A Short History of Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina is Latin for “divine reading.” Christians have read Scripture slowly and prayerfully since the early church. In the third century, Origen encouraged believers to read the Bible with attention and prayer. In the sixth century, the Rule of Saint Benedict set aside time each day for this reading, and Benedictine monks carried the practice through the centuries. Around 1150, the Carthusian monk Guigo II described four steps: reading (lectio), meditation (meditatio), prayer (oratio), and contemplation (contemplatio). In 1539, in his preface to the Wittenberg edition of his German writings, Martin Luther drew on King David’s example in Psalm 119 and described three: prayer (oratio), meditation (meditatio), and trial (tentatio). He kept prayer and meditation from the older monastic steps, but in place of contemplation he named trial, the testing in daily life that shows how true and comforting God’s Word is. Today Lectio Divina is practiced in monasteries and by Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and other Christians, alone or in small groups, often with the help of books and apps.

Martin Luther and the Reformation

Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a German Augustinian monk, priest, and professor of the Bible at the University of Wittenberg. On October 31, 1517, he posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, calling for debate on the sale of indulgences and other practices of the church of his day. He hoped to reform the church from within, not to leave it. Instead, he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X in 1521, and the churches that carried on his teaching became known as Lutheran.

A Note on Why

Martin Luther worked under threat to his life. After the Diet of Worms in 1521, he hid at the Wartburg Castle and translated the New Testament into German. It was published in 1522, and the full Bible followed in 1534. He wanted ordinary people to read God’s Word for themselves and know Jesus Christ.

His work spread because several things came together: better paper from mills in Italy and elsewhere, new oil-based inks, and Gutenberg’s printing press. An old hunger met a new tool.

I think we are living in a similar moment. The internet and AI tools may be our own Gutenberg press. Translation never really ends, either. Each generation keeps working at it and listening for how the Word speaks to them.

It reminds me of Pentecost, when the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke and “every man heard them speak in his own language” (Acts 2:6, KJV).

Other translations: NIV · ESV

That is why I share this. It is traditional. It reaches back to what believers have done since the church began, imperfect as we all are. And it uses the tools around us to help build faith.