Verbum 9 Tip 9g: Topics
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Reading lists: Catholic Bible Interpretation
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Topics
From Verbum Help:[quote]
Topics Section
Not to be confused with the Topic section that appears in the Topic Guide, this section searches topical Bible resources for the entered passage and collates results by heading.
Key words from the headings of matching articles are displayed in three views:
• Tags — key words are displayed in a list where more commonly appearing words are displayed in a larger font than those that appear less frequently.
• Cloud — displays the same information as Tags but in a tighter arrangement. The color variation of words in this display is merely for visual interest.
• List — shows an alphabetical list of key words.[1]
There is no dataset documentation. “Topical Bible Resources” is described by Andrew Batishko (and expanded by NB Mick) as:[quote]It's a fixed list of resources. In English:
- LLS:23.0.2 The New Nave’s Topical Bible Revised and Expanded by James Swanson
- LLS:23.0.3 New Topical Textbook by R.A. Torrey
- LLS:23.0.4 Willmington’s Book of BIBLE LISTS by H.L. Willmington
- LLS:23.0.6 Nelson’s Topical Bible Index
- LLS:23.0.7 The NASB Topical Index[2]
If this list does not meet your needs, remember that the section heading bar provides for the deletion of the section. 7 Free Wordle Makers & How to Create A Wordle (monkeylearn.com) links to several online sites that will create word clouds for use in presentations.
Section heading bar
The section heading bar menu matches that of Cultural Concepts and (Preaching) Themes. The Help preview is:
Contents
The data is collected as described by Verbum Help. In two views, the number of times the topic occurs affects the display. Each view is show with “Baptism, Christian” selected to illustrate the second part of the content.
Tags view
Note that the size of the type in the alphabetic tag list indicates the relative number of occurrences. Entries are separated by two spaces; commas reflect the rotation of text i.e. noun-comma-modifier format.
Cloud view (Wordle)
The cloud version contains the same information but uses color and orientation to add visual interest and break mental habits based on sequence or precise counts.
List view
The data shown in the views is:
- A topic as found in a search of “Bible topical resources” for the specified passage
- Implicitly, the relative frequency between such topics in the search results
- For each topic:
- The article which provided the topic
- The resource containing that article
- In the list format only, a link to a Topic Guide for the topic(s)
- In the list format only, a link to a Sermon Starter Guide for the topic(s)
The resulting list of topics reflects a variety of understanding of what constitutes a topic or theme, differences in the implied ontologies in the classification of the topics, and vocabulary differences among the various denominations and methodologies. As examples:
- Epiphany which was identified as a theme, appears nowhere as a topic.
- Camel is offered as a topic although it is mentioned only once, as a modifier of hair. Topic, to me, means that it is a matter (subject) under consideration in a text, discourse, or conversation. Mere mention is not sufficient.
- The cultural reference from “I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thing of his sandals” is ignored in the absence of a topic of social inequality, servant/master or some related topic. The topic of humility which is present does reflect a related interpreted topic.
Compare the results of curated Catholic Topical Index Guide, run twice to emphasize the pericope boundary:
Interactions on the data
|
Data element |
Action |
Response |
Notes |
|
Topic in visualization |
Mouse-over |
n/a |
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|
Click |
The selected topic will become the topic with its list of sources that appears below the visualization (1). |
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Right click |
Opens a limited right-click (context) menu (2) |
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Drag-and-drop |
n/a |
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Ellipsis in tag visualization |
Click |
Expands the list of tags (3) |
|
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Article providing topic |
Mouse-over |
Provides popup preview of article (4) |
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Click |
Opens resource to article (5) |
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Right click |
Opens a Context Menu on the article title (6) |
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Drag-and-drop |
Opens resource to article in the location selected by the user (5) |
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Resource containing article |
Mouse-over |
Provides popup preview of the resource (7) |
|
|
Click |
Opens resource to title page (8) |
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Right click |
Opens a Context Menu on the resource title (9) |
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Drag-and-drop |
Opens resource to title page in the location selected by the user (8) |
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Topic heading arrowhead |
Expand/contract icon (list only) |
Expand/contracts the list of sources for the topic and links to Topic Guide and/or Sermon Starter Guide. (10). |
|
|
Topic Guide icon (title inert) |
Mouse-over |
Present popup describing the on click behavior i.e. open (My) Topic Guide to topic (11) |
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Click |
Opens Topic Guide to topic (12) |
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Right click |
Open a context menu on the link (13) |
|
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Drag-and-drop |
n/a |
|
|
|
Topic Guide topic |
Mouse-over |
Present popup describing the on click behavior i.e. open (My) Topic Guide to topic (11). Each topic listed is treated separately. |
|
|
Click |
Opens Topic Guide to topic (12) |
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Right click |
Opens a context menu on the link (14) |
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|
Drag-and-drop |
Opens Topic Guide to topic in the location selected by the user (12) |
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|
Sermon Starter Guide icon (title inert) |
Mouse-over |
Present popup describing the on click behavior i.e. open (My) Sermon Starter Sermon Guide to topic (15). |
|
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Click |
Opens Sermon Starter Guide to topic (16) |
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Right click |
Opens a limited Context Menu on the link (17) |
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Drag-and-drop |
n/a |
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|
Sermon Starter Guide topic |
Mouse-over |
Present popup describing the on click behavior i.e. open (My) Sermon Starter Sermon Guide to topic (15). Each topic listed is treated separately. |
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|
Click |
Opens Sermon Starter Guide to topic (16) |
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Right click |
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Drag-and-drop |
Opens Sermon Starter Guide to topic at location selected by user (16) |
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(1) Topic with associated source list
(2) Right-click menu a.k.a. short form context menu
(3) Expansion of ellipsis
Before:
After:
Note the unexpected change of font size.
(4) Preview of article
(5) Full article
(6) Article title context menu
(7) Resource preview
(8) Open resource (to title page)
(9) Resource title context menu
(10) Expand/contract arrowhead on topic
Note that the three common results are shown:
- One or more topic sources (article and resource)
- Optional Topic Guide with topic input
- Optional Sermon Starter Guide with topic input
(11) Topic guide icon action popup
(12) Topic guide
Note that My Topic Guide is invoked rather than the default provided with Verbum.
(13) Context Menu on Topic Guide icon
(14) Context Menu on TG topic
(15) Sermon Starter Guide icon action popup
(16) Sermon Starter Guide
(17) Context Menu on Sermon Starter Guide icon
Note that the topic was converted to a preaching theme of the same name. The Context Menu is the primary link to Factbook in the Topics guide section.
(18) Context Menu from Sermon Start Guide topic
Search
While one can search similar resources for occurrences of the passage reference, no search will return the topics under which those occurrences occur.
Supplemental materials
While the Themes Guide section is related, Factbook provides the only supplemental data for this section. Note that some of the context menus direct the user to a Bible Word Study rather than Factbook.
The factbook entry for a Topic converted to a Preaching Theme contains:
- Standard Factbook header
- Media section
- Key passages
- Sermons
- Preaching resources
- Bookstore
- See also
- Topics
- Guides (link)
- Workflows (link)
- Search
Have fun untangling the inconsistency still present in Factbook among the concept entries:
- Concept
- Cultural concept
- (Preaching) Theme
- Topic
[1] Verbum Help (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2018).
[2] Source of data for Topics section in Passage Guide - Faithlife Forums (logos.com) accessed 6/14/2021 1:25 PM
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."