Semantic Vector Combinations and the Synoptic Gospels

This paper applies some recent methods involving semantic vectors and their combination operations to some very traditional questions, including the discovery of similarities and differences between the four Gospels, relationships between individuals, and the identification of geopolitical regions and leaders in the ancient world. In the process, we employ several methods from linear algebra and vector space models, some of which are of particular importance in quantum mechanics and quantum logic. Our conclusions are in general positive: the vector methods do a good job of capturing well-known facts about the Bible, its authors, and relationships between people and places mentioned in the Bible. On the more specific topic of quantum as opposed to other approaches, our conclusions are more mixed: on the whole, we do not find evidence for preferring vector methods that are directly associated with quantum mechanics over vector methods developed independently of quantum mechanics. We suggest that this argues for synthesis rather than division between classical and quantum models for information processing.