Okay, so OS X has a set of “services” which allows users to perform a bunch of different actions on text and what-have-you. One of the services is called “Summarize,” which summarizes text. What’s the first thing I wanted a summary of? The whole New Testament, of course. Conclusion? Perhaps the feature works better on genres that are not “narrative”
Seriously, though. I have been thinking about the uses of technology in analyzing the text of the Bible. There are certainly dangers here: see John Updike’s novel, “Roger’s Version” as one example and a whole slew of whacky number based mumbo jumbo as more examples. But, even still, there may be some good reasons for using technology as a tool.
Technology can isolate word clusters as a way of pointing toward authorial emphasis. A machine doesn’t approach a text with a pre-understanding of what a text “means.” A machine isn’t cognizant at all of “meaning,” only analysis. This is both our strength, and a big weakness: we think we know what it means and therefore subconsciously filter out anything that doesn’t conform to our expectations. A computer does no such thing.
The sort of analysis I am thinking a computer could do well have to do with finding instances of intratextuality - places where the bible alludes to itself.
Anyhow, here are the (less than) glorious results of the “summarize” tool in OS X:
Archive for February 11th, 2007After taking a test of Bible Knowledge pointed out by Halden I said:
I have decided to do just that: Read through the Bible during the 40 days of Lent. It will mean giving up a significant chunk of “free time,” I figure on about 2 hours of reading a day. But, this will be my first intential Lenten Project. |
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