What is Pattern Analysis?
Since 2016, God has led me on a journey to develop a deeper and more meaningful way to read the Scriptures called Pattern Analysis. The study of literary structures is an established approach that analyzes related verses in the Bible (for example, What is a Chiasm?). Pattern Analysis is an innovative approach to literary structures that expands these commonly held practices for use throughout the Bible and helps discern the persuasive areas. The result is a methodology to discern the emphatic voice of the Holy Spirit throughout the entire Bible.
A draft of the manuscript, Pattern Analysis Methodology, has been completed and is awaiting scholarly review. See Pattern Analysis Summary for an overview.
The Methodology
The pattern analysis methodology is applied to a literary unit, also known as a pericope. The story of Christ's three temptations from beginning to end is a literary unit. This methodology identifies the demarcation, the literary structure, and the rhetorical significance (the way of persuasion) for each literary unit.The first part of the methodology, the demarcation, identifies the beginning of each literary unit and key locations within. The structural analysis, the second part, is where related portions of the text are documented. The correct name for these portions is elements. The rhetorical third part presents persuasive and convicting parts of the text.
The result is a fresh and beneficial approach the Bible. So far, all of the New Testament and the minor prophets have been analyzed, and at least 25% of each of the remaining books. That is, 65% of the Bible or 20,000 of the total 30,000 verses. All analyzed verses conform to this methodology, but nine (9) may be questioned if they were part of the original text. Scholars have debated whether those nine were part of the original manuscript for many years.
The output of each analysis is an HTML web page such as:
1 John 4:7-19 – An imperfect chiasm
Acts 9:32-43 – A parallel symmetry
Psalm 62:1-12 – An imperfect parallel symmetry
Background
This project began in 2016 after reading Jerome Walsh's Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative (Liturgical Press, 2001). This project expanded his Genesis to Esther methodology to the entire Bible and made some substantial modifications. Software was developed for the input, analysis, and presentation of each analysis.The result is surprisingly strong evidence that the Holy Spirit used consistent verse-by-verse methods to inspire the Bible. That is, the structural organization and placement of emphases is in the same predictable locations. Once the literary structure is determined, the emphatic portions are where the model indicates they would be. Could that be coincidence?
Directions
There are at least three areas where this work should be helpful. First, that the Bible's relevance would be enhanced. Today it is too common to hear people state that, because men wrote and/or altered the Bible, it is not trustworthy. If we can confidently show there is one consistent thought process from Genesis to Revelation, the question of how it was written should take a sudden turn. Pattern analysis presents compelling evidence that these authors heard the thematic voice of the Holy Spirit, for "all Scripture is inspired by God" (2 Timothy 3:16). The result should be that the Bible will be viewed as much more reliable because God somehow spoke to these men.My second hope is that this methodology will receive good acceptance by academia. I have prepared a manuscript entitled Pattern Analysis Methodology, a detailed description. That manuscript is awaiting scholarly review.
My third hope is that Bible students would use this methodology for their own analyses of the text. The Pattern Analysis Software, currently a laptop version, should be modified for use through the internet. In that way, others would grow in their understanding and inspiration from the text.
You may email me at Tom@ThomasBClarke.com.