Diagramming the Bible

Some time ago I was shocked to learn that there were so many people across the pond that knew, or at least had learnt how to diagram sentences! Apparently, it is not being taught in schools there anymore, but many of my age were taught how to diagram. I have never learnt how to diagram in high school (late 70s) or Bible school (late 80s).

Recently I decided to start learning how to diagram, so I bought myself a book to learn. I bought Diagrammatical Analysis by Lee L. Kantenwein. The book is an endless quagmire of examples. What I did not find very helpful from this book is that there are no explanations on how to get to the end result of those examples. I probably just have to slow things down and go through the book step-by-step. I went through the Introduction to get an idea of what we are dealing with, and then I did a quick scan through the rest of the book to find out what is waiting for me down the line.

So, as you can see, I am not a “diagrammer.” Through the 1980s and 1990s, I would underline verses and make comments in the margins about those verses, and then through the 2000s and 2010s I applied a more visual approach with drawn icons, lists and comments.

Image 1: Underlining and comments

Image 2: Visual approach with icons and comments

To start off then, I have put together a few resources that I’ve found on the web to get me going in the right direction.

I am sure there are many more diagramming resources, but for now, I am starting here:

Resource Type	Resource Name
Article	Introductory Sentence Diagramming For Dummies A Beginning How-To In the Long Lost (and Necessary) Art
Video	Grace Bible Church - Equipping Hour: Diagramming for Dummies - October 26, 2014
Video	Grace Bible Church - Equipping Hour: Diagramming for Dummies - November 2, 2014
Video	Grace Bible Church - Equipping Hour: Diagramming for Dummies - November 9, 2014
Video	Grace Bible Church - Equipping Hour: Diagramming for Dummies - November 16, 2014
Video	Grace Bible Church - Equipping Hour: Diagramming for Dummies - November 23, 2014

I hope this will help you to go even deeper into Scripture, growing in your knowledge of God, and becoming more like Christ!

BTW, I do know of John Piper’s way of studying Scripture through arcing.

If you know of more resources to help with diagramming Scripture, please me know in the comment section below.