Like Rosalynde and Eve, I have a hard time reading things from a computer. Though in my case it’s (obviously!) not since I want to be able to mark things up–I just find it more difficult, though I’m not entirely sure why. I love that I can frequently look up articles and access their full text online, without the bother of going to the library, but I find that if I really want to read (and not just skim) the article, I do better with a hard copy. So I’m impressed that you’ve converted to reading straight off the computer, Ziff.

Eve, it was very kind of you to loan me your books, so I’ve done my best not to look a gift book in the margins.

Another advantage is that my typed notes are always legible. The same cannot be said for my handwritten notes, particularly given how little space there is in the margins of scriptures (and I don’t even use the tiny kind that you do, Lynnette!).

I keep a journal as part of my scripture study, but I’ve decided the value is in the act of writing things down itself, which is somehow significant to me for reasons I don’t completely understand. But what I’ve written usually makes me cringe later. I guess that’s the inevitable problem of journals. Treasure troves for scholars–minefields for authors. :>

I personally must have a pencil in hand for any sort of productive reading—how on earth else do you remember the passages and points you need for later use? Which is why I sort of hate reading things on the computer.

;>

Serenity, the situation with my classmate was definitely a bizarre one. The only thing I could think was that she was so caught up in paying attention to the lecture that she forgot that the book wasn’t actually hers and just started taking notes out of habit.

Annegb, I might be horrified by your books, but then my own sister Eve–as she has confessed in this very thread–has been known to exhibit similar tendencies. (And somehow Kiskilili and I, the purists of the family when it comes to writing in books, have managed not to disown her.)

RT, that comment about later realizing your insights were actually inaccurate made me laugh–I’ve had a similar experience! But I like your point that the act of marking itself is for some people an important part of their devotional activity. That seems to go along well with what Stephen said about it being a process of cooperative writing; when put like that, I can see its appeal.

Dave, I definitely agree that marking can be a substitute for actually engaging the text; my Seminary experience would back that up. People reading the scriptures and marking what they find meaningful makes sense to me, even if I’m personally iffy about it, but I’m more than a little skeptical about the value of marking scriptures that someone else told you that you should find meaningful.

JWL, that’s an interesting observation about fear of committing yourself to one interpretive position being a possible motivation. I’d never thought of that in this context, but I can identify a lot with that concern, so maybe there’s more behind my behavior than I realized.

Katya, it’s good to hear from another member of the not-writing-in-books club. And I really like the idea of linking scriptures to hymns. Some of my favorite scriptures are my favorites because they have such good musical associations.

Kiskilili, that’s a great story about the open-Bible test; I hadn’t thought much about how this might play out in different religious traditions. (As you know, we theologians don’t crack our Bibles much, so this hasn’t come up for me much in an academic context.)

Still, I marked a number of cheap copies of the Book of Mormon in my time.

As I’ve gotten older, books have become more consumeable to me.

But the scriptures, they are a cooperative writing, the marking in them my part of joining in the process of creating them with meaning in my life.