Inductive Bible Study --- Some Questions

[Paul Daunno]

After watching the podcasts I decided to give IBS a try. I'm starting with Phillipians since it's a fairly small book and also one of my favorites. I've more or less modeled my highlights based on those in Dr. J's podcasts except I decided to create just one instead of breaking it into Historical and Literary. For me, less is more ...

 

My questions are:

 

1. The author is Paul (& Timothy) but I think Paul would also be considered the Main Character. Does it make sense to have the author and the main character be the same and if so would I use both the author highlight and the main character highlight together consistently throughout the book?

 

2. I'm not clear as to what I should be looking for to determine a Main Character vs. Major Character vs. Minor Character. In Chapter 1, if I assume Paul is the Main Character, I would think the references to "imperial guard" and "the brothers" would be considered Minor Characters. Is a Major Character one in which an actual name is given like Euodia and Syntyche in 4:2?

 

3. Is there a general rule of thumb with how much of a passage fits into a given note? I created my notes with the 5W's and an H + Application. Should I have one note per paragraph, every few paragraphs, etc?

 

4. Although this wasn't mentioned in the podcasts and I'm not sure if it's 'proper' IBS, it seems to me that highlighting words like 'all', 'every', 'each', 'none', etc. might be good to include. They give a sense of inclusion rather than exclusion. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm going to probably do it as a 'custom' feature for me since Accordance provides that flexibility

 

Thanks and I'm sure I'll have other questions along the way and will use this thread to post them.

 

-Paul

[mikes]

I would suggest that you don't get too hooked up on the technicalities and focus on the insights that inductive study brings to your study by asking and organizing the 5 Ws and H for the first part of IBS. In some cases, you will not be able to answer all the questions. There are plenty of unanswered questions, the focus should be on answering those that you can and identifying that you cannot answer specific questions. In my opinion, you're not breaking any rules by spinning back around into an additional investigation cycle if you get caught up in your interpretation/application phases with more questions that require more investigation.

 

#2 WRT Major/Minor/other characters.. Identifying major/minor is not nearly as important as identifying all the characters. Gather what you can without too much thought about the value of the content until you get to the next phase of Interpretation. It is in that phase that you'll start answering your own questions. As a side note, I would capture your questions specifically to address in the interpretation phase. They are natural byproducts of investigation.

 

#3 I find this completely changes based on the content.

 

Have fun!

[Paul Daunno]

Mike, thanks for your advice. I suppose I should heed my 'Less is More' comment even more when it comes to Main/Major/Minor characters. Like you said, just identifying all of the characters would be a good first step for an IBS newbie like me. I think I'm going to keep this rather simple for now and perhaps over time as the need arises I'll expand. This is one of the benefits of Accordance. I can customize it for my needs today and change it to fit my needs tomorrow.

 

-Paul

[Levi Durfey]

If the major/main/minor character titles are confusing, just rename them to something more helpful for you, like "Character 1, Character 2, Character 3." As mikes stated, what's most important is to identify all the characters. I have had it where I changed my mind about who the minor, main, and major characters!

[Paul Daunno]

If the major/main/minor character titles are confusing, just rename them to something more helpful for you, like "Character 1, Character 2, Character 3." As mikes stated, what's most important is to identify all the characters. I have had it where I changed my mind about who the minor, main, and major characters!

 

Thanks Levi. In fact, this afternoon I made a number of changes to my highlights. I left the 'Main Character', removed 'Major' and 'Minor' Characters and created a new one called 'People'. I also tweaked a few other highlights I had and added a few new ones that I thought might be helpful to me. All good suggestions and I appreciate the help!

 

-Paul

[Timothy Jenney]

Hi, Paul!

 

Good questions!

 

In Philippians, I'd recommend using the literary context categories [author, audience, etc.] first, then "filling in" with whatever else seems appropriate. The problem is that, in an epistle, the literary context and the historical context are one and the same. The only exception is when the author relates a story in his writing [say, Paul's shipwreck or his encounter with Peter]. then there is enough distance between the historical event and the writing to warrant analyzing the two separately.

 

That said, I'm thrilled to see you experimenting with IBS in Accordance. Eventually, as others have said here, you will develop your own system [the reason there are so many "versions" of IBS]. In the meantime, concentrate most on what seems to "sharpen" the text best for you. When you're done with a passage, check a commentary to check your own. I have even heard of "prayer partnerships" and "small groups" built around people sharing their analysis with each other and talking about them. Interesting idea, no?

[Paul Daunno]

Thanks Dr. J for your insight. I think I have a personal system that suits my needs for now and I can always change it later and likely will. Your IBS podcasts really got my attention and gave me the motivation to give it a try. Keep those podcasts coming so we can all make the most out of Accordance!