What the App Does
Disputation.app searches the Bible by doctrine. You name a doctrine, the app finds the passages that address it, classifies each passage by the argumentative role it plays, and then hands the results to AI Studio, which generates study materials from that theological foundation.
The classification step is the distinctive feature. Most Bible software searches by keyword and returns a list of references. This app searches by keyword and then asks a second question: what is each passage actually doing? Is it defining the doctrine? Stating its cause? Naming its effects? Contrasting it with something opposed to it? Each passage receives a label from the 24 classical theological loci, and the results are ranked by that analysis before any AI output begins.
The workflow has three steps: Define, Results, AI Studio. Each tab corresponds to one step. The steps flow left to right across the navigation bar.
Step 1: Define
The Define tab is where you build a search. It has three cards.
Card 1: What Are You Studying?
Type a doctrine, topic, person, place, or phrase. Plain English works. The app maintains a list of recognized doctrines; suggestions appear as you type. Select a suggestion to load its keyword set automatically, or continue typing to enter a free-text search.
Recognized doctrines load a preset keyword list. That list determines which passages the Scripture search retrieves. You see and edit the keywords in the boolean disclosure below the cards before running the search. If you enter a topic the app does not recognize, you add keywords manually.
Card 2: Where Should We Look?
Pick a scope. The default is the whole Bible. Narrow to Pauline epistles, New Testament only, or Old Testament only when the doctrine calls for it. Scope filtering applies before classification: passages outside the selected range never reach the results.
Translation is also set here. The English Luther Bible is the current option. Additional translations will appear when they are available.
Card 3: Theology and Voice
This card sets the theological profile and writing voice for AI Studio output. It does not affect verse ranking or classification. If you leave it on the shared baseline, AI Studio output will be competent but generic. If you select a voice profile, the output will reflect that theologian's idiom and confessional commitments.
Voice profiles are built in Settings. See the Voice Profile Guide for instructions.
Running the Search
Click Run search. The app retrieves English Luther Bible passages for each keyword, classifies them against the 24 loci, ranks them, and sends you to the Results tab. On a broad search with many keywords, this takes several seconds; the progress indicator shows each keyword as it resolves.
Step 2: Results
The Results tab shows every passage the search retrieved, organized by locus and ranked within each locus by classification strength.
Reading a Result Card
Each card shows the passage reference, the English Luther Bible text, the primary locus label, and a short explanation of why the passage fits that locus. The explanation comes from the rubric engine, not from AI. It is a first-pass theological analysis: concise, sometimes incomplete, but always grounded in the passage's actual wording.
The locus labels come from a set of 24 classical categories drawn from Lutheran theological method: Definitio, Genus, Species, Efficiens, Materia, Forma, Finis, Effecta, Contraria, Repugnantia, Comparata, Testimonia, and others. Each label names the argumentative function a passage performs rather than its topic alone. A passage labeled Effecta, for example, states what follows from the doctrine. A passage labeled Contraria states what stands opposed to it. This distinction matters when you want passages that define the doctrine itself versus passages that describe its fruits.
Filtering
The locus filter bar above the results lets you show only one category at a time. Use it to isolate the definitional passages from the effectual ones, or the testimony passages from the comparison passages. The filter chips show only loci that appear in the current result set.
Sending Results to AI Studio
When you have results you want to work with, click Send to AI Studio at the bottom of the Results tab. The results become the passage context for every AI Studio action until you run a new search or clear them.
Step 3: AI Studio
AI Studio takes your classified results and generates study materials from them. It does not retrieve or rank Scripture; that work is already done. It reads the passage set and the theology profile you set in Card 3, then writes to the template you choose.
Choosing an Action
The action grid offers nine options. The most commonly used are:
Build a Bible study produces a complete study in Loci Inquiry format: a structured lesson that walks a group through the passages by category, with discussion questions for each locus group. Teacher and student handouts are available separately or combined.
Personal study plan produces a private study schedule: daily readings, reflection questions, and a doctrinal summary for one person working through the doctrine alone.
Sermon outline produces a tight exegetical outline under 400 words. Choose the homiletical structure (Law-Gospel, Inductive, Deductive, Viva Vox, or Analogical Catechesis) before running.
Draft a sermon produces a full manuscript or outline at a length you specify. The same structural options apply. This action uses more credits than an outline.
Refine the results scores each passage in the current set as Strong, Moderate, or Weak for the doctrine and closes with a list of the strongest anchors. Use this to tighten a broad result set before generating a study or sermon.
Custom prompt lets you write any instruction. The passage set and theology profile still apply as context.
The Preflight Form
Clicking an action opens the preflight form before the AI runs. The form shows the current passage context and lets you configure the output. Most fields have a recommended default; change what you need and leave the rest.
The passage field at the top shows what the AI will read. If you arrived from the Results tab, it shows the doctrine name and verse count. If you want to run an action without a prior search, type a reference directly into this field (Romans 1–3, for example) and the app will retrieve and use that text.
The estimated credit cost appears at the bottom of the form before you run.
Output and Saving
Output appears in the same tab when the run finishes. Scroll to read it. The toolbar above the output offers Save, Export to PDF, and Export to Markdown. Save stores the output in the Files tab; Export downloads it immediately.
Files
The Files tab collects everything you save: doctrine searches, AI Studio outputs, chapter charts, and diagrams. Items appear in a sortable table. Sort by type, date, passage, or doctrine using the column headers.
Click Load on a saved search to restore that doctrine, keyword set, and result set. Click Open on a saved AI output to read it again or export it. The results and AI output are independent: loading a search does not reopen the AI output from that session, and opening an AI output does not reload the search.
Saved items persist in your account across devices. Items saved before you sign in are stored locally and merge into your account when you log in.
Charting
The Charting tab contains two tools that work independently of a doctrine search.
Chapter Chart takes a book and chapter you specify and produces a structural analysis: a unity statement, the problem or tension the passage addresses, paragraph divisions, key terms, and a classification of the chapter's dominant theological function. This tool is designed for study that begins with a text rather than a doctrine.
Arcing and Diagramming maps the logical relationships between propositions in a passage. You enter a short text and label the connections between its clauses: series, inference, contrast, ground, result, and so on. The result is a visual argument map showing how the passage moves. This tool follows the Mortimer Adler method for analytical reading applied to Scripture.
Both tools save their output to the Files tab when you click Save.
Settings
Open Settings from the gear icon in the upper right. The most useful sections for regular users are Search Defaults and Voice Profiles.
Search Defaults
Set your default translation and confessional tradition here. The tradition setting filters the Theologian Profile and Voice dropdowns on Card 3 of the Define tab: when the checkbox is checked, only profiles and voices from your tradition appear. Uncheck it to browse all available options.
Voice Profiles
A voice profile trains the app to write in the idiom of a specific theologian or confessional document. Once built, it appears in the Voice dropdown on Card 3 and shapes every AI Studio output you run with it selected. The Voice Profile Guide explains how to build and iterate on a profile.
Account
Change your name, email address, or password from the Account and Security sections. Your credit balance and subscription status appear in the Membership section.
Credits
Credits pay for AI Studio runs against the shared API key. Each action shows its estimated cost in the preflight form before you confirm. The estimate is a range; actual cost depends on the length of the passage context and the output length.
Credits never expire. A Pro subscription includes AI Studio access; credit bundles extend it. Buy credits from Settings → Membership or from the credit badge in the upper right of the app.
The Refine action and short outline actions cost fewer credits than full manuscripts. If you want to preview what the AI will do with a result set before committing to a full study, run Refine first.