<story><title>Bible API</title><url>http://bible-api.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wcarey</author><text>One of the most interesting things to happen to the scriptures is their balkanization into verses. We generally don&amp;#x27;t atomize other writings that way, and when folks read the scriptures as a series of disconnected logical propositions all sorts of wackiness ensues. What would it look like to have an API for the collected works of Jane Austen that returned snippets (some of which are not even complete sentences)? How would that shape the way we read, say, Persuasion?&lt;p&gt;That hermeneutic - texts are collections of independent logical propositions - was essentially unknown in the ancient world, and cedes immense epistemological ground to the project of the enlightenment that is diametrically opposed to a Christian reading of the Scriptures, which emphasizes their unity and their role in liturgical worship.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>karaterobot</author><text>Good observation, but I think it&amp;#x27;s overstated. I don&amp;#x27;t know many people who read the bible as a series of disconnected logical propositions, they mainly read it in much longer sections covering some topic.&lt;p&gt;Chapter and verse come in when you want to quote something, or shorthand something, or refer someone to a specific and narrow section.&lt;p&gt;In this usage, it&amp;#x27;s very similar to the way we cite Shakespeare, Homer, Chaucer, Milton, etc. For example, the St. Crispin&amp;#x27;s day speech in &lt;i&gt;Henry V&lt;/i&gt; is at IV.iii.18-67, and any Shakespearean actor, fan, or scholar knows what that means, but that notation doesn&amp;#x27;t force them to think of the play as merely a set of disconnected speeches.</text></comment>
<story><title>Bible API</title><url>http://bible-api.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wcarey</author><text>One of the most interesting things to happen to the scriptures is their balkanization into verses. We generally don&amp;#x27;t atomize other writings that way, and when folks read the scriptures as a series of disconnected logical propositions all sorts of wackiness ensues. What would it look like to have an API for the collected works of Jane Austen that returned snippets (some of which are not even complete sentences)? How would that shape the way we read, say, Persuasion?&lt;p&gt;That hermeneutic - texts are collections of independent logical propositions - was essentially unknown in the ancient world, and cedes immense epistemological ground to the project of the enlightenment that is diametrically opposed to a Christian reading of the Scriptures, which emphasizes their unity and their role in liturgical worship.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>eeereerews</author><text>&amp;gt; That hermeneutic - texts are collections of independent logical propositions - was essentially unknown in the ancient world&lt;p&gt;On the contrary, the atomization and recombination of the text into new meanings is highly characteristic of Midrash. Of course, this isn&amp;#x27;t the same as the &amp;quot;prooftext&amp;quot; hermeneutic I think you&amp;#x27;re criticizing.</text></comment>