Programming

Software tools for original language exegesis

I'm studying Greek exegesis as part of my M.Div, and i've been lamenting my lack of a really good software tool for translation and exegesis.  The way my workflow (following a manual, pen & paper process) generally unfolds as follows:

  1. Read through the verse in Greek.
  2. Parse the forms of nearly all verbs (excluding some of the most common ones).
  3. Check my parsing against the morphology in my Pocket e-Sword or Logos 2.1 software.[1]
  4. Note any vocabulary unfamiliar to me, including parsing the particular form in the text and noting the definition.
  5. Translate the verse for myself.
  6. Note any questions, comments on translation, or points of debate from an exegetical perspective.
  7. Check the textual variants in the NA27 and/or UBS4.  If any of them present themselves as likely alternatives to the text, repeat steps 1-6 for the changed text.
  8. Check my translation against a more literal English translation such as ESV, NASB, or RSV.
  9. When i've reached the end of the pericope or chapter, read through some commentaries and revise my translation, textual choices, and notes in the light of my reading.

This is a fairly laborious process that could use some software assistance.  Here are the parts of the process i think could benefit most:

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Rant: spaces vs. tabs in source code

Original date: Fri Jun 4 21:54:52 EST 2004

It seems that not everyone knows that the problem of spaces vs. tabs in source code was solved at least 15 years ago.  Get with the nineties, folks!  :-)   "There can be only one!" method of source code indentation, which consists of the following maxims:

  1. tabs are always 8 characters
  2. indents are not tabs
  3. set your indents to whatever pleases you (Linus likes 8 chars, i like 4, some crazy people like 2)
  4. use indents when you write code, not tabs

Good source code editors already do this by providing indent (Ctrl-T), undent (Ctrl-D), shift left (<) and shift right (>) commands, and making up indents using the correct number of tabs and spaces.

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