Software: The Death of Memory?

Last week my Catholic historical theology professor quipped, “Ten years ago I could tell who was Protestant and who was Catholic sitting in my classes because the Protestants knew their Bible. Now I can tell by who has the best Bible Software.”

I use and benefit from my Bible Software daily, but that’s no excuse for neglecting regular and repeated reading and memorization of Scripture. The sad truth is that Bible Software has made students dependent on their machines rather than their memory for knowing and accessing the scriptures with speed and accuracy. This reminds me of Plato’s famous criticism of books as a means of destroying memory.

One of my seminary professors was fond of citing Luther’s encouragement to his students, “Read scripture regularly and repeatedly until you become a fit concordance.” I could not find the source of the quote, but his point stands. I am no Luddite and I have no illusions that Bible software is going away. What, if anything, can be done to encourage students to know the scriptures by heart rather than simply relying on computers to access them quickly? Or is this not really that important? Am I just old-fashioned? What is lost when memory gives way to software?

Reading for Lent

The good people at Logos Bible Software are offering big sales on some great books for Lent. The two best offers are:

N. T. Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God is only $17.49

Raymond Brown's classic two volume on the passion narratives, The Death of the Messiah for $24.97

Find the link here.