On Memorizing the (Whole) Bible

When I read Ruth in Hebrew I can still hear my first Hebrew teacher, Dennis Magary, declaiming the text. In class, when students would ask about a particular construction, Magary would pause for a moment, and then say, “It doesn’t occur.” If nothing else, I thought, that’s a neat teaching trick. None of us could call his bluff! But, John Monson claims in this rollicking podcast, Magary has the whole thing memorized. 

If you want to do the same, take a look at Kim Phillips’s article on medieval Bible memorization techniques: 

The verbatim memorisation of large stretches of the biblical text is almost entirely neglected today. We might do ‘memory verses’, but what about ‘memory chapters’ or ‘memory books’? For medieval Jews and Christians, on the other hand, large-scale scripture memorisation was a vital part of spiritual formation. Could it be that this neglect, perhaps encouraged by the ready access we have to the bible via our phones, means we are missing out on a once-treasured tool for discipleship?

Large-scale text memorisation played a significant part in education and spiritual formation throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages. This involved the disciplined training of one’s memory via intricate mnemonic techniques. Memorisation devices and techniques were discussed at length by various classical and medieval authors. This training aimed not at the ability merely to reel off large stretches of text parrot-fashion, but rather to encode a text in one’s memory in such a way that any part of the text could be retrieved at any point, or systematically searched.

Kim recommends beginning with the book of Psalms:

In historian Mary Carruthers’ fascinating study of memory in medieval culture, she notes: ‘The book which Christians, both clergy and educated laity, were sure to know by heart was the Psalms.’ In a recent study of manuscripts created as memory aids by members of the medieval Jewish community in Egypt, I have come to similar conclusions. Among all the biblical texts, the Psalter is the most frequently memorised, and this was not merely the feat of an exceptional minority, but was attained by a range of the Jewish community.

Or take Ellie Wiener’s account of memorizing the entire book of Job in Hebrew in 6 months: 

My routine was as follows: rising early, I would start familiar chapters of Job rolling through my head soon after popping out of bed. As my memorised chapters accumulated, I developed an elaborate system of rotating chapter review, practicing chapters every day until I felt confident to review that block of text every two days, then every three. Eventually, before arriving at Tyndale House to begin the work day, I had already gone over 7–10 chapters in my head. I was becoming a ‘mobile Job,’ able to bring the book with me to the gym, the shower, or the streets of Cambridge.

Then I devoted my first 60–90 minutes of library time to reviewing my most recently learned (and therefore most tenuous) material and adding new verses. My brain’s ability to absorb Hebrew happily increased over time, allowing me to raise my rate of acquisition: initially I added 5–6 new verses per day, and by the end, I was learning 8–10 new verses per day. … After finishing the whole book, I ran through 14 chapters in my head every day, 6 days per week, such that I would complete Job twice per week. With the text now well secured, I review just 7 chapters per day before coming to the library.

Or, if you prefer, be like Paul and memorize the whole Bible in Greek. According to E.P. Sanders,

“Paul had probably memorized the text of the Greek translation of Jewish Scripture. … Christian scholars with whom I have discussed this usually regard massive memorization as being so difficult that it is not worth considering as a possibility. Jewish scholars, however, think that it is not only plausible but probable. Jewish scholars still live in a world in which a good rabbi can quote not only the Bible but many rabbinic passages as well. They are consequently better positioned to understand the ancient world. … We would all understand Paul much better if the words of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures were running through our brains, as they were through his.” - E.P. Sanders, Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought (London: SCM Press, 2016), 73-74.

As a modern analogy, someone in my household observed that any concert pianist will have 10’s of thousands of bars of piano music committed to memory.

Full disclosure: I am not currently engaged in any large-scale memorization project. Baby steps.