Stephen Ullstrom

Ever struggle to find the right term to use in the index? I do. From an indexing standpoint, ideally the vocabulary used in the book is clear and consistent, making it easy to extract terms and phrases to use as main headings and subheadings. Bu not all books are so clearcut. Some books require more thought and even, dare I say, improvisation when selecting terms. 

I don’t mean to suggest that such books are poorly written, though that may sometimes be the case. English is blessed with a multitude of expressions and synonyms, and an author may choose to use terms interchangeably. What works in the text, though, may not work in the index. The vocabulary used in the index should be controlled, with discussions gathered in a single location or with cross-references between similar discussions. When there are multiple terms to choose from, you need to make a decision about which terms to gather under

I faced this challenge a few months ago when indexing Rediscovering the Goodness of Creation: A Manual for Recovering Gnostics, by Robin Phillips (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2023). While beautifully and thoughtfully written, making full use of the language available, I did have several moments, while indexing, when I thought to myself, “Is the author writing about this, or that? Or both?”

First, what the book is about, which is the starting point for determining appropriate terms. Here is the synopsis I wrote for myself after I finished the rough draft of the index. I find that writing a brief summary can clarify the metatopic and the main points of the book, and focus my attention on the most important elements which need to be in the index.

This book is about rediscovering a Christian appreciation for creation/the world/our bodies/culture—how the redemption of all of these is part of God’s plan and work. An emphasis on the implicit Gnosticism in much of modern Christianity, manifested in a matter-spirit dualism, in which the physical is denigrated or ignored. Also frames creation as “already” and “not yet”—the tension between what God has done, and what is to be completed in the eschaton. 

Right from the start, I have a series of related terms that I am struggling to differentiate. I know that these terms are distinct, but how, exactly? What does “creation” encompass? Is “creation” different from the “world” and/or “earth”? Are “world” and “earth” distinct from each other? “Bodies” also seems distinct, though are they also part of “creation” or the “world”? And what about “culture”? An easy solution would be to have a massive main heading for “creation/world/bodies/culture,” but I don’t think that would be helpful for readers. It is better to have separate arrays for each of these concepts. The question then becomes, how to differentiate the discussions, and which references go under which?

Reading the book more closely, I realized that creation is the metatopic—the overarching concept tying the whole book together. The world, bodies, and culture are all different aspects of creation. So, I created an array for creation with a number of subheadings that speak to creation at a higher, more general level, with cross-references to specific elements of creation and related concepts that are discussed in more detail. (And, looking at this now, I realize I should have included a cross-reference to the “body, physical” array.)

creation: introduction, 7–10, 49–50; Augustine on goodness of, 231–34; coherence with heaven, 325–27, 327n7, 333n28, 334; continuity between present age and age to come, 173–76; Gnosticism on, 69; God working through means, 269–72; goodness of, 59–60, 220; participation of in God, 247–49, 247n5; redemption of, 60; sacramentalism and, 299–300; vs. sacred-secular dualism, 304–5; teleology and, 152; use in worship, 281–86. See also arts; beauty; coherence; culture; dominion (cultural) mandate; earth; Genesis Creation narrative; matter-spirit dualism; new creation theology

In addition to figuring out how creation is related to the other concepts, the book also seemed to use several terms interchangeably. The question I needed to answer was, are these terms synonymous (or close enough that they can be indexed together) or are these distinct concepts that need to be indexed separately? For example, is it the world or the earth? Eden or Paradise? The Church or the Kingdom of God? The dominion mandate or the cultural mandate? 

I eventually decided that it made the most sense to index these pairings together, and so created the following main headings: “earth (world),” “Eden (Paradise),” “Church (God’s Kingdom),” and “dominion (cultural) mandate.” I included the alternative term in a gloss so that readers understand that these are the same thing, more or less, and that either may be found on the page. I also included cross-references from the alternative terms. I also tried to be alert to other synonyms and create appropriate cross-references. For example, from “natural world” to “earth.” The alternative—having separate or duplicate main entries for earth and world, for example—seemed unnecessarily complex, and at times impossible to decide which subheading belonged under which term. 

A similar issue was how to index the various dualisms discussed in the book. The main one, mentioned in the synopsis, is the matter-spirit dualism, thought the book also discusses the grace-nature dualism and the sacred-secular dualism. The clue is the term “dualism,” which indicates that each of these is a single concept and should not be split into separate entries, such as for matter and spirit. I did, however, include cross-references, such as “spirit. See matter-spirit dualism,” for readers who might search otherwise. 

Term selection can be tricky. When writing a book, it makes sense to use the full range of language available, to create engaging prose, to dialogue with other literature and discussions, and to reflect nuance. The index, on the other hand, is a deconstruction of the text. Discussions need to be gathered and sorted into distinct arrays and organized in a way that facilitates search. When indexing some books, such as Rediscovering the Goodness of Creation, this means taking all of the terms available, understanding how the terms relate to each other, and then choosing to prioritize certain terms over others (while still including cross-references from the other terms), as it is not practical for all terms to have full arrays.

The goal, as always, is a clearly written index that points readers to the information that they want to find.