I am doing a character study on Samuel for a seminary class I'm in.
I have never done a character study before, and was curious if anyone had any tips on how to best use Logos 4 to help me get good research for a character study.
Thanks.
Where I start is with a list of every place in the Scripture that the person is mentioned. I then divide it as follows:
1. The person's actions - what do they tell us about the character
2. The person's statements - what do they tell us about the character
3. Other's actions and statements - what do they tell us about other character's reading of the person
4. Later references - what do they tell us about how history understood the character
Then I do the background material - genealogy, customs of the time, what was happening historically around them. - using my Logos resources.
Then I go back through my charts (1-4) and modify them to reflect my newer understanding.
I use Logos notes and verse lists to collect my data and unanswered questions.
Start with a Bible Search for everywhere that Samuel is mentioned (hint: I bet it's going to be primarily the books of 1 & 2 Samuel) and read all of those sections through a couple of times. On your third pass through, begin to use the Highlighting tool (under Tools | Highlighting) to mark up the text as you study.
If you are using Word to write up your assignment to turn in for seminary, or even if not but if you have Word on your computer, you might find this Bible Character Study Template for Word 2007 of some use: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC300011641033.aspx?ofcresset=1. It asks all kinds of questions to help you probe and get to know the character better.
To answer the questions in the template as you prepare your research, you will probably be spending most of your time in the Bible text itself, but for things like "What is the significance of this person's name?"you will need other resources. I'm not sure what base package you have with Logos, so I don't know precisely what resources to recommend, but a good Bible Dictionary (or more than one) would be indispensible. Read the article on Samuel in that.
You could do a Basic Search on Samuel to see where else he is mentioned in the other resources in your library (of course that might find more hits than just the biblical character Samuel, as there might be authors with that as a first name, for example, but you can skim past those). Commentaries might be helpful, as well as Bible maps to get to know the region where Samuel lived.
Thanks so much for the great feedback. I actually am using that template as I type this. It's great!
I have the highest Logos 4 scholars platinum package, by the way.
Any chance one of you could "print to file" that template? I have Word 2003 and it won't open for me. I'd love to grab a copy, even if its a picture file. Thanks.
Scott
I downloaded it and saved it as a Word 2003 file. Send me your email address and I'll send it to you. gar [dot] oneal [at] gmail [dot] net
Here ye be!
God bless
{charley}0743.PASSAGE.doc
Here ye be! God bless {charley}0743.PASSAGE.doc
Thanks Dr Wootten!
Nice tip Rosie
Thanks!
