Bible references in RemNote?

RemNote Learning RemNote
#1

RemNote is an ideal tool for study of the Bible, as RemNote can easily cross-reference things like technical terms, literary allusions, theological concepts, etc. Furthermore, the Bible already has a universally accepted referencing system by Book, Chaper, and Verse (for example, Luke 2:12) used in articles, commentaries, etc.

I’m looking for ideas on the best way to structure this in RemNote. I typically use a three letter abbreviation scheme (e.g. LUK is Luke). I thought of adding a unicode (perhaps in an autohotkey) to quickly specify a Bible reference, such as :latin_cross:LUK. Also, the hierarchical search works well to step into a chapter verse hierarchy. For example, I set up Luke this way:

  • Luke (book)
    • 1 (chapter)
      • 1 (verse)
      • 2
      • 3
      • 4
      • 5, etc.

This system has advantages of nicely separating notes that apply to a entire book versus a more specific chapter and verse. It makes it easy to put Bible references in both RemNote references and tags, essentially building a Bible reference index as I study (as children of my LUK document). No complicated search filtering is needed.

There are a couple problems with this scheme, however.

  1. It is still a somewhat cumbersome way to type references while writing, as hierarchical search still picks up lots of extraneous references containing LUK (requiring lots of arrowing around to step into the hierarchy). Simply writing something like “Jeremias argues, based on Greek semitisms in LUK 2:14, that…” is quicker
    .
  2. The resulting references in my hierarchy scheme display nicely when hovering over a reference (as in “LUK > 2 > 14”), but without hovering I only see one level (if a rem) like “| 14” or two levels if a document, like “| 2 > 14”. That is, references in this scheme don’t show the book, just the chapter and verse, e.g. “Jeremias argues, based on Greek semitisms in | 2 > 14, that…”

Do any of you in the RemNote community have an idea for a better way to do Bible references?

Could RemNote functionality be extended with a Plug in or Power Up or something to make quick entering of Bible references easier? Any suggestions to get me started (my son knows Java :slight_smile:, maybe if this is possible he could help me)?

There is, as you might expect, specialized Bible study software that streamlines note-taking using Book-Chapter-Verse references, but I would much rather do this as part of my larger, more flexible knowledgebase in RemNote.

Yawʌˀkó / Thanks!

A way to add location to a source
#2

As a life long student of the Bible I’m very interested in your topic. Great question. Last week I tried importing the entire New World Translation to Remnote, (as its available as a free PDF for download), but the text is all wonky when its viewed in Remnote. So I’m back to typing or pasting in the sections I want. I have not explored a technique for doing what you are proposing yet. I look forward to hearing about suggestions and experiments.

#3

Glad to hear of your interest, @Gabriel!

I think this question may have broader application in using Zettelkasten Method. At least I read one version of Zettelkasten in which initial notes were taken by page number. It would be nice to be able to reference not just a source but a source with further designation, such as chapter and verse, or to take a Shakespeare example: act and scene.

In terms of referencing translations, I was thinking I’d set it up as in my original post. Something like this:

  • Top level folder: three letter designation of translation (like ESV for English Standard Version, MBS for the Mohawk version from the Canadian Bible Society, etc.)
    • text of verse 1, with a tag (as in my first post or something better, tagging the text with Book, Chapter, Verse)
    • text of verse 2 with tag, etc., through the whole Bible.

I think this would work pretty well – again, with the proviso that I could find a convenient way to tag. I could then easily insert Bible quotations in my writing or use portals to compare translations, etc.

I’ll add a feature request for location designation within a source. The more I think about it, the more I think it could be a feature of general interest. Or maybe not – I’ll wait a while to see if someone has an obvious way to handle this within current RemNote functionality before I post there. I’m still a bit vague on how rem sources work in RemNote (I’ve had some trouble with using them), but maybe there is some way to use source for the purposes I’ve delineated.