I was recently given a copy of Keep in Memory by N.A. Woychuk. The book is a 12 chapter apologetic for Bible memorization. Unfortunately, it is poorly written and, like most motivational books, exceedingly redundant. I say “unfortunately” because Woychuk does an excellent job of stressing the importance of memorizing scripture and gives decent advice on how to do it.
If I was the book’s editor, however, the book would have 50 or 60 pages, rather than 198. Woychuk struggles to maintain a consistent tone throughout the book and leaps from formal to chatty language, often within the same chapter. Nevertheless, just as we should never judge a book by its cover, neither should we judge a man’s ideas by his eloquence (or lack of it).
Woychuk does, thank heavens, consistently quote Scripture. Every chapter is littered with Bible verses, which provides frequent (albeit brief) relief from his prose. He also has a strange habit of abusing ellipses and citing obscure housewives as authorities. I don’t doubt that the persons he quotes are authorities and experts on their own experiences, but the way he meticulously gives their full names (in italics) is odd.
Woychuk’s approach is holistic, which I appreciate. After a brief chapter on memory in general, he launches into a series of discussions on the nature of Scripture and our relationship to it. Woychuk’s primary reason for memorizing Scripture is its inspiration. If the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, then it is, as Woychuk puts it, “the thinking of God. It is infinitely superior to everything that man has produced, including the most up-to-date philosophies and compositions.” Thus, the act of memorizing Scripture is nothing more than a proper recognition of its authorship and value. Only after Woychuk has established inerrancy as the prima mobile of his apologetic does he go on to discuss the many practical benefits of memorizing Scripture.
Like all good motivational authors, Woychuk weaves illustrative stories into his chapters. He recounts a multitude of obscure persons’ encounters with Scripture (as well as that of a few famous persons like Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Morrison). The stories, however, are often little more than a few lines, just enough for Woychuk to support his methods with someone’s experience.
Disappointingly, much of the book reads like an expanded advertisement for his Bible memory curricula, and the memory advice he offers is largely common sense. For instance, Woychuk advocates studying memory verses, putting them on flash cards, organizing verses under topical headings, reading them aloud, and acting them out (when possible).
Despite its faults, the book is worth reading if you need some inspiration (or reasons) to memorize Scripture. Woychuk’s writing, although awkward, is clear and simple, so Keep in Memory is a fast read.
