Christians memorize passages of Scripture word for word so that the text is carried in the heart and available at need.
Tagged: Meditation Scripture Study
How It Is Practiced
Verses are chosen — individually, by a church program, or from a system such as the topical memory courses — written on cards or kept in an app, and recited aloud daily, with earlier verses reviewed on a rotating schedule so they are retained. Churches and movements hold recitation contests and award programs for children; adults practice it as part of the quiet time, often a verse or two a week, meditating on the passage while it is learned.
Purpose and Meaning
The warrant most often quoted is Psalm 119: 'I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.' Memorization treats Scripture not as reference material to be consulted but as provision to be carried — into temptation, grief, sickness, and deathbeds, where a book may not be at hand. It is also a form of meditation: a text learned by heart is turned over in the mind for years.
References
- Bible Study (Christianity) — Wikipedia Free / open access
Related Practices
- The Quiet Time — The quiet time is a daily period alone with Scripture and prayer, usually in the morning, kept by evangelical Christians around the world.
- Journaling and Commonplace Books — Generations of Christians have kept notebooks of Scripture, prayer, and self-examination as a daily devotional discipline.
- Reciting the Psalms (Tehillim) — The Book of Psalms is Judaism's prayer book within the Bible, recited whole in cycles and verse by verse in trouble, illness, and thanksgiving.
Related Across the Site
- Devotional Reading Plans Devotion — Reading plans lead the reader through the whole Bible, or a book of it, in daily portions across a year or a season.
- Journaling and Commonplace Books Devotion — Generations of Christians have kept notebooks of Scripture, prayer, and self-examination as a daily devotional discipline.
- The Quiet Time Devotion — The quiet time is a daily period alone with Scripture and prayer, usually in the morning, kept by evangelical Christians around the world.
- The Rosary Devotion — The Rosary is a meditative prayer that moves through the life of Christ and Mary on a circle of beads.
- Torah Study as Devotion Devotion — In Judaism, study is itself worship: the daily portion, the weekly cycle, and the paired argument of the study house are acts of devotion.
- Jesus Prayer Prayer or Creed — A short, repeated invocation of Jesus asking for mercy, central to the Orthodox hesychast tradition.
- Prayers of the Rosary Prayer or Creed — The set of prayers prayed on the beads of the Rosary, including the Fatima Prayer and the Hail Holy Queen.
- The Lord's Prayer (Our Father) Prayer or Creed — The prayer Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, shared by Christians of every tradition.