Category Archives: human interest

Visualization of Bible Linkages

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This is a bit off-topic for my usual blogging, but as a geek/research scientist/amateur Bible scholar this fascinates me.

Chris Harrison, a doctoral student in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, has posted on his web site a page on Visualizing the Bible.  The first plot displayed is Bible cross-references showing the linkages between different verses in the Bible.  If you download the hi-res version (and watch out because it is hi-res at 109 MB and 12000×7000 pixels) you can get a cross-reference down to the chapter and pretty close to the verse in the Bible.

Have a look at it.  If nothing else Chris has done a great job of making it visually appealing.  But just a few of the things that jumped out at me:

How much of the Bible references back to Genesis and the first half of Exodus. This includes Revelation providing an “over arching” feel to the plot.

The cross-references within individual books, especially Revelation.

The number of cross-references to Ruth and Song of Songs is very low.

There are some interesting moderate-length linkages to the end of Deuteronomy and the end of Ezekiel.

Now I realize that the eye may find patterns that are not significant, but this is an interesting way to view this data.  what do you see?  Is this helpful to interpret scripture in the light of scripture?

My thanks to Corey’s blog “It’s A Start” for the post pointing to this.

Decently and in Order: We Presbyterians can be an interesting lot

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Congratulations to the Bergen (NY) First Presbyterian Church as they celebrate their 200th anniversary later this month.  The church began as a commissioned group of East Guilford, Conn., Congregationalists.  In reading an article from the Westside News about the anniversary and events one item at the very end of the article sparked my interest.  The church met in homes and school buildings before it built its first building in 1828.  In 1854 the church moved about a mile north when the railroad came through and they wanted to be part of the developing community.  The location of the original church building became a cemetery and has a stone marking the location of the church.  What attracted my attention was where the article says:

It is also said, according to historical accounts, that some families who were members of the congregation in 1854, picked their burial plots in Mt. Rest Cemetery to be in the spots where their pews had been when the church building stood there.

Not to be irreverent, but I can think of about a dozen one-liners that could be said about that, many related to listening to sermons.  I had considered the title of “Descently and in Order” for this post but thought that pun was a bit much, even for me.

They are presbyterian?

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In a conversation this morning I was talking with my church’s men’s group about the three styles of church government: presbyterian, congregational, episcopal.  A retired minister in the group told us that the Assemblies of God, while clearly not Reformed or Calvinistic in theology and doctrine, are presbyterian in church order.  It turns out that they have presbyteries which are composed of both clergy and lay members.  Their candidates for ministry are monitored and certified by the regional bodies.  And there is accountability of lower governing bodies to higher ones.

Their web page on church structure has a basic outline of how they order themselves, and not surprisingly the word “presbyterian” is not to be found.  I don’t blame them since only a GA Junkie would be aware of the specific usage of the word for church governance as opposed to a reformed theology or a denomination.  (However, the Wikipedia entry for Assemblies of God does refer to them as “mostly presbyterian” in their church order.)  On their church structure I was struck by the fact that their opening statement is that Jesus Christ is the head of the church, just as the current PC(USA) Book of Order begins.  (I say current because the current draft of the rewrite would move that a section or two later.)

Well, I don’t plan on following the politics and polity of the Assemblies of God, but I thought that it was interesting that a non-reformed branch had a presbyterian government structure.

The new indulgences

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There was an interesting piece on NPR’s radio program Morning Edition today done by Martin Kaste about consumer “carbon offsets.”  This established business practice in industry allows a company to put out more green house gases by buying some of the unused gas allotment from another company.  Now there is a consumer market for these so if you are feeling guilty about causing global warming by driving your SUV or heating your house you can pay Ford or The Climate Trust or other organizations.  However, you are not buying a carbon offset like industries do.  Rather, your donation will be used to support projects that are environmentally friendly and usually help reduce green house gases, such as buying up old cars or helping with reforestation projects.  The suggested payment is $10/ton of greenhouse gases produced or with Ford $80/year for an SUV.

OK, that’s interesting you say, but what does this have to do with reformed theology and Presbyterianism?  Well, one of the people interviewed in the piece is George Monbiot who likens the new carbon offset business to modern indulgences where you can live as you like, pay your money, and your sins are forgiven.  However, Mr. Monbiot also says that these consumer offsets are doing nothing to reverse global warming because what is needed is massive systemic change right away.  All the offsets do is ease people’s conscience.  You can read more of his view point in an October 18, 2006, article in The Guardian titled “Paying for our Sins” that promotes his new book Heat:  How to stop the planet burning.

Doctor Who (Yes, this is GA related)

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One last GA item for today:  Airing today on BBC television is an episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” a series that explores with an individual their genealogy.  Tonight, the individual is David Tennant, the actor currently playing Doctor Who.  (For those not familiar with this long running British Sci/Fi TV series, Doctor Who is about a time traveler and his adventures.)

According to news accounts of the episode David Tennant, in doing the research for the show, discovers ancestors active in the Orange Order in Northern Ireland as well as a Catholic branch of the family.  One of the news accounts mentions that David is the son of the Very Rev. Sandy MacDonald, a former moderator of the Church of Scotland.  (see I told you there was a GA connection)  A longer article from the Sunday Times gives a lot more detail but leaves out the important (to us) bit about his father serving as moderator.