Help Develop Inclusive Tools for Studying Scripture

Technology for Spiritual and Theological Writing and Study

A proposal for new tools in Biblical study and inter-religious engagement, incorporating the Zettelkasten method along with generative artificial intelligence tools.

This is what happens when a computer science professor feels a call to ministry, goes to seminary, completes his M.Div. and thesis, becomes disenchanted with the church, goes back into teaching, experiences burnout, pandemic lockdown, a dark night of the soul, and finds a syncretic way forward in this new moment in history.

This project is my attempt at doing something creative and useful as a process of continued discernment and as a form of digital ministry, bringing my theological and religious convictions, technological knowledge, and pedagogical understanding.

Limitations of Bible Study Tools

Most digital Bible study tools have at least one of these qualities:

This makes them less-than-desirable for ministers and academics who are committed to inclusivity and accessibility.

Connecting Ideas: Digital Zettelkasten

What is a Zettelkasten?

A Zettelkasten ("note box") is a physical note-taking method using index cards. While it has existed in various forms for centuries, the method was formalized and made popular by the prolific 20th Century sociologist Niklas Luhmann.

The Zettelkasten method involves keeping atomic notes on individual index cards with a unique identifier (often a timestamp). The unique identifier allows for both easy cataloging and hyperlinking across notes, creating a network or mind-map of related ideas. This method has proven to be effective as a tool for both education and information management.

Why learn Markdown?

Markdown is an easy-to-learn markup language. Unlike conventional, so-called "user-friendly" and WYSIWYG word-processors, markup languages allow you to see exactly what formatting you have in your document, so there are no surprises when you go to print or publish to the web. Markdown also allows for hyperlinks across documents in the same project. Applications like Zettlr allow for the easy creation of hyperlinked notes using Markdown.

Markdown is an ideal language to learn for anyone who needs to keep digital notes, and it is especially useful for those keeping a digital Zettelkasten.

Connecting Wisdom: Engaging Sacred Texts

Book, Chapter, and Verse

Sacred texts, along with many other classical texts, follow a book, chapter, verse format, which allows for quick referencing within texts. The ability to uniquely identify and cross-reference portions of a text in this manner fits well into the framework of the Zettelkasten method.

Engagement across traditions

The need for meaningful engagement across cultures and traditions could not be greater. Thoughtful dialogue and mutual understanding across communities are essential for working towards peace and challenging and dissolving prejudices in ourselves and others.

Spiritual Truth is universal. The cultural context in which Truth appears varies. Inter-religious dialogue should acknowledge, respect, and celebrate those cultural differences without conflation or erasure, while at the same time recognizing the universal truth that gives us common ground for unity and mutual understanding. If every person is created in the image and likeness of God, every encounter should recognize the dignity and worth of the individual.

If we can prayerfully engage with texts across traditions in a manner that is both organized and respectful, we can work towards a kinder and more peaceful world. We can also gain a deeper understanding of our own faith traditions.

Generative Artificial Intelligence

The recent developments in language processing and large-language models (LLMs) is upending how we relate to information today. While general-purpose LLMs are often very limited and prone to hallucinations, the focused application of carefully-trained LLMs can transform how we engage with texts both within and beyond our individual faith traditions. These tools are already being used effectively to create summaries of text and generate translations.

Many preachers and scholars have incorporated ChatGPT or similar tools into our workflow. Even the general-purpose tools have proven useful in finding Scripture references by topic and studying Greek and Hebrew words by language.

These tools have allowed for creative engagement with information. AI tools can help restructure or rephrase ideas and draw thematic connections across various subjects and source materials. They can be used to change the tone and style of writing, such as transforming traditional prayers and scripture readings to use more inclusive language while preserving the underlying meaning. They are not a substitute for human creativity, and certainly not a substitute for divine inspiration, yet they can serve as helpful tools for augmenting our work.

Connecting People: A Platform for Meaningful Dialogue

The online iteration of this tool will incorporate social media elements that allow independent scholars to share their thoughts, notes, and commentary with other users. This platform will provide opportunities for individuals across various traditions to teach about their faith tradition and learn about others.

Gnostic Notes: Bringing it all together

Gnostic Notes aims to be a simple, easy-to-use, extensible platform for engaging sacred texts, and developing new content (personal commentary, notes, sermons, devotionals, reflections, lesson plans, etc.) that engages with those texts.

Addressing the Shortcomings of Popular Bible Study Software

This tool aims to address the previously mentioned shortfalls in a number of ways:

Why?

My goal is to create the sort of study and note-taking tool I want to use for the purposes of my own theological study and exegesis.

How?

This project will build upon currently available open-source tools and frameworks, focusing on incorporating and expanding on open standards currently in use.

Who?

I am a former professor of computer science with software development experience, who also happens to hold a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary . I have been a life-long student of religion and a spiritual nomad who practices multiple belonging as a Christian, Buddhist, and Religious Scientist.

Iterations

1. Note-taking and Scripture-study. Moving the focus from content-consumption to content-engagement and creation.

2. Artificial Intelligence. Thematic searching, summary generation, content generation, drawing new connections. The prototype will be built using Google Gemini.

3. Social Networking. Allow scholars to share their content, commentaries and reflections, develop modules, and engage in dialogue.

The current focus is on the first and second iteration.

Contributors, Testing, and Training

Students, preachers, and other scholars will be needed to test the base application for usability. The base application is a fairly straightforward design based on currently existing Bible study and notetaking apps. Imagine the SWORD project, with a built-in editor (like Zettlr), and a built-in generative AI tool specially-trained on scripture, commentaries, and resources, customized to meet the needs of the end-user.

Early iterations of the AI component will require reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). This will require individuals committed to the mission of this project, and such individuals should be fairly compensated for their work.

It is important to acknowledge the potential mental and emotional hazards of working with and training AI models. The risk typically comes from the way general-purpose models are trained. Yet those involved in early training and testing must themselves be trained and should be made aware of the risks.

A project of this scope will require people of faith motivated by a desire for peaceful dialogue and mutual understanding. Those who are willing to generate content should be encouraged to do so, and usability should not be a barrier. The development of paid modules should not detract from the overarching goal of this project, which puts a strong emphasis on widespread availability regardless of social or economic conditions.

Funding

1. Crowdsourcing

2. Grants

3. Training and user support subscriptions.

4. Online subscriptions to paid (non-free) resources.

Current focus is on crowdfunding campaigns and grants.

The Goal - $7,000 USD

This amount will enable me to spend the next two months focusing on the development and testing of this project. The closer I get to the goal, the more time and energy I can afford for this project, and the sooner I can make it available.