you personally engage by marking up your Bible as you read, and if you use the same physical Bible over a long period of time (this is one major reason I think everyone should have one main Bible they use for most things).
We simply cannot engage an app or ebook in the same way. Electronic texts do not provide the same kind of tactile, geographic experience which allows us to know them deeply. Even on my Kindle which allows for "annotations" in the books, the kind of connection made by my mind to the physical location in a book can't be replicated.
Over time, the effect of getting to know your physical Bible will contribute to better knowledge of the contents of Scripture, deeper Scripture memory, and ease in looking up passages. As the physical book becomes more and more familiar to you, so the word of God which it contains will become more and more deeply ingrained in you. The benefit here seems hard to deny!
For these two reasons alone, it seems clear to me that making use of a physical Bible as one's primary tool for engaging the Scriptures is a no-brainer. There is a useful place for the digital tools and apps which we have access to, but if we are going to be long-haul Bible readers, there is no substitute for a familiar physical copy of God's word.
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