Reading bible first before reading Christian mystics such as St. John of the Cross or Teresa of Avil

I'm Christian a relatively short time (7 years) and I've never read stuff like that.

Here's my thoughts though. If you don't understand Scripture and the nature of Salvation and what it all means in action, then you won't be able to understand the "why" of why some Christians devote their lives in certain ways, and much of their stories will be lost to you...

As a result, I would start with Scripture, or seek a greater understanding of that first.

JK2021 said:

I've heard a lot about Cristian mystics such as St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. I'm interested in reading more about them. I haven't dived deeply into the bible yet though. Should I read the Bible from beginning to end first before I go on and read such mystics? Will I get confused by reading them if I'm not familiar enough with the Bible? Or is there no harm in reading their works without having read the Bible much?

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Bible first or both at the same time with an edition of their works that puts footnotes of all the Biblical references. All of these people will frequently reference the Scriptures so it helps to know what they are talking about. Sometimes there will be a reference without a citation or in a way only a person who has read the Bible would catch the meaning. I'd probably do the Bible first because of that.

JK2021 said:

I've heard a lot about Cristian mystics such as St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. I'm interested in reading more about them. I haven't dived deeply into the bible yet though. Should I read the Bible from beginning to end first before I go on and read such mystics? Will I get confused by reading them if I'm not familiar enough with the Bible? Or is there no harm in reading their works without having read the Bible much?

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If you'd like, I strongly recommend The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus. You won't get confused about the bible in any way, but it will make the bible "come alive" for you if you read it first.

JK2021 said:

I've heard a lot about Cristian mystics such as St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. I'm interested in reading more about them. I haven't dived deeply into the bible yet though. Should I read the Bible from beginning to end first before I go on and read such mystics? Will I get confused by reading them if I'm not familiar enough with the Bible? Or is there no harm in reading their works without having read the Bible much?

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Let me give an example.:-
Someone has left school, they've done well, good grades etc etc. Does the result of high school studies equal the result of university studies?

You are a young Christian with poor knowledge of the bible and of theology.
Please learn what and why you believe, before investigate some of the more difficult teaching.

Suggestion, apart from your use of things like,'every day with Jesus', start reading whole chapters of the bible. If you are going to read through it in a year that is roughly four chapters a day.
Have a notebook for your reading of chapters, record which book and what chapters you read each day and note, what passages struck you, why and what did it cause you to pray about.

organisations like the Navigators have good schemes for memorising scripture. try them.

get involved in your church.
All these help one grow in knowledge and experience of Jesus.

JK2021 said:

I've heard a lot about Cristian mystics such as St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. I'm interested in reading more about them. I haven't dived deeply into the bible yet though. Should I read the Bible from beginning to end first before I go on and read such mystics? Will I get confused by reading them if I'm not familiar enough with the Bible? Or is there no harm in reading their works without having read the Bible much?

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Bible first. Try as much as you can to memorize Bible verses. You should arm yourself with the sword of the Spirit (Word of God) to protect yourself from being deceived.

JK2021 said:

I've heard a lot about Cristian mystics such as St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. I'm interested in reading more about them. I haven't dived deeply into the bible yet though. Should I read the Bible from beginning to end first before I go on and read such mystics? Will I get confused by reading them if I'm not familiar enough with the Bible? Or is there no harm in reading their works without having read the Bible much?

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Why, when you can go straight the Source, would you resort to a second-hand, pre-chewed version of it?