Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bible API

bible-api.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 308 posts

Re: Bible API

#101

Post by karaterobot »

wcarey wrote: post #58

One of the most interesting things to happen to the scriptures is their balkanization into verses. We generally don'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…

Good observation, but I think it's overstated. I don'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.

Chapter and verse come in when you want to quote something, or shorthand something, or refer someone to a specific and narrow section.

In this usage, it's very similar to the way we cite Shakespeare, Homer, Chaucer, Milton, etc. For example, the St. Crispin's day speech in Henry V is at IV.iii.18-67, and any Shakespearean actor, fan, or scholar knows what that means, but that notation doesn't force them to think of the play as merely a set of disconnected speeches.

Re: Bible API

#102

Post by csours »

gchamonlive wrote: post #70
catsdanxe wrote: post #64

Has anyone trained GPT2 on the Bible? I think it could create some interesting stories.

We could make a religion out of this

Reference (short version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMStODromg8

Long version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuCn8ux2gbs

Re: Bible API

#103

Post by eeereerews »

wcarey wrote: post #58

One of the most interesting things to happen to the scriptures is their balkanization into verses. We generally don'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…

> That hermeneutic - texts are collections of independent logical propositions - was essentially unknown in the ancient world

On the contrary, the atomization and recombination of the text into new meanings is highly characteristic of Midrash. Of course, this isn't the same as the "prooftext" hermeneutic I think you're criticizing.

Re: Bible API

#104

Post by jacquesm »

brightball wrote: post #45
jacquesm wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Christianity is also man made.

Only if you believe the entire Bible is false. And that is certainly a choice that anyone has the right to make.

And I do. What are the chances of multiple male authors creating a book that confirms their worldview and lays down the law for everybody else to follow putting them at a very hard to dispute real life advantage vs it being handed down by an omnipotent being?

Let's just say I would be highly surprised if anything related to the spiritual world and related to miracles or the origins of the universe as related in the bible came out to be true in a way that does not agree with hard science.

Re: Bible API

#105

Post by Damorian »

millerm wrote: post #47

Would be nice if The Skeptic's Annotated Bible could be added to the API. Doubt that though. http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

Oof, just started reading through and this is pretty cringeworthy. It seems the author has a made a few blog posts of your typical, infantile criticisms of religion that they simply link to throughout the text, which is deliberately taken out of context at every possible point and mocked inline. "Advice about avoiding prostitutes? That's anti-woman, sexist absurdity! Why doesn't it mention male prostitutes?" If you're looking for good critique, you will not find it here.

Re: Bible API

#106

Post by wcarey »

shampto3 wrote: post #99
wcarey wrote: post #58

One of the most interesting things to happen to the scriptures is their balkanization into verses. We generally don'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…

tldr; Why not both? I agree that it's odd that we have atomized the writings in the scriptures. You can find reader's editions if you want to remove the verses structure. However, I don't agree that the verses are "diametrically opposed to a Christian reading of the Scriptures". I believe that there is room for both reading whole books and reading short quotes. For instance, I don't think there's anything wrong with…

So, having read the whole of what you wrote, the reason not to do both is that atomization promotes an epistemology that does grave violence to Christian belief. God's self revelation could have been a math textbook: a collection of independent propositions related by logical necessity. But it's not.

His self revelation is a person who has a story and who tells stories. When we atomize the scriptures, we're implicitly constructing an argument against the epistemology that God has revealed in the scriptures. That's the thing that Satan does in the wilderness when he puts Jesus to the test. We ought not lead others into that time of trial.

So the convenience of being able to cite a verse as quick shorthand comes at the price of a profound argument against the coherent truth of the scriptural witness.

Re: Bible API

#107

Post by ggcr3ss »

I stitched together a King James Version Bible app in 2018 without any ads and with the entire Bible available in one scroll.

The website got taken down with a notice claiming the domain was expired as of "2021" which of course the year hasn't passed yet. It was a pretty big eye opener for me. Don't play with the Bible. I was also baited by the San Jose Police department earlier this year. Ever since I posted that app my life has gone south. I think I pulled a King James on myself.

After all the last passage of the says "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

It's really not a joke especially with the whole end of the world thing. I think the dns providers were telling me something with that message. Something is scheduled for 2021. The site was hosted with NetworkSolutions btw.

Re: Bible API

#108

Post by kijin »

wcarey wrote: post #58

One of the most interesting things to happen to the scriptures is their balkanization into verses. We generally don'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…

It probably began as a reference scheme for scholars, by scholars. The same thing has happened to other ancient texts, like the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Homer.

You can refer to The Republic 327a1, or Book 1 line 230 of The Odyssey, and people who study ancient Greek texts will immediately figure out which line you're talking about. Those references aren't complete sentences, either. Apparently it didn't matter to the people who first came up with the numbering scheme. The Plato reference format is actually nothing more than the page, column, and line number of a particular edition that happened to stick.

Re: Bible API

#109

Post by wcarey »

jacquesm wrote: post #34
brightball wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re 100% right about people not reading. I actually teach an adult Sunday School class in my spare time because it’s really fascinating to read and get into the history. My slogan for the class is “You cannot be misled if you’ve read.” We spend a lot of time talking about man made traditions that aren’t biblically supported as well as the cherry picking without context that often happens. Christianity can withstan…

Christianity is also man made.

Christians, in particular, would believe Christianity man made. After all, God became incarnate and fully human!
Post reply on HN