Lesson 9 | Combining Summaries
Moving Toward the Main Point
Having discussed the technical skill of combining summaries, it is now time to focus on application. The first purpose of this skill is to take a completed bracket and move toward the development of a main point summary, step by step.
Step-by-Step Summary Combining Through 2 Corinthians 4:7–15
In the image below, I have copied over the instructor’s work from the previous lesson, but with a completed bracket. Scroll down and watch as the step-by-step process of summary combining sifts out the details of each piece, carrying the primary point through to the broadest level.
1) I begin the process by merging the summary of the 8a–9d (Series) with that of 10a–11b (Id-Exp). In my bracket, I have established that these should be connected with a Negative-Positive, which is communicated by the combined summary.
2) I continue down the passage to the next relationship, and see that 12a-b (Concessive) begins with the strong inference conjunction “so.” I then combine the summary I created from the last image with that of 12a-b. Notice that the inference logic in the red dot note below distills out details from the blue summary, while also cohering the inference logic from both the orange and blue summaries.
Note: As I combine summaries, I also minimize the lower-level dot notes to avoid confusion.
3) Coming to the bottom of the passage, the crucial question is: What is 14a-c grounding? Starting with the tightest possibility, I concluded it is the limited scope of 13a-f. Notice the ground connection in the combined summary makes good sense of the connection between these two pieces.
4) At this stage, I begin merging summaries at a broader level, beginning with those that I created in steps 2 and 3. So I now have a summary that encapsulates the primary point of vv. 8–14. By necessity, this includes sifting out details that, though important, are not most primary. (E.g. “because we know we will rise from the dead” in the bottom dot note has been distilled out.)
5) As a final step, I work in the Ground in v. 15. Due to the all-encompassing nature of its content, I’ve concluded that it grounds a large portion of the passage. This dynamic is summarized in the left-most dot note. So the primary point of vv. 8-15 is “Therefore we keep speaking life-giving words…” and the broadest weight-bearing support is v. 15, “because God's grace makes you thankful unto God's glorification.”
We have now arrived at the step just previous to writing the main point summary! (For that, you’ll need to wait for Lesson 10.)
