Educating and Reaching the Post-literate World
The Role of the Spiritual Discipline of Memorization
I believe we are headed toward a post-literate world. A post-literate world is one in which almost all people are literate (they can read) and yet are functionally illiterate. Someone is functionally illiterate when they can read, such as tiny snips of text, but have never read anything worth reading. Considering the Bible is the text most worth reading, this is a problem.
As Christians, we are people of the Bible. People of the Bible are shaped by the life-giving message of the word. But how can a generation of new Christians, who are post-literate, get this life-giving message in their bones?
I believe, more than ever, that language is shaped in human relationships. Words, in their original context, are a part of a real, existential present. The words we use are shaped and come about by spoken utterances addresses from people to other people. Words, if left only on a page, are useless. They must be in us and between us, in the air of conversation.
How can we bring the Bible into this spoken context, which is now the only medium useful for reaching post-literate people? I believe, more than ever, memorization is key. And I'm not talking the casual memorization you learned as a kid.
The first type of memorization that should be used is summary memorization of the entire Bible. Every chapter of the Bible should hold a place in your mind as well as summary statements of every book of the Bible. Every story should able to be verbally shared, in summary.
This should be the first layer of discipleship given to post-literate people. Meeting regularly, discussions should center around the summarization of entire books of the Bible, until the discipled Christian can comfortably wrap their mind around the entire Bible and be able to discuss it.
A resource for this could be the book A Divine Tapestry, by Ryan M. McGraw. He gives summaries of every book of the Bible, every chapter of the Bible, and gives memory verses for each chapter of the Bible. This resource offers a roadmap for making sense of the Bible and how it is tied together thematically.
The second type of memorization is extended memorization. Extended memorization is any section of Scripture which includes and entire book or prolonged section. A section of Scripture, like the Sermon on the Mount, would be considered and extended section of memorization l, as well as an entire book of the Bible.
I believe the goal for every Christian in a Post-literate World should be the verbatim memorization of most (if not all) of New Testament as well as the Psalms. I say most of the New Testament because of the synoptic gospels being so similar. It may be more beneficial to memorize Luke (since it is the same author as Acts) and then only memorize out of Mark and Matthew as needed (such as with the Sermon on the Mount and the Olivet Discourse). Because the first layer of memorization is complete, a structure of the synoptic gospels is already held in the mind and verbatim memorization is not necessary.
This may sound insane but, with Mark and Matthew taken out, the New Testament contains 6,208 verses. At 3 verses a day this can be done in under six years. As for the Psalms, I believe these should be memorized over the lifetime of the Christian as part of the spiritual discipline of prayer. It would also be smart if churches incorporated the Psalms in the singing parts of their services to aid in memorization.
3 verses a day sounds like a lot and, at first it is, but after months of effort it becomes easy. The mind adapts after some time and the speed of memorization picks up. Today I have memorized 5 verses (as of 8:30 am this morning) and yesterday I did something like 10. The speed of memorization picks up over time as the mind adapts, but at first it will feel impossible. This is why we come to memorization as a discipline and not as an innate ability. The ability comes with the work.
With these two layers of memorization, summarized memorization and verbatim memorization, completed, I then believe the Christian, in a Post-literate World, should memorize theological themes and concepts. Using something like the Baker Theological Dictionary or various prolonged books on specific theological concepts and themes are would then give the Christian the ability to verbally communicate complex topics at ease.
All three of these layers, taken together, would give Christians the ability to communicate their faith in a verbal context. The performance of this knowledge, if done in humility, would speak directly to people in a post-literate world and would give a template for other Christians to grow in their own faith. If I had a lot of energy and a lot of love for Jesus, as post-literate Christians do, and I went to a Bible study with someone who had gone through the work I described above, it would be inspiring. It would give me the confidence to go forward with a road map toward spiritual maturity and give me an example to follow. It would also cut out the need for me to spend massive amounts of time reading alone, doing something I don't have the skills to do. I, personally, don't see another way to educate the next generation.