Solparvus
Puritan Board Senior
This might be a specialized topic, so if anyone has read William Perkins in Latin or knows of any Puritans or Reformers who commented on this matter I'd be much interested to hear what you have to say.
In the past year or so I've been interested in developing memory. I came across an interesting website, artofmemory.com. The basic idea of the technique is that we are better able to memorize information by associating it somehow with a location or an image. We tend to remember things much better if we associate them with a location than if we try to memorize information by rote. For example, mentally imagining a tennis ball in the upper right corner of the living room might remind you of a particular math formula, a set of imagined race cars by the door might help you recall a specific vocabulary word such as "voracious." This is called the Memory Palace method. An alternative is to place actions or events associated with a memory along a familiar pathway, and you mentally walk yourself through that pathway and observe in your mind the objects and events associated with that walk. This is called the Journey Method. In the last few months I've been working to practice this technique and I'm astounded at how well it works. In a few hours' time I had memorized a list of about 100 items just imagining them around places in my apartment, and it takes far less review to remember than by rote repitition.
I was interested to learn that William Perkins criticized this method of memorization, particularly for preaching. From "The art of Prophesying" his two criticisms were that 1) it usually involved visualizing the ridiculous or wicked to solidify the concept in the mind, and 2) it requires you to remember three things instead of one: the location, the object in the location, and the concept tied to the object. Also, memorizing a sermon unnecessarily increases the stress of mind.
He's right on the first criticism. It's a very old memorization technique, but typically the method of instruction involves associating an idea with something vulgar, base, lewd, crass, violent, irreverent, or otherwise graphic. I said in the second paragraph I'm amazed at how well the memory palace method works... I hope it goes without saying that I REFUSE to work the technique using sinful imagery!! I haven't had to use it, and I never will use it.
However, some of the promoters of the Memory Palace or Journey Method technique have made it look like the prudish Puritans have squelched these oh-so-wonderful methods and sunk us into dry, boring, rote repetition and took all the fun out of memorizing. Perkins has been cited, and perhaps Theodore Beza. I want to find out what godly men in Church history (whether Reformed, Puritan, or anyone since then) has said about this matter.
I wrote to a friend about William Perkins to find out more information. I found that Perkins wrote a treatise critiquing the Memory Palace method I described, but unfortunately it's in Latin, and I can't read Latin. William Perkins recommends as an alternative something called the Ramist method. I'm trying to discover just what the Ramist method is and how it works, but I can't seem to get a straight answer using Google. The best I can determine (at least from an alternative method that Perkins recommends) is that it might be memorizing by constructing syllogisms and making comparisons in your mind. I also get the impression from my Google searches that most don't really understand Petro Ramus or his methods or why he was significant. So my question is, what is the Ramist method? What in it addresses memorization? And on top of that, why was he significant (or was he)?
Other questions I have:
- Does anyone here know where I could get English copies of his two works on memory, Antidicsonus cuiusdam and Libellus de memoria?
- What is the Ramist method? How does it pertain to memorization?
- The idea of using vulgar, crass, violent, irreverent and explicit imagery is an absolute no. Still, is there a danger in using the ridiculous to help remember things?
- Could Perkins' critique of using imagery to remember be in part a response to the image-intensive Roman Catholic Church? I get the impression that the technique was used by monks and priests, and Thomas Aquinas himself had used it. Or is Perkins not not over-responding and there is a true danger in using the techniques I described, assuming that even ridiculous imagery is excluded?
- Have other Reformers or Puritans written on the matter? Or any Christians before or after them?
- Suppose that an argument could be made that the Memory Palace or Journey method I described are not safe, what could be done as an effective alternative?
Here's the real litmus test question: assuming that even the ridiculous is left out, and anything that might profane the Scriptures in my mind, could I safely use the techniques I described above to memorize Scripture without suffering an adverse spiritual effect or hindering spiritual growth?
I'm asking because when someone like Perkins writes a treatise on a matter like this I think I ought to listen up, whether he's right, mostly right or wrong. Any comments on Perkins, the methods described, or memorization are altogether welcome.
In the past year or so I've been interested in developing memory. I came across an interesting website, artofmemory.com. The basic idea of the technique is that we are better able to memorize information by associating it somehow with a location or an image. We tend to remember things much better if we associate them with a location than if we try to memorize information by rote. For example, mentally imagining a tennis ball in the upper right corner of the living room might remind you of a particular math formula, a set of imagined race cars by the door might help you recall a specific vocabulary word such as "voracious." This is called the Memory Palace method. An alternative is to place actions or events associated with a memory along a familiar pathway, and you mentally walk yourself through that pathway and observe in your mind the objects and events associated with that walk. This is called the Journey Method. In the last few months I've been working to practice this technique and I'm astounded at how well it works. In a few hours' time I had memorized a list of about 100 items just imagining them around places in my apartment, and it takes far less review to remember than by rote repitition.
I was interested to learn that William Perkins criticized this method of memorization, particularly for preaching. From "The art of Prophesying" his two criticisms were that 1) it usually involved visualizing the ridiculous or wicked to solidify the concept in the mind, and 2) it requires you to remember three things instead of one: the location, the object in the location, and the concept tied to the object. Also, memorizing a sermon unnecessarily increases the stress of mind.
He's right on the first criticism. It's a very old memorization technique, but typically the method of instruction involves associating an idea with something vulgar, base, lewd, crass, violent, irreverent, or otherwise graphic. I said in the second paragraph I'm amazed at how well the memory palace method works... I hope it goes without saying that I REFUSE to work the technique using sinful imagery!! I haven't had to use it, and I never will use it.
However, some of the promoters of the Memory Palace or Journey Method technique have made it look like the prudish Puritans have squelched these oh-so-wonderful methods and sunk us into dry, boring, rote repetition and took all the fun out of memorizing. Perkins has been cited, and perhaps Theodore Beza. I want to find out what godly men in Church history (whether Reformed, Puritan, or anyone since then) has said about this matter.
I wrote to a friend about William Perkins to find out more information. I found that Perkins wrote a treatise critiquing the Memory Palace method I described, but unfortunately it's in Latin, and I can't read Latin. William Perkins recommends as an alternative something called the Ramist method. I'm trying to discover just what the Ramist method is and how it works, but I can't seem to get a straight answer using Google. The best I can determine (at least from an alternative method that Perkins recommends) is that it might be memorizing by constructing syllogisms and making comparisons in your mind. I also get the impression from my Google searches that most don't really understand Petro Ramus or his methods or why he was significant. So my question is, what is the Ramist method? What in it addresses memorization? And on top of that, why was he significant (or was he)?
Other questions I have:
- Does anyone here know where I could get English copies of his two works on memory, Antidicsonus cuiusdam and Libellus de memoria?
- What is the Ramist method? How does it pertain to memorization?
- The idea of using vulgar, crass, violent, irreverent and explicit imagery is an absolute no. Still, is there a danger in using the ridiculous to help remember things?
- Could Perkins' critique of using imagery to remember be in part a response to the image-intensive Roman Catholic Church? I get the impression that the technique was used by monks and priests, and Thomas Aquinas himself had used it. Or is Perkins not not over-responding and there is a true danger in using the techniques I described, assuming that even ridiculous imagery is excluded?
- Have other Reformers or Puritans written on the matter? Or any Christians before or after them?
- Suppose that an argument could be made that the Memory Palace or Journey method I described are not safe, what could be done as an effective alternative?
Here's the real litmus test question: assuming that even the ridiculous is left out, and anything that might profane the Scriptures in my mind, could I safely use the techniques I described above to memorize Scripture without suffering an adverse spiritual effect or hindering spiritual growth?
I'm asking because when someone like Perkins writes a treatise on a matter like this I think I ought to listen up, whether he's right, mostly right or wrong. Any comments on Perkins, the methods described, or memorization are altogether welcome.
