Weird Question From Christian Student...

[Gabriela]

A student of mine just asked me if I know of any "Catholic" ways, techniques, methods, etc. to memorize Scripture. My first thought was, "It's more important to live it than to memorize it..." But that's not what he's asking.

 

Anyone know of anything from Church history? I should think this actually got discussed in pre-modern times.

Edited August 16, 2013 by curiousing

[arfink]

Why do you need to memorize it in a Catholic way? You can memorize scripture much as you memorize anything else: repetition.

[krissylou]

A student of mine just asked me if I know of any "Catholic" ways, techniques, methods, etc. to memorize Scripture. My first thought was, "It's more important to live it than to memorize it..." But that's not what he's asking.

 

Anyone know of anything from Church history? I should think this actually got discussed in pre-modern times.

 

I think the Desert Fathers would memorize vast portions of Scripture.  The entire Psalter for starters.  Likely all the Gospels too.

 

I never heard of any particular memorization techniques but maybe I just haven't heard about them.

 

Mateo Ricci, who was a Renaissance-era Jesuit missionary to China did have a lot of memory-aid tricks up his sleeve.  There's a biography about him called "The Memory Palace of Mateo Ricci."

[dUSt]

I think the problem with memorizing Scripture is that you most likely only memorize one translation.

[arfink]

I think the problem with memorizing Scripture is that you most likely only memorize one translation.

 

Memorize the original Greek and Aramaic and Hebrew, and bam, you're all set.
 

[Basilisa Marie]

I don't think there are any "official" Catholic ways of memorizing scripture.  I think the idea of it is more important to Protestant groups that focused on a literal interpretation of scripture.  Catholics learned their faith not by memorizing scripture, but through art and catechisms. In fact, children were probably more likely to have parts of the Baltimore catechism memorized than the Bible. 

[Era Might]

Tell him to check out the Didascalicon by Hugh of St. Victor. It's one of the first pedagogical treatises. Memorization was an important aspect of ancient learning. The method Hugh proposes is sort of turning the mind into a Noah's ark, and each event in salvation history is sort of like an area of the ark. "Wisdom" is a personal thing for Hugh...literally, it is a relationship with Christ, so salvation history is very personal as well, not mere memorization.

 

For an introduction to Hugh and how medievals read, check out "In the Vineyard of the Text" by Ivan Illich.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Era Might

[KnightofChrist]

A student of mine just asked me if I know of any "Catholic" ways, techniques, methods, etc. to memorize Scripture. My first thought was, "It's more important to live it than to memorize it..." But that's not what he's asking.

Anyone know of anything from Church history? I should think this actually got discussed in pre-modern times.

Yes, indeed there is by the Angelic Doctor no doubt.


Aquinas on Memory and Study
Source: http://www.hyoomik.com/phi205/memory.htm

[Gabriela]

Why do you need to memorize it in a Catholic way? You can memorize scripture much as you memorize anything else: repetition.

 

I don't think he wants to memorize it in a specifically Catholic way. It seems to me he's read a lot about the topic and he mentioned that everything he reads on it suggests the same methods for memorizing (probably repetition). He's looking for different techniques, and he just thought that, since everything he's read so far has been Protestant (because they place much stronger emphasis on memorizing Scripture than Catholics do), that Catholics might have some different approaches.

[tinytherese]

I've only read a little of it, but I know that there's this book

 

Memorize the Faith and Most Anything Else Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters by Kevin Vost.

[Jaime]

Memorizing the catechism would be super helpful

[Winchester]

I memorized my driver's license number, once.

[Anastasia13]

Memorizing the catechism would be super helpful

 

Jaime, you are alive...

[Era Might]

I memorized my driver's license number, once.

 

I bet it's your SS Number too.

[Era Might]

I've only read a little of it, but I know that there's this book

 

Memorize the Faith and Most Anything Else Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters by Kevin Vost.

 

That book sounds awesome.