Lectio Divina: A Ladder towards God A Patristic Approach to the Scripture

Lectio Divina as a Ladder towards God is a theological work of re-sourcement. As suggested by the word itself, re-sourcement is a return to applying theology to the original sources found in Christianity, namely Scripture, Tradition, the Church Fathers (i.e., Patristics), and Apostolic Teachings. Lectio divina is, therefore, an ancient practice of prayer and hermeneutics with its roots in early Hellenistic Christian and Jewish traditions which takes us directly to the heart of the Christian tradition by drinking directly from the fresh spring of God’s living Word. Consequently, the author articulates this tradition in three parts. Examining this influential history, the first part of the book expounds the Jewish notion of PaRDeS, the work of Origen of Alexandria, the writings of different patristic authors, and Guigo the Carthusian. The second part of the book provides a careful description of each theological moment of the Scala Paradisi of Guigo: lectio, meditatio, oratio, et contemplatio, with their respective implications and recommendations for an effective lectio, whether practiced individually or in community. The third part presents three cases of how lectio divina can be applied to the sacred text, helping to discover different semantic levels of one word, phrase, expressions, themes or episodes of Scripture. The study cases are based on one single word from Mark’s Gospel, i.e., the verb horáō (ὁράω: to see) in Mk 1:10; 1:16-20; 2:14.