You wrote: "It's not difficult to let the words of the Bible wash through your eyes and your awareness in a very rapid way, but I doubt that doing so allows a person to do justice to understanding the culture and historical period of each section of what you're reading..."

I agree.

As a general rule, I think STUDYING the Bible is of greater value than reading it through quickly. But....

There IS value in getting a broad overview of the Bible. Forcing yourself to read it through cover-to-cover gives you that broad overview. As one goes through, they can highlight things, make notes, etc. And then after they've gone through it, they can go back and do deeper in those areas.

I study the Bible all the time. This is the quickest I've ever gone through it.

But I certainly don't recommend that people JUST read it through quickly.

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (II Timothy 2:15)