Monday, May 15, 2023

How to Organize Digital Commonplace Notes for Theology or Anything Else

This post is a companion post to the prior post on taking analog notes. In the first section I will cover the reasoning behind my system (which is more important than any specific implementation), and in the second section I will give a simple method for storing digital notes. If you only want the method, read the second section, but a method is far less important than understanding why you are doing what you are doing.

I. The Reason for the Method

Dr. Mayes and I fundamentally agree on our philosophy of taking notes (he as an academic, I as a parish pastor). Where we differ is only in method, which is not that important.

Storing notes is not about amassing quotes. It does little use to store a bunch of data that never gets used. Not only must the data be stored, but in such a way that it will present itself to us for thought when we need it. It is as if our notes become a lifelong conversation partner.

It’s not just saving quotes and passages, but why and what we were thinking in notating it. It’s not just that notes need to be linked, but write down why we are linking them.

Such notes guard our thinking against the feature positive effect (Ahrens-2017, 117). This is the natural tendency to give greater importance to information that readily comes to mind or to information that has been more recently acquired despite the fact that it might not be the most relevant information. This is a powerful argument against just preaching whatever comes to mind first in sermon preparation. Awareness of this defect in our thinking does make us less prone to engaging in it. But the classical process of inventio (discovering things to say) sought to combat this by asking questions to find the most relevant facts and argument. We force ourselves away from the feature positive effect and toward discovery by distinguishing Law and Gospel, the fivefold applications of Scripture, and by asking questions like: What is not meant? What is excluded? What is interesting? Relevant? Why? So what? Such inventio is also part of the note-making processes.

Simply put, writing is thinking. We often think we understand something we’ve read or heard but then struggle to express those ideas in writing or in clear, unbroken speech. If it can’t be written out, it doesn’t count. Here technology does us a disservice, and I will freely bow to the superiority of an all-analog system such as Dr. Mayes described. Although the digital revolution allows us to aggregate data like never before, we know less. Typing and digital recordings allow us to record things verbatim. Handwritten notes are slower, and therein lies their power. Handwritten notes force us to summarize and rephrase as we read or listen to a lecture. Current psychology suggests that taking handwritten notes for lectures and books is better than digital note taking because it forces summarizing and elaboration. The ability to review every word is not the same as learning. But if I put the idea into my own words I thus prove that I understand it, whereas digital notes can be stored verbatim without understanding and therefore with less ability to recall (Ahrens-2017, 78).

The philosopher John Searle explains it with concision, “If you can’t say it clearly, you don’t understand it yourself.” Bad preaching and bad catechesis is unclear. With good reason did our orthodox fathers urge us to read our Bibles with pens in hand, creating our own outlines, connections, paraphrases, and summaries for each chapter of the Bible. In prescribing just such a method for his students, Johann Gerhard was 400 years ahead of the best-available modern neuroscientific findings about the plasticity of the brain and the formation of neural pathways. The old Socratic method generated learning by forcing elaboration, clarification, connection, and counter-argumentation. I used to feel bad asking catechumens questions to which I knew they did not (yet) have the answers. As it turns out, that is one of the most effective things a teacher can do: “If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” (Matt. 22:45).

“The best-researched and most successful learning method is elaboration” (Ahrens-2017, 89).

For these reasons, I do not use a pure digital system. Fleeting notes (see Dr. Mayes’s post) should be made with pencil and paper. But once I am ready to make a permanent note, I go digital. For me the reasons are simple:

I will actually do it. I am not nearly committed enough to indexing and handwriting to maintain a proper analog system.
When I write, I write on the computer. So my permanent notes are in the same place as my writing.
If I want analog notes (e.g., during Bible class), I simply query the notes I want and hit “print.”

II. A Digital Method

When I read, I keep a folded half sheet of paper in the book and make notes with a pencil. A key is not to just mark things but to write down why you are marking them and what thoughts you have at the time.

The worthier of these notes then go into plain text computer files. One file per note. Use plain text because it is simple to search and will never be deprecated. Do not use proprietary formats or software. If you need formatting use something simple like Markdown (https://www.markdownguide.org/cheat-sheet/).

Again, do not use special programs. Not even MS Word. You can search an entire plain text directory without hassle if you use a specific file-naming scheme. I use DATE--TITLE_KEYWORDS.EXTENSION (borrowed from here). Using the date and time means that each note will have a unique ID, even if the notes were created in the same morning.

Example: 20220719T072731–weak-faith-is-true-faith__faith_gerhard_justification.md

A sample note (click for larger size):

This scheme enables several features without becoming dependent on any software. I know it exists, but I avoid special software because it is highly unlikely that I will still be using it in 20 years. The metadata at the top of the file is optional. Feel free to ignore or adapt. A useful addition might be to add an author: field.

With this method, you can tag your notes and link them to each other by the unique filename. Anything that is a note on a Bible passage I tag with book and chapter (e.g., rom8). Need notes on Romans 8? Just search for “_rom8.” Simple. Therefore you can search them a number of ways: by content, date, name, keywords. And that’s mostly all just using the filename.

I don’t use an index or sort notes into folders. The computer makes them unnecessary, and I hate “deciding” where things go. There is also such thing as a “metanote” (tagged as such) which is like a mini index for a specific topic or research line, but I don’t use those much.

Why do I not worry about folders? If you think about it, whether you put notes in a book/file and index them or put them on notecards/textfiles and tag them, it amounts to the same thing. A folder on a computer is just a “tag.” With a digital system the “index” is auto-generated every time I search and I don’t have to maintain it.

To summarize:

Always read with paper and a pencil
Plain text only on the computer
No special software dependencies besides a good plain text editor
One “thought” = one file
Notes need to be able to reference one another by a unique filename
No indexing or sorting things into different folders

Final Thoughts

My sermons are stored in regular folders (one for each Sunday, but if I were starting from scratch, I wouldn’t bother with the folders). So if I have an idea, e.g., for Pentecost, I will open that file and save the note there. When I go to write that sermon I may or may not use that note. And if the note is worthy of being permanent, I will put it in my permanent notes and then put a reference to it in that sermon’s file.

I try to read some of my notes every day (synced to my phone), usually after my Bible reading. Sometimes this leads to writing new notes. By linking notes together, you can write entire papers or sermons “on accident” over time. I don’t do a lot of this as a preacher, though. Instead, when I write sermons I search and reference my notes. Often I make a note and then also link it in a file for an upcoming sermon to remind myself. I rarely write from a blank page anymore. Being on the One-year lectionary, I basically know for what Sunday any given note or thought I have throughout the year might be useful.

Sunday, May 14, 2023

How to Organize Analog Commonplace Books for Theology or Anything Else

Spanish translation of this article is found HERE.

Why Commonplace Books?

Knowledge workers have always needed ways to organize their knowledge for future retrieval, memory, and thought support. The classic commonplace book method is simple enough to be used by high school students, and robust enough to be used by professors and advanced scholars. We have to take notes in such a way that, as we go, we do our future writing and put it all in one place (Ahrens 2017, 140). “Read with a pen in your hand, take smart notes and make connections between them. Ideas will come by themselves and your writing will develop from there” (Ahrens 2017, 151).

Kinds of Commonplace Books

For an all-analog system for a Lutheran theologian, there will be four kinds of notebooks: (1) Biblical Commonplaces. (2) Systematic Commonplaces. (3) Bibliography. (4) Index.

Organization of the Commonplace Books

The parts of the Commonplace Book include the following.

Title: The kind of Commonplace Book it is: biblical, systematic, index, or bibliography.

Volume letter: Biblical and systematic volumes are in separate sequences. The first systematic volume is A, the second is B, and so on. The first biblical volume is βΑ, the second is βΒ, the third is βC, and so on. (The Greek letter β stands for βιβλικός, “biblical.”)

Volume index (1–2 pages): It indexes the content of this particular notebook.

Content pages: I recommend filling up notebooks from start to finish, and thus using every page. If you try to allocate a set amount of pages to certain topics, inevitably many if not most of the pages will remain blank forever. Also, at the beginning of your career you do not know where your future interests will lead. Therefore a simple, haphazard way of assigning page topics is needed. When indexed, these randomly arranged pages are easy to find. Only one Bible chapter is assigned per page (in biblical notebooks), and only one headword letter combination (in systematic notebooks) is assigned per page. Instructions on headword letter combinations will be given below in the section on Systematic Commonplace Books.

Title of page: This is a chapter of the Bible (in biblical), or a headword letter combination (in systematic notebooks).

Page number: After the index, content pages are numbered sequentially: 1, 2, 3, ...

Left margin: The area left of the red line is used for headwords (in systematic) or verse numbers (in biblical notebooks).

Header and footer: The top of the header is used for the page title. Content notes begin above the first line. Reserve a footer of 3–4 lines for overflow text or future short notes. Extra space in the header can serve this purpose, too, if the footer is filled.

Notetaking

Fleeting notes: Read with a scratch piece of paper and pen or pencil. As you read, write down the ideas of the book very briefly with their page numbers. This is like your personal index for this book or article. These are called “fleeting notes” or in Latin, conjectanea. Some of these fleeting notes can be rough drafts (half-baked ideas) of what you will put into your commonplaces. These notes are soon discarded, after they have been pondered and turned into permanent notes, or else rejected. Be sure also to add to your bibliography and index before discarding your fleeting notes.

Permanent notes: Go through your fleeting notes and think about what might be relevant for the notes that are already in your commonplaces. If need be, write a draft of what you will put into the commonplaces. After waiting a few days, if the draft still seems worthy to put into your commonplaces, add it to the proper place and add cross-references. Further instructions will be given below in the section on Systematic Commonplace Books.

Project notes: These are notes that have been written for a particular writing project. They are drawn either from the permanent notes or from other reading (fleeting notes). After a writing project is finished, these notes are either discarded or archived (Ahrens 2017, 41–42).

Biblical Commonplace Books

Record exegetical notes on the Bible in these. They are organized by chapter of the Bible. One may choose to keep separate notebooks for the OT and NT. Organization of the notebook: The volume title will be “Biblical Commonplaces,” and the volume number will be a letter. Perhaps you can add a β on the title page in front of the volume letter, to make clear that this is a biblical commonplace volume. For the volume index, put the abbreviation for each book of the Bible (perhaps just OT or NT) to the left of the red line, one book per line. A page can be assigned to only one Bible chapter, but the pages are not assigned in advance. Whenever you need a page for a particular Bible chapter, title the page appropriately and put the page number in the volume index. In the index, put the chapter number on the line for the book, draw a box around it, and put the first page number beside it. For example:

2 Tim. | [2] 45

There is no need to index additional pages that are set aside for the same chapter, since they will be cross-referenced from the first page of that chapter. Keep a footer of four rows for overflow. (See illustration “Biblical Index”.)

Each content page handles just one chapter of the Bible. At the top of the page, write the book name and chapter number. The rest of the header space is for the outline of the chapter. If possible, fill this out right away, all on one or two lines. (Other lines of the header could be used for different ways of outlining the chapter.) Also include in the header the verses of the chapter that appear in your church’s lectionary. The left margin of the page is reserved for verse numbers. These do not have to be in numerical order. Since the numbers are clearly indicated in the margin, it is easy to find material on any given verse.

First compare the most important versions (translations), such as ESV, NKJV, KJV, Weber Vulgate Latin, Nova Vulgata Latin, Elberfelder 1985 German, Luther 1545 German, and Reina Valera 1960 Spanish, plus the Septuagint Greek for the Old Testament. If you do not yet read Latin, consult the Douay-Rheims instead of the Vulgate. If the versions agree, just move on. There is little need to do lexical work for those words, since the meaning is universally acknowledged. But where the versions vary significantly, parse and look up the Greek or Hebrew words in respected dictionaries and grammars. Notes on all of the former should be done on scratch paper. (See illustration “Biblical fleeting note”.)

Now decide what you want to remember for posterity and write a brief, well-arranged note in your notebook. Here is an example of a final linguistic note:

22 שׁוֹבֵב "traditionally: backsliding, faithless” (HALOT, though they propose an unconvinving emendation); “backsliding” (KJV, NKJV); “faithless” (ESV); “rebellis” (NVul, Elb, Luth, RVR); “vaga” (Vul); ἠτιμωμένη [disgraced (BDAG ἀτιμόω)] (LXX); ᾑταμίας [unashamed, precocious] (LXX at 49:4, same Hbr word).

Next, use your Biblical Commonplaces to record other information, such as apparent contradictions and their solutions; significant doctrines that arise from the text; beautiful, memorable statements of the fathers, including the Book of Concord and Luther; useful applications; and illustrations. These do not have to be in any particular order, but the verse number always needs to be in the left margin so that all the material on any given verse can be found quickly.

If there are significant cross-references to other Bible passages, write these in the left margin in parentheses. Then put these into the volume index with the page number in parentheses. This way it is clear from the index that these are just cross-references and not entire pages devoted to the chapter. For example:

2 Tim. | [2] (1)

You can also cross-reference to your biblical commonplaces from any other commonplace volume, or from your master index, by referring to volume, page, and Bible reference. For example: VIRGIN BIRTH | βA6 on Jer 31:22.

If you fill up a page, find the next blank page and write the book and chapter there. At the bottom of the full page, draw a right arrow and write the page number of the new page, and on the new page at the top inside margin, draw a left arrow and the page number of the old, full page. If pages of the same chapter stand beside each other, simple arrows without page numbers suffice. (See illustration “Biblical content”.)

If you desire to study other large, classic texts in a way that is organized by the contents of the document (such as the Book of Concord), then separate notebooks could be kept, with indices and pages organized by document and article.

Systematic Commonplaces

The most basic way to use a commonplace book is as storage for things you want to find later on. In this case, you put quotations and thoughts into spaces that are assigned to a particular topic, index your notes, and then find your notes easily at any time in the future. The more advanced way is as an external brain, a way to build up deep thinking over time. This requires more significant cross-referencing and constant reflection on how new notes support or challenge old notes.

In systematic commonplace books, again, the volume number is a letter. Arrangement is by topic, not by Bible chapter. Pages are assigned not to specific topics, but to initial letter-initial vowel combinations. For example, on the page assigned to “Co” one would put notes concerning “CONFESSION” “COMMUNION” and “COMMONPLACES.” The first two pages are devoted to a volume index. This index includes each letter of the alphabet, with all six vowels for each letter of the alphabet: a, e, i, o, u, y. For example, the first twelve lines of the index would be: Aa, e, i, o, u, y; Ba, e, i, o, u, y. K and Q are not subdivided by their vowels; all the K words are on the same page, and all the Q words are on the same page. Thus, K and Q each need only one line in the index. All words starting with X, Y, or Z are placed on the same page, so these three letters together are given just one line in the index. (See illustration “Systematic or Bibliography index”.)

On the content pages, the headword is written in the margin, so that one can easily find the notes that are sought. Leave a line between notes. Each note should be lettered with a lowercase letter, each page starting with “a.” E.g.:

a. BAPTISM OF INFANTS] “Infants are to be baptized because . . .” (Balduin 1618, 48).

This manner of enumeration allows you to refer to specific notes from anywhere. If “Ba” was page 82 of volume C, the note above would be “C82a.” This unambiguous, simple reference system is what enables cross-referencing among all notes in the system.

To add a note to the commonplaces, pick a main topic (a headword or “commonplace”). Put the main noun first. Be rigorous about this. Otherwise you will not know where to find things. For example: “Catholicism, Roman” (on the Ca page); “Orthodoxy, Eastern” (on the Oo page); “Federation, Lutheran World” (on the Fe page); “Synod, Lutheran Church Missouri” (on the Sy page); “Councils, Ecumenical” (on the Co page). Then you will add cross references back (A2b <--) and forward (--> B3c) to other related notes, and to miscellaneous references (cf. C4d).

In theology, there are well-defined categories that have been used for centuries and millenia. These are useful for structuring theological thought. This is why I recommend that you select a headword (commonplace) for each entry, even if other headwords might be just as apt. Begin by picking headwords that correspond to classic theological categories. Then, in the future you can invent new headwords and cross-reference to them. For now, simply put notes where they seem to fit. Ask: “What is this about? How will I want to find this later?” Pick the headword that seems to fit best and put the note in the page for that letter-vowel combination. Do not pick keywords that are overly specific. For example “Prayer, Intercessory” is a good topic. “Prayer, Intercessory, is Limited Sometimes” is too specific. Then, think through whether the note connects with other notes that you have entered into the commonplace books, and add cross-references, possibly with new notes that explain the connection. Finally, if the new note does not cross-reference to any previous content, add references to this note in your master index, wherever you think it fits. For example, a note on parenting is on the “Pa” page. There are no other commonplace notes on parenting. Enter the reference in the master index not just under “parenting” but also under “chastisement” and “discipline.”

What to put in the commonplace book? Excerpts, cross-references, and notes. Excerpts: For books that are rare or that you do not own, you may want to write out quotations in your commonplace books, because in the future you will not have the original books to refer to. But do not just write excerpts. Also summarize the content in your own words and make connections with other content in your commonplaces.

Cross-references: There is no need to write out whole Bible verses or Book of Concord passages. Just give a reference with a brief indication of its content in your own words. But if you love the passage and want to memorize it, go ahead and write it down in full. Books that you own do not need to be quoted verbatim unless the quote is beautiful, memorable, or contentious. Instead, give a literature reference with a brief sentence of what the passage is about. E.g.:

LAW'S THIRD USE] Luther affirms the third use of the Law, but it is contested whether he used this expression (LW 72:123).

CAESAROPAPISM] Gerhard claims that the civil magistrate has a unique role in the call process (Gerhard 2017, 123).

For literature references, I suggest using Turabian’s author-date style, since it does not require footnotes, which are difficult in an analog system. But since there would be ambiguity if an author has more than one title per year, it is sometimes necessary to add a word from the title, e.g. Gerhard 2017 Interp., 104; Ahrens 2017 Smart, 100.

Notes: In your daily Bible reading, always be looking for something to index. But even more importantly, if something seems worth remembering, write down why it seems significant, and write down all the possible headwords that pertain. This can become a short entry in your commonplaces. You would explain what the Bible passage says and why it is applicable to this headword.

At the beginning of making your commonplace system, you might not have anything to cross-reference with your new notes. But soon you will be able to cross-refernece to notes that are potentially related. For example, I can put a new note on Jer. 23:16–17, 21–22, 36 in the commonplaces with the headword CHARISMATICS, but then must cross-reference it to REVELATION and PROPHECY, and maybe even BIBLIOMANCY (since my note says that this passage stands against charismatics, who claim immediate revelation). If I do not feel like writing new notes for all of those headwords, I will just add entries in my master index pointing to this note in the commonplaces. (See illustration “Systematic content”.)

Bibliography

Every book or article you read should be entered into your bibliography. While software is a good way to handle bibliography for many people, here I will discuss analog bibliography notebooks. Bibliography notebooks are numbered by letter, preceded by the Greek letter δ (an arbitrary symbol, to enable succinct cross-referencing). At the start of the bibliography notebook, make a letter-vowel index in the same way as was done for the systematic commonplace books. (See illustration “Systematic or Bibliography index,” above.) Entries are organized by the author’s last name. So both “Smith, John” and “Schmidt, Johann” will be placed on a page labelled “Si”. Whenever a new page is labelled, add it to the volume index. Pages are assigned to letter-vowel combinations as needed, from the beginning to the end of the notebook.

Use a standard format, such as Turabian. Turabian author-date style is well-suited to analog notebooks, since there is no need to use footnotes.

Immediately after reading a book or article, write a few sentences (on scratch paper) summarizing the work. Then add the bibliography to the notebook, followed by your summary, and perhaps a few page numbers to the book or article with the topics or arguments handled there. Then add key words in ALL CAPS. It is important to cross-reference to all the topics by which you might want to find this book or article again. (See illustration “Bibliography content”.)

After adding the book or article to the bibliography, make permanent notes to add to the commonplaces for whatever you deem worthy to keep, cross-referencing the new notes to everything else in the system that is relevant. This way the article or book will be found again in various contexts.

Master Index

A master index becomes necessary as soon as one has filled up a few notebooks. It is easy to use a plain text computer file as a master index, but here I will discuss analog master indices, which can be made gradually and do not require retyping or rewriting. In a blank notebook, number the pages, and give one page to each letter-vowel combination, such as Aa, Ae, Ai, Ao, Au, Ay, and so on. (Give only one page each to K, Q, and XYZ.) This requires 131 pages. In an 80 or 100 sheet notebook, there are then plenty of blank pages, which can be used as overflow, if one of the original 131 pages is filled. Then, write the indexed word in the left margin. There is no need to leave a footer on these pages. If you fill up the last line, indicate on what page this letter-vowel combination is continued. Use very brief abbreviations for the Bible and Book of Concord. The only other references needed should be to the biblical or systematic commonplaces, or the bibliography notebooks (e.g., B89d, or βA105 on Ps2:9, or δΑ104). Try to keep the index topics general, and develop specificity within the systematic commonplaces. For example, “Prayer, Intercessory” is a good index entry. “Prayer, Intercessory, is Limited Sometimes” is too specific. These volumes do not need a volume index, since the whole volume is an index. (See illustration “Index volume content”.)

Now for more explanation, see my lecture from May 15, 2023, over at YouTube.

Works Cited

Ahrens, Sönke. 2017. How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking—For Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers. North Charleston, SC: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.