In our current series of audio lessons on the letter to Titus, (you are following along, aren’t you?) it is illustrated that, while the Surveillance Worksheet or whatever you use to make your initial observations still does not help us ‘draw the fish’ (to draw upon the Agassiz article). As Dr. Agassiz has said, “a pencil is one of the best of eyes.”

In the Agassiz article, the student looks at the fish from many angles and makes some very keen observations about the construction of the fish, after discovering that he could do a better job by drawing the fish. And, this proved successful for mostly the outer construction – the fins, the eyes, etc. The student thinks he has done a pretty good job, but is disappointed to learn the Dr. Agassiz was not impressed, so much so that he chides the student for missing an obvious feature.

So drawing the fish had helped the student see things he had not seen before, but he still had not looked closely enough. The text of the Bible can be that way, too. And, so the Surveillance Worksheet is one way to start drawing the fish, so to speak. It makes a segment of study the focus since you are not saddled with a large book, or distracted trying to stay on the same page. There is plenty of white space to make those initial observations. You feel less concerned about writing in the Bible since you are writing on a piece of paper. You can use many different colored pens and pencils for identifying points of emphasis and lists, comparisons and contrasts. But, you can’t really move the text around and organize it in groups.

So, it makes more apparent the need for the Analytical Chart. Because, in it you actually reconstruct the text and can group it in an organized fashion.

Here is a cutaway from the Analytical Chart showing a couple of examples. I have emphasized by using color – blue in one example and red in the other. There is no significance especially to the use of particular colors – they are just to differentiate.

The blue color happens to highlight the references to time – ‘long ages’ and ‘time’. I have arranged the text so that they appear in line with each other. The other example uses red to highlight the progression in terms – ‘word’, ‘proclamation’, and ‘commandment’. ‘Word’ is a general term; ‘proclamation’ is a step up in intensity; ‘commandment’ is much higher in intensity.

Further, arranging the text in this way allows you see the primary and secondary cores. The core is the part of the sentence that involves the main subject, the verb, and the object.

F.F. Bruce has observed that in the Old Testament, there is no indirect speech¹F.F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments (3d ed.; Westwood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1963), p. 45.. However, in the New Testament, there is an abundance of long sentences with secondary clauses. In the case of the example below from Irving Jensen’s Independent Bible Study, the core is revealed in the  phrases in dark blue.

Notice, too, that the verses have been arranged in a way that enables one to analyze the text. Remember that the Bible is literature, and it is the best kind. It has all types of literature within it. When you take the time to really study and apply yourself to the task of analysis, the rewards are many.

“But if you bear the name “Jew,”

and rely upon the Law,

and boast in God,

and know His will,

and approve the things that are essential,

being instructed out of the Law,

and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind,

• a light to those who are in darkness,
• a corrector of the foolish,
• a teacher of the immature,

having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,

you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal?

You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?”

(Rom 2:17-23 NASB)

Another beautiful example is found in Ephesians 1:3-14. In this example, the core runs throughout the passage. It is reconstructed by placing the core in the middle.

We plan to talk a bit more about this as it occurs in Titus Segment 1 after this week’s lesson… stay tuned.

Many students do not like marking in their Bibles. After years of trying to get people to try it, there were still many that did not want to. For some it was a waste of time, and for others it was too tedious.

Of course, Bible study can be tedious if you let it. But, above all it is fun! I love it. I can’t wait to study. But, it is work, very hard work, but rewarding work. And, one important key is to use all the eyes God gave us. This point is ever so forcefully made in the story, The Student, The Fish, and Agassiz.

So, early on, after seeing that many were hesitant about marking in their Bibles, we used a piece of paper with the segment of study on the left side of the sheet (landscape mode) and blank space on the right side. This was designed to allow the student to make observations, notes, lists, comparisons, etc. – anything that put down on paper the observations that were being made as they are being made. This was intended to free the mind to make more observations as the thoughts flowed.

In high school, I took Latin for 3 years. No, really, I did. And, I had one of the most influential teachers ever-Margaret Hardwick. In her eighties, she was as sprightly as her slight frame would allow. She was sharp as a tack and you could not pull anything over on her. She taught us much about life as well as Latin. Anyway, she always made us take out a sheet of paper before every class and we were to entitle it our Talking Paper. This was where we would ask questions in class while she was lecturing without interrupting her – by talking on paper.

At the end of class she took up all the papers. At the time, I thought this was crazy. But, later I saw the value in it. She could get feedback from students and in a way where they were not demeaned by classmates for actually participating in class. And, she could tailor her teaching accordingly. There is a Latin phrase, nullius in verba, also used as the motto of the Royal Society, which means, ‘in the words of no one’. I suppose this would properly characterize the concept of the observation worksheet – to see what is there, to investigate thoroughly, to make informed conclusions. One of her sayings was,

“The more you know you know, the more you know you don’t know; the more you know you don’t know, the more you know you need to know.”

So, the observation worksheet may be an offshoot of Mrs. Hardwick’s Talking Paper.

Alternatively, and after many years of teaching this method, with a significant number of my own observation of how students choose to take notes and mark up text, I have moved into using a different method of text markup. This is a combination of using various techniques and methods and the contributions of others.

I use something now I call the Surveillance Worksheet. We were going through the Jonah series and at the end of the Second Segment; I decided it was time to modify the observation worksheet.

The Surveillance Worksheet, being the next evolution of the observation worksheet, is also very similar to the observation sheet used by Duvall and Hays (Grasping God’s Word) of which I am only vaguely familiar. I don’t want to misstate their method. But, I do wish to acknowledge that it has influenced my thinking. The point is – make observations, lots and lots no matter how seemingly insignificant.

The Surveillance Worksheet has the segment in double-spaced type in the center of the page (also landscape mode). The student is encouraged to make any notes, any things that stand out, or seem strangely placed, etc in the midst of the page (above, below), using circles, or highlights, underlines, anything to emphasize.

Then, the student is to come back to them later after going through the text until it is believed that the initial standouts have been noted. Then, each noted item should be investigated, researched and, if reasoned to be significant, made more permanent. If an item is not initially deemed significant, don’t discard it so quickly. Surprise may came later, when after exhausting seemingly all attempts at determining significance, it is found to be indeed significant. There was a reason, after all, that you marked it the first time.

So, we will walk though it in the Jonah series in the Third Segment.