Make Your Thinking Count!

 "...let us remember that on the whole subject of religion one rule of modesty and soberness is to be observed, and it is this: in obscure matters not to speak or think, or even long to know, more than the word of God has delivered. A second rule is this, that, in reading the Scriptures, we should constantly direct our inquiries and meditations to those things which tend to edification, not indulge in curiosity or in studying things of no use. And since the Lord has been pleased to instruct us, not in frivolous questions, but in solid piety, in the fear of his name, in true faith, and the duties of holiness, let us rest satisfied with such knowledge." 

John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. Translated by Henry Beveridge (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2008), 92. 

Evernote

This past week I was introduced to the program Evernote. The capabilities of this program will change the way I file information, organize my research, and prepare for sermons. Evernote, which is available online as a free download, allows you to clip, save, and search photos, videos, and articles. Here's a look at a couple of the coolest features of Evernote: 

If you are using Firefox as your web browser you will have the Evernote helper in the toolbar (the elephant head in the top right corner). 

 
When you find an article or webpage that you would like to save for future reference simply click the Evernote helper. In reading the New York Times I found an article on a recent federal court ruling concerning the Morning-After Pill. The Evernote web clipper tool will pop up and allow you to edit the title of your article, add keyword tags, and further notation. 

When you log into Evernote you can sync your Evernote so that it retrieves data you've saved while browsing the Internet on your computer or smartphone.

Evernote's search feature searches every article (not just keywords or tags) so you can retrieve any articles that contain the subject that you're researching. In the example below I have searched the word 'contraception' and Evernote recalls the New York Times article I just copied along with any other previously saved articles and notes. 

 
Evernote searches documents and articles. It also searches images for text (my favorite feature of the program). While researching the Puritans I came across a couple of books that I thought would be helpful and so I took a picture of the books on my Iphone, which I then uploaded to Evernote. When I search 'Puritan' later on, Evernote highlights 'Puritan' in the image file.

 
You can also link your Google searches with Evernote so that Evernote searches the information database you've created and identifies resources that you have already marked as helpful or significant. These search results are presented along with Google's results. In the image below I searched Google for information on John Owen. Beside Google's findings, Evernote presents those notes and articles I have saved that may be relevant to my information search.

The benefits of such a program become quickly obvious to students and pastors who spend a great deal of time researching or reading information online. But Evernote also has software that is designed for saving culinary information: pictures of food, pictures of recipes, online recipes, and more. Plus, with any information you save to Evernote-- whether it be a recipe or a scholarly article-- you can share through Facebook, Twitter, or Email with only a couple clicks. 

Here is a video introduction to Evernote: 

James K.A. Smith on Annotating Texts

I first realized the value of personal annotations in the Grade 12, while muddling through a section of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan. My tiny, high school brain was reeling, on the verge of a cranial explosion. The only thing I could do to maintain the slightest clue about what Hobbes' was saying was to jot paragraph summaries in the margins.

Since that time, I've read a lot more dense material that required careful reading and annotation. I've tried a number of things: book darts, post-it notes, highlighters, and pencil notes. I'm still finding the annotation approach that's right for me. 

That being said, Calvin College's James K.A. Smith wrote a recent blog post on annotating texts that I've found helpful. He has some helpful tips and illustrations regarding annotation that you can read at his blog, Fors Clavigera.