How to Read Literature Like a Monk

I thought this was a pretty cool weekend idea.

Monastic Monday Brother Monday’s lectio largely consists of beer labels and TV guides

I mentioned last Monday that I sometimes apply the monastic method of lectio divina (sacred reading) to the first few times I read a poem. Following Parker Palmer’s suggestion that students need contemplative reading practices to balance the institutional leaning toward shallow “speed reading,” Mike Ruso and Paul Corrigan developed a variant of lectio for literature that you can read about here.

With the help of Br. Monday, I want to expand their model a bit and explore today how we can incorporate this practice into our own reading.

For me, having my lectio practices bleed into all of my reading was natural at first. I might not do it with every text, especially not journal articles, but I tend to do it automatically when a poem or novel strikes me. These are those moments when you can’t continue…

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