Help your Bible Study Go Deeper with the 5 Common Topics

Using the 5 Common Topics of Classical education can help your Bible study go deeper this year!

Loaded with a stack of books and ideas of how much my students would simply swoon with delight over my lesson plan, I pushed open the door of my first classroom. Needless to say, by the end of the week, it was I who was swooning with the sight of abandoned notebooks, overflowing wastebaskets, and the swift disappearance of my students the minute the final bell rang.

As a new teacher, I knew a lot about my subject. But the students weren’t really interested in what how much their new teacher KNEW. They craved (although some didn’t know it!) to know for themselves. Teaching students HOW to learn is an entirely different game than simply trying to “fill the bucket” with your own knowledge, and I had to learn it–and fast!

Waiting for them to simply “be inspired” by ideas and the thrill of wordplay was not enough! The breakthrough came when I realized what came “naturally” to me was only because I had internalized a specific set of skills and steps. I had to “backwards engineer” to figure out how to best share this skill set with my students.

Classical Education and the 5 Common Topics

When I became a homeschool mom, I realized what I had been doing in my classroom using intuition plus lots of trial and error actually had a name, and some pretty nifty and reliable “tools” to go with it. Wiser minds than mine had for centuries called this idea of teaching students HOW to learn vs WHAT to learn: Classical Education.

I had to re-learn how to “teach” all over again! But I’m glad I did, because now, 19 years into my teaching journey, I would choose the Classical model of education over anything. Why? Because it simply works. Giving students the tools and skills they need to learn any subject far surpasses shoveling loads of information into their brains (There is SOME need for a pre-loading of facts before you can make much progress, but I digress!).

But. Classical education itself is a rabbit hole for another day. Let’s jump to how we can help your Bible study go deeper with the 5 Common Topics of Classical learning!

What ARE the 5 Common Topics?

In a nutshell the 5 Common Topics are:

Definition – as you might expect, this is making sure you know the definition of the word and which definition is being used in what you’re reading. (Example: If you use the word “factor” do you mean the cause of something or a number used in an arithmetic problem?).

Comparison – also pretty easy, this tool has you compare similarities and differences, between two terms, characters, etc. Also you can compare by degree – to what extent are they the same/different?

Circumstance – now a little trickier, here, we think about the immediate setting of the character or text. Then we think about what might be outside that setting. Then we think what’s a little further out from that. (Think: The Hobbit and what is happening directly relating to him in the Shire, then what’s happening in Mirkwood, nearby. Then what is happening under the Misty Mountains far across Middle Earth. Or… biblically, think about Mary and what’s happening to her in her village when people find out she’s pregnant, then Elisabeth several towns away, then Jerusalem, then the Roman Empire… see?)

Relationship – this one has to do with cause-and-effect. What would happen if? Or why did something happen?

Testimony – here we think about who is speaking and whether we should listen to them? Are they an authority on the topic? Who else has something to say on this topic? Could we be an authority? What do we know? Where did we get our information? Testimony can come from people, books, nature/observation, and God!

Now, Apply the 5 Common Topics to Bible Study

Each week, I lead a short devotional using the 5 Common Topics with my class of CC Challenge B students (about 8th grade level). The conversational nature of this practice allows the students to hear the Word of God and their hearts be touched. There’s also the “iron sharpens iron” aspect to this devotional style.

Cycling through the 5 Common Topic questions gives us different ways of looking at and thinking about what God is saying. I’ve been blessed to listen to my students use their own Bible knowledge to explore a passage or make connections to other passages.

Using the 5 common topics above we follow these steps:

READ the passage
SELECT keywords/terms from the passage. This might include words the student doesn’t know and needs to add to their vocabulary.
DEFINE these words/terms. Not only are we defining words we don’t know, but also we are defining what that word means in the context of the verse, to avoid ambiguity.
Pick two terms and COMPARE them. Are they similar or different? (or, compare one term from this passage with the same term in a different passage. This is called “cross-referencing”).
What is the CIRCUMSTANCE of this passage? Who is it about? Where are they? What is happening to them right in that moment? What is happening elsewhere in their world?
Is there any cause-and-effect RELATIONSHIP implied or directly stated in the passage? What happened just before this? What might happen after? What would happen if the subject of the passage does or doesn’t do as commanded? For personal application, what if I do not obey the commands/instructions of God’s Word in this passage?
We always consider the TESTIMONY of the passage. Who is writing? What is their authority? Can we trust them? (Though God is always the final authority when it comes to Scripture, we also are considering whether the person being written ABOUT is truthful – for example, obviously we do not rely on the words of the serpent in Genesis when he tempts Eve! He is NOT a reliable authority!). We might also consider what other scholars or pastors have said or written about this passage? Do we know someone who lives/has lived out this truth? Where do we see evidence of this truth shown in our daily life?

Classical Devotional Notes for Bible Study

To help my students, I sometimes have them draw or write notes on the board or in their “Brain Books” as we go through this process.

For instance, in the Circumstance discussion, we might draw a “Circumstance Wheel” to show what is directly happening to the main subject, relative to the circumstances of things a bit farther out in location or time.

In Comparison, we often draw a “Both Have/Are/Do” chart to note various similarities and differences.

For Relationship, a Topic Wheel helps us make connections between different topics, terms, subjects, ideas, passages, etc.

The Classical Devo Notes Workbook Contains all 5 Common Topics!

After working with my students for a semester, I wanted to create a journal/guide for this type of Bible study that could be used with ANY passage. Then, students could jump in wherever they are in their reading. So I made up some graphics organizers using the 5 Common Topics, and had them made into these Classical Devo Notes Journals!

With practice, these Common Topics tools get easier and easier to use!

And that is how my Classical Devo Notes journals came into being:

These journals are not “CC” endorsed, nor are they used as part of their curriculum. They are, in fact, NOT curriculum dependent! Anyone can use these for their own personal Bible study! Of course, they are designed to fit nicely with the 30 weeks of Classical Conversations Challenge level classes. Maybe your students could do one page a day during the 4 at-home days, then bring their study thoughts into class for discussion.

Or, complete all four pages every day for a more intensive 1-month study. It is up to you how you use this journal for classroom or personal Bible study!

The goal is to GROW by digging deeper into the Word of God. Using the 5 Common Topic tools helps us slow down and see how the scriptures truly are filled with “the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33).

You can get your copy on Amazon!