As a student of the Text myself, I started using Obsidian for a similar purpose. My use case may be different as my teacher was Jewish and more “eastern” in thought so my approach focuses on “digging” into the Text through personal discipline to find hidden treasure. My notes are are made as I read/study a passage. My approach is as follows:
- First I have a folder that contains the written Text. I write/type the Text as a daily discipline. As I go, I highlight proper nouns, concepts, themes, or anything that jumps out at me for being out of place. Then if there is a link or common theme with another passage latter, I am familiar with the entries referenced.
For example, I recently was typing through Gen 18 in which the three visitors come to Abraham’s tent. I’ll have links to Abraham and Sarah as named people, but also links to “Patriarch running” “Hospitality” “Under a tree” and “Three Measures of Fine Flour”. Then when I get to Matt 13 I’ll notice a link that could clue me into the Remez being used.
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Second I have a folder that contains any word references. These are catalogued by their Strong’s numbers. I will make note of case, part of speech, references, and first mention.
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Third I have a folder for nouns with sub-folders for People, Places, Things, and Numbers (I’m not into the whole cabal/mystic ideas about numbers, but numbers are often used as pictures/themes such as seven being a number of completion and five being the number of Torah.) These will have back links from any references and I will also include any other research sources/links from outside the Text itself.
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Lastly, I have quotes/notes in folders to organize my own notes and any quotations from other books/commentaries/lectures/etc that I’ve listened to.
Most of these are just raw md files sorted alphabetically which serves my use case (I look up Abraham under “A” in the “People” category) but the written Text is the exception. For that I have each book is its own folder with a number (eg “01-Genesis” to “39-II Chronicles”) so they are sorted in order. Each contains a md file with the abbreviated name and chapter number (eg “Gen-18”). I then use headings for each verse. (I use heading 6 and use my CSS to make the numbers the same as the background color so they don’t get in the way while just reading) This allows me to call or embed a link with a nice shorthand such as “Gen-18” for a chapter or “Gen-18#v6” for a specific verse.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. I’m always down to discuss and learn when it comes to the Text.
Grace and Peace,
Lithou