Theocratic Aid To Kingdom Publishers

Lesson 5

CONDENSING

"Let thy words be few." (Eccl. 5:2) To condense or sum up in a few words was an art which Jesus used to good effect: "You must always treat other people as you would like to have them treat you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Wordiness He condemned, saying, "Do not repeat empty phrases as the heathen do, for they imagine that their prayers will be heard if they use words enough. You must not be like them." (Matt. 7:12; 6: 7, 8, Goodspeed) At times extreme condensation is desired. It sharpens the vital points and makes them stand out. To this day God's ministers have use for the art of condensing.

Several words denote a condensation or summary, such as abridgment, abstract, brief, synopsis, conspectus, epitome; but, of all these, epitome denotes the briefest possible condensation. An epitome gives the main ideas and follows the outline of the original, but strips from it much detail and descriptive and illustrative material, leaving the bare skeleton. But the parts of that skeleton-like epitome must

be held intact by connecting and binding words acting as joints and sinew. The main problem in epitomizing is, What are the main thoughts? And even in expressing these, epitomizing is most miserly with words.

God's servants do not wish to 'darken counsel by words'. (Job 38: 2) They have need for epitomizing daily in gospel-preaching. Few words, yes, but how to put one's thoughts in pithy phrase is the problem. Practice is essential, and this course will open opportunities for it. But to realize the most therefrom one's efforts must be directed by constructive counsel. Certain portions of the Bible are to be epitomized, to supply the practice; the following suggestions are offered, to supply the counsel.

(1) GIVE NOTHING IN THE EPITOME THAT IS NOT IN THE ORIGINAL. If one is to epitomize Exodus, he should not go to Deuteronomy for information. Stick to the portion assigned. Condense; do not enlarge upon. The very nature of epitome rules out going into fulfillment or interpretation. Such would be going outside the original. Just condense what is there; that is all.

(2) DISCOVER THE AUTHOR'S OUTLINE AND FOLLOW IT CLOSELY IN THE EPITOME. One might do this by condensing every paragraph to one sentence and then writing it down. Not all such one-sentence condensations will be main headings. Sometimes two or three paragraphs can be grouped together and condensed into a single sentence. Finally, do not rearrange the ideas. If one does, he will not be following the outline of the original. Remember, condensing, not reshuffling the material, is the aim; so follow the same order that the original does.

(3) GIVE ONLY THE MAIN EVENTS AND IDEAS. Omit or condense unmercifully all illustrations, repetitions, descriptions and explanations. Sometimes a paragraph may be largely descriptive gloss or incidental detail; it might be eliminated entirely. So doing, only the author's treatment and his conclusions will remain standing, sharp and clear. The epitome must not be weighed down with excess baggage.

(4) OBSERVE THE LAW OF PROPORTION. Condense all parts of the original on the same scale. All of the scriptures are important. Just because one understands one part and not another of his assignment is no excuse for him to squander time to discuss the part understood and slight the other. He is not to interpret, anyway. A warning: There is an inclination to reproduce too many details in the early part of the epitome and, when the fleeing time is noted, skim over the rest. Only by rigidly allotting in advance the time to be devoted to each point of the outlined material can one hold himself to the law of proportion.

(5) Do NOT USE ARCHAIC ENGLISH. The author's language may be used somewhat, but it should be avoided when his thought can be precisely expressed in other words. Jehovah is the author of the Bible; he used various men as writers. They spoke in the language of their day, not some dead tongue. Just because the King James Version is in archaic English does not mean that epitomes thereon must be in archaic speech. Nothing out of date expresses to moderns the language of the original. The original was not written in English, but in the everyday speech of the people of that time, that they might understand. Therefore, in Bible epitomes do not use archaic English.

(6) MAKE COMPLETE AND CONNECTED SENTENCES AND AIM AT A UNITED WHOLE. First one should read his assignment for epitomizing in the American Standard Version (or the English Revised Version), and grasp its contents. Fix firmly in mind the essence of that whole book of the Bible and especially of the assigned portion. Thus knowing the general trend of the book, the epitomizer will keep it in mind as he seeks out the author's outline within his assigned portion. In that way, all epitomes on one book will tie in together and will make a united whole. Go through the assignment paragraph by paragraph, summarizing in a sentence the gist of each, having in mind always the predominating theme of the book. That part of the Bible which is written in prose the American Standard Version divides

into paragraphs. But poetry is more difficult to epitomize, for it is not written in paragraphs, and is already very condensed. But even in this case a careful analysis of the material will disclose the theme-developing points to be stressed. Assuming that the one-sentence summaries of the paragraphs have been made, then skillfully and with continuity blend and connect them together into a logical whole. The briefest possible condensation will he the result.

(7) FAVOR SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION THAT IS SHORT AND VIGOROUS, PARTICULARLY IN NARRATING EVENTS. Sentence style is of vital importance in epitomizing. This is doubly true where time limitations must be considered. The fewer the words, the shorter the time required to speak them, and the better the epitome. Hence aim for sentence construction that is short and pithy, that snaps out the ideas with flashing rapidity. Prefer short Anglo-Saxon words. Strip the speech of redundancy. Make each word do a maximum of work. Each sentence tersely expresses its thought, and hard on its heels comes another, and another. Ground is covered fast, and the audience's mind races over the assigned material with the speaker.

If the student follows the suggestions made herein, he will find epitomizing much easier, and 'his words will be few', filled with meaning and force.