it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living bible?

This is some Søren Kierkegaard with a good, swift kick to the academic crotch [at least it was to me]...

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the very minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming to close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without it? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.