When did you last get lost in a good book?

A YouGov poll in 2025 stated that 40% of UK adults have not read or listened to a single book in the last 12 months, and The Reading Agency’s “State of the Nation” report in the same year found that 35% of UK adults identify themselves as “lapsed readers,” having stopped their regular reading habits.

Perhaps the most worrying part of this trend can be seen in children; the latest annual survey by the National Literacy Trust showed the lowest levels of daily reading (18.7% of 8- to 18-year-olds) since records began in 2005.

The Times columnist and canary in the mine, James Marriott, has been sounding the alarm call about the death of reading for some time. You can catch his documentary podcasts on BBC Sounds – I particularly recommend the series “How Reading Made Us” – and September marks the publication of his new book The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-Literate Society.

Of course, reading, and near-universal literacy, has not always been the human experience; it is a relatively recent phenomenon. For a long time, reading was not something which everyone was able to do. The patterning and repetition found in the Old Testament points to the importance of oral tradition in building memory – "These commandments that I give to you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up" (Deut. 6v6-7) – but the following verses also highlight the value of the written word: "Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates" (v9).

Marriott’s Radio 4 series How Reading Made Us considers the move from oral tradition to literate societies and how that has shaped our world. Amusingly, some of the same concerns that we have today about how technologies are shaping our brains were the same back then – Socrates bemoaned the written word claiming it would "introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice using their memory because they will put their trust in writing." Plus ça change, or as Ecclesiastes reminds us, there is nothing new under the sun!

Another feature of this radio series which I found fascinating was the link between Protestantism and literacy. The Reformers’ focus on individual Christians being able to read the Scriptures for themselves led to a significant rise in literacy rates across Europe. This has even been tracked to areas of Protestant missionary activity across the globe which shows a correlation between the distance to a Protestant mission and literacy rates in the nearest villages.

So, reading is valuable, but it is also under threat. How can we engage with this topic and trend as Christians? I think the Bible has at least three things to say:

Firstly, there is a challenge for us to keep reading God’s Word. If “ordinary” reading is good for our brains, how much better the Word of God? In an era dominated by short-form video and soundbites, there is something rich and rewarding about marinating ourselves in the Bible – Psalm 119 is a good place to start! Interestingly, even seekers recognise this. The “TikTok Vicar”, Revd David Sims, has given out thousands of Bibles to people wanting something deeper and more satisfying than doomscrolling through endless videos on social media.

Secondly, though, there is a challenge for us as evangelicals to avoid becoming overly academic and excluding the less literate. Not many members of the early church would have been literate. Paul urges Timothy to “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching” (1 Tim.4v13). Reading Scripture aloud and talking it through in an accessible way in our churches needs careful thought. As the parent of a very dyslexic young adult who finds Bible study extremely tough, and having been a member of inner-city congregations with adults who have literacy difficulties, we must be careful not to turn Christianity into an academic exercise. Jesus used visual aids and used storytelling to connect with all His listeners and perhaps we could lean into that a little more.

Finally, we must not forget that Jesus is the Word of God. As Hebrews chapter 1 reminds us, "in the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son." For Christians, reading is not an end in itself – as Martin Luther put it, "the Scriptures are the cradle in which we find the Christ." One day we will not need to read our Bibles to know Jesus; we will see Him face to face. We will know Him as He knows us. Hebrews 8v1-12 (quoting Jeremiah), reminds us that God’s promise is for all who trust in Jesus – keen readers, reluctant readers and non-readers.

"I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbours, or say to one another, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness, and I will remember their sins no more."