More Progress with Pattern Analysis

I have now analyzed 40% of the Bible using the Pattern Analysis methodology. Here is my progress over the last two years:
0% — April 6, 2016
26% — May 6, 2017
30% — August 31, 2017
35% — January 21, 2018
40% — April 20, 2018

In addition to the Pattern Analysis Handbook that was last updated in September 2017, I recently started a scholarly paper, Pattern Analysis Findings. While the Handbook targets those in the church body who are interested in gleaning more from the Bible, the Findings manuscript targets those of academic persuasion. It assumes that the reader is very familiar with literary analysis of the Bible, not just chiasms but a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.

My hope is that if I can get some good scholarly feedback on this methodology, then I can more confidently update and complete the Handbook. The Preface of the Findings book currently reads:

Pattern Analysis is a methodology to help us know the Holy Spirit’s emphasis within any literary unit (pericope) in the Bible. It uses established literary structure techniques, yet it also extends those techniques as well. It is intended for use by both scholars and non-scholars. A core element of this method is the belief that “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Study of the Bible’s literary structure has received increased attention in recent years from both scholars and the worldwide church. For example, many have read and/or analyzed structures using macro-level chiasms and similar approaches. This proposed method takes us from identification of structures to hearing the Holy Spirit’s emphatic voice within structures.

In April 2016, I began to prepare a database of literary structures by sampling each book of the Bible. I had read Jerome Walsh’s Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative several years earlier—I wondered if Walsh’s methodology could be used or modified to apply to the entire Bible. In particular, I was most curious to see if Walsh’s rules for emphasis could be applied throughout the Bible, or possibly modified. ¹

My approach was to select at least three contiguous chapters from each book. Using the NASB as a source, the verses were not to be paraphrased, modified, or rearranged in any way. Every verse was to be included; that is, no words were to be skipped between literary units.

In April 2018 I completed that assignment by analyzing 12,400 (forty percent) of the 31,100 verses in the Bible: twenty-four books in entirety and fifteen to eighty percent of the remaining books. This paper is a presentation of the findings of that investigation.

Pattern Analysis is the name that I selected for this methodology. There are forty tools which comprise this toolbox of techniques. Many of those tools have been established by Walsh and many others over the last three centuries. I modified some of these tools based on where the emphasis was found. Some tools are new, or at least new to me. The combination and presentation of these tools is unique. When these tools were put together, the emphasis was dependably found in the expected locations.

This paper presents the results of this study with details on how these techniques appear. The purpose of this paper then is to describe this pattern analysis toolbox, how these tools appear, and the frequency of their appearance.

1.  Jerome T. Walsh, Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative, (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001).

That is the Preface—the remainder is still to be written and may some day be published as a book. As with other scholarly papers such as a thesis or dissertation, this will take some time. If you are interested in being notified when the Handbook or the Findings is available to the general public, please contact me: Tom@ThomasBClarke.com.

Oh to enjoy the refreshing Word of God, Tom