First, a disclaimer. I am not a systematician or a theologian. As I said in an earlier post, I’m part of an awesome team that is Faithlife. One of my colleagues at Faithlife is Phil Gons, who has more knowledge of Systematic Theology (and systematic theologies) in his pinkie-toe than I will ever have.

So after we completed the updated Grammars section of Exegetical Guide for Logos Now users, we thought about what types of resources (books) lend themselves to this sort of approach. One of the first thoughts was Systematic Theologies. Why wouldn’t someone want to know how their Systematic Theology books used Bible references in discussions about particular theological topics? If you’re a Logos Now subscriber, now you can do this.

Much of the organization and classification of resources is due to Phil’s guidance. We used the classic categories of Systematic Theology (Theology Proper, Angelology, Bibliology, Eschatology, etc.) as the basis of analysis. We threw in a few extra, like “Traditions” (for discussions geared toward a particular faith tradition) and “Theologians” (for discussions about particular theologians). Further, resources themselves were classified according the the faith tradition of the author(s) at the time of composition (as best as we could determine). And here’s what we got:

Systematic Theology resources for Titus 2:14

If I remember the numbers correctly, there are well over 100 different authors (some, like Barth, with multiple resources) classified. And the entire group involves over 600,000 Bible references. Each of them are classified in context according to the classic topics of Systematic Theology.

So now you can be studying a particular verse or section of Scripture and ask, “What do my systematic theologies say about this?” And you don’t just get a dump of references, you get an organized, classified list of topics and direct links to the point in the resource where your reference is classified as having to do with a particular topic. So when you want to know which systematic theologies discuss Titus 2:14 in a context having to do with Christology, you can.

For someone like me, who knows the value of this but has no formal background or experience with systematic theologies, this is an incredible thing.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been able to conceive of and work on several new datasets with the advent of Logos Now. One of these new datasets involves an analysis and classification of Bible references found in original language grammars.

One of the things that has frustrated me with reference library software like Logos is how close things are (all these books, all in one place) yet how far away they still remain. That is, I can be looking at a Bible verse, but reviewing and categorizing a list of the ways different resources discuss that verse is a whole lot of work.

Since I’m in a position to find a solution to this sort of thing, that’s what I did. Logos Now includes a completely redesigned “Grammars” section in the Exegetical Guide that does exactly this. Further, we introduced a “Grammatical Constructions” section that highlights certain constructions found within the verse (currently NT only).

As an example, I ran the Exegetical Guide on John 10:30, a short but significant verse: “I and the Father are one.” What sorts of things did I find, and how were they classified?

Exegetical Guide on John 10:30

The references in all original language grammars have been extracted and classified algorithmically  according to a classification we developed. (More details can be found in this 2015 BibleTech paper). The references are classified by the language treated by the grammar they appear in and according to a high-level classification (items like Syntax, Morphology, Exegesis, Style).

It means that I can now be in a Bible verse, like John 10:30, and find out what my grammars say about the syntax of the verse. Or what grammatical constructions appear in the verse (kudos to Jimmy Parks, who did much of the construction analysis). This means that the stuff which was possible but far away (categorization of Bible references in grammars in my Logos library) is now much closer and more usable.

Stuff like this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I may have had the original idea, but lots of folks helped sharpen it and implement it and make it what it is now. We have a great team at Faithlife / Logos to move tools like this from conception to reality. Maybe you should consider joining us. See more about available positions at jointheawesome.com.

Oh, and Grammars aren’t the only thing that we’ve applied this approach to.

Will you be going to SBL in Atlanta this year (2015)?

Do we share interests? Stuff like early Christianity, Greek language/linguistics, early Christian writings, textual criticism, discourse grammar and discourse analysis?

Are you starting graduate studies and just want to bounce some ideas off of someone?

Are you wrapping up graduate studies and want to talk with someone about what it’s like to work outside of the academy?

Do you have ideas for possible datasets or books or other things that you think might be interesting?

Do you just think it might be fun to chat?

I love conversations like these, whether I have met you (online or in person) or not. If you think it would be fun or useful to talk, then feel free to email me (rick dot brannan at faithlife dot com) or use the contact form for this blog to get in touch with me. We can meet for coffee, or a meal, or whatever.

See you in Atlanta!

At this year’s National SBL Meeting in Atlanta, I’ll be presenting in the Blogger and Online Publication session. My paper is at 9:00 AM on Sunday, Nov 22.

First, here’s the information on the session itself:

Theme: Blogging Comes of Age
This session will feature two papers, followed by a panel of blogging scholars who will share their thoughts about the benefits and challenges, rewards and hardships, of academic blogging. The panelists will then participate in a Q&A with the audience.
James McGrath, Butler University, Presiding

Rick Brannan, Faithlife
From Blog, to Book, to the Larger Scholarly Discussion (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)

Christian Brady, Pennsylvania State University
The Life of a Blog from Cradle to Maturity (?) (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)

Panel discussion
Bart Ehrman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Panelist (10 min)
Wil Gafney, Brite Divinity School (TCU), Panelist (10 min)
Lawrence Schiffman, New York University, Panelist (10 min)
Discussion (60 min)
Business Meeting (10 min)

I’m excited to be contributing a paper in the same session as Christian Brady. Way back in the day (2007!) he even interviewed me on his blog (no, really, he did!) Having Bart Ehrman, Wil Gafney, and Lawrence Schiffman (all three?!) on a panel after the papers might even draw a crowd; hopefully I’m up for it.

Here’s the abstract for my paper:

In 2013, Lexham Press published the two-volume Greek Apocryphal Gospels, Fragments, and Agrapha. This collection of apocryphal material includes introductions, translations, and transcriptions or editions of most available apocryphal gospel material in Greek. While the volumes were under preparation in 2011–2012, several blogs reported the inclusion of a new apocryphal material represented in P.Oxy. 5072. To evaluate, I wrote a blog post with a provisional transcription and translation. This formed the basis of what made it into the books, and the work was published in 2013. Since then, mention of the “Greek Apocryphal Gospels” books, presently only available digitally, have bubbled up in the larger scholarly discussion. This paper talks about the inclusion of P.Oxy. 5072 in the books, the reception of the material, and the role of blogs and online resources in the process as well as in the reception and discussion of the material.

For a new writing project I’m working on, I was digging in the Psalms this morning. Psalm 122 (and the ascent Psalms, 120–134); but that’s not relevant to this post.

An image of Rahlfs 1219 (Washington MS II) page 109 showing Psalm 74:2-75:3a

I had occasion to do some digging. Did you know that there are nearly 2300 catalogued manuscripts with LXX contents? And of those, did you know that over half (well over 1300 by my estimates) are Psalm portions or Psalters? (See the PDF list at Göttingen linked to by this page).

Wow. And several of the Psalters also contain material from the Odes, a group of assembled songs from the Bible (OT and NT, with stuff like the song of Moses and the songs of Mary and Elizabeth).

Just by looking at the extant manuscripts, we can deduce that the Psalms were important to the early church. We would do well to read them more, cherish them, and let them play a role in our personal and corporate worship.