Read Scripture the way it argues.
Reformation Desk pairs two analytical frameworks that span 500 years: The loci ask what a passage teaches; arcing shows how it argues. Both descend from Aristotle's Topics; Melanchthon bridged them. Bring a question; leave understanding what the text actually says — and why.
$1.99/mo · cancel anytime · pay-as-you-go credits
↑ a search "recipe" — what every study turns into
A way to ask what something is.
Agricola's loci are 24 questions you can ask of anything — a chair, a virtue, a doctrine. The closer you get to answering them all, the more completely you know the thing. The rubric is ancient: Aristotle named the Topics, Cicero carried them into Latin rhetoric, Agricola sharpened them for theological discovery in 1479, and Melanchthon used them to write the first systematic theology of the Reformation directly from Scripture. Luther preached from that framework. Reformation Desk brings this tradition to you.
Same questions, different object.
Definition: a seat with a back and (usually) four legs, sized for one person.
Genus: furniture.
Species: distinct from a stool (no back), bench (more than one), throne (regalia).
Property: portability.
Efficient: a carpenter, joining wood.
Material: oak, screws, varnish.
Formal: the design — four legs, seat, back.
Final: sitting.
Effects: rest, posture, conversation at table-height.
Place: dining room, office, classroom.
Time: daily use; furniture spans generations.
Adjuncts: cushion, slipcover.
Similars: stool, sofa, recliner.
Opposites: standing desk; floor.
Greater/lesser: a throne is a chair raised; a tree-stump is a chair lowered.
Testimony: "the chairman" — the seat names the office.
Run the same loci against a verse on justification and you get exegesis instead of carpentry. The rubric doesn't change. ↓ applied to Scripture
Applied to Scripture: every returned verse is auto-tagged with a "why this fits" note. Filter by Definition, by Efficient cause, by Effect, by Opposites — the way a careful reader actually works through a text.
- Definition definitio
- Genus genus
- Species species
- Property proprium
- Whole · Parts
- Subject · Adjacent
- Efficient efficiens
- Final / End finis
- Material materia
- Formal forma
- Effects · Place · Time
- Connections
- Contingencies
- Pronunciation · Names
- Comparatives
- Similars · Differences
- Opposites
- Testimony
Loci ask what. Arcs ask how.
Both descend from Aristotle's Topics. Agricola refined the loci in 1479 for theological discovery; the modern arcing tradition names the eight relationships paragraphs actually use to move from one claim to the next. Reformation Desk runs both — you choose which question the text gets asked.
Loci of discovery
Why does this verse carry doctrinal weight? Twenty-four places grouped under Nature, Cause, Effect, Comparison.
“So we hold now that a man is justified without the works of the law, through faith alone.”
Why: states the essence — a working definition rather than a cause or effect.
Arc taxonomy
How is the argument built? Eight relationships — Ground, Inference, Purpose, Result, Progression, Explanation, Contrast, Series.
Define. Refine. Hand off.
Define
State the doctrine in plain English, or build a boolean. The right pane composes a recipe — five lines of metadata that travel with the search.
Refine
218 verses come back, classified across the 24 loci. Filter by head category, by sub-locus, by confidence — never a re-search, just a slice.
Hand off
Send the slice to AI Studio for a sermon, study, or voice re-cast. Or to Charting for distribution maps and arc diagrams.
The first piece of software that actually understands how careful readers work — not "find these words" but "find this kind of argument." Disputation makes the loci tradition usable on a Tuesday morning.
Set the depth. The rubric stays.
Every classification carries a "why this fits" note. You choose the register — child, teen, adult, scholar — and Reformation Desk rewrites the explanation. The verses underneath don't change. The reasoning doesn't change. Only the words you read.
"Now that we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God…"
Why this fits Effects: "now that we have been justified… we have peace" makes peace the resulting effect, not the definition. Latin: effecta.
Romans 5:1 — fixed
Effect › Effects — fixed
0.88 — fixed
Anyone who wants to think clearly about what Scripture says.
The same engine answers a Sunday morning sermon, a Wednesday small-group, and a kid's bedtime “but why?” Set the depth; the rigor stays.
Read like the question matters.
Type what you're wondering — “why did Jesus weep?”, “what does grace actually mean?” Reformation Desk pulls the verses that answer, ranked by fit, with a plain note explaining why each one belongs.
Real answers for real questions.
Set the reading level to Child, Teen, or Adult. Same rubric underneath; different vocabulary on top. Build a family Bible study from a topic in ten minutes.
Trace doctrine across the canon.
Filter by Definition, Cause, Effect, Comparison. Arc any passage. Keep notes that survive the semester. Same tool a seminarian uses to write a paper.
An hour of prep, not a Saturday.
Pull a doctrinal slice, generate four discussion questions tied to specific verses, export a printable handout. Your group reads what the text actually argues.
Sermon prep that respects the office.
Recipe-driven workspace: doctrine in, slice out. Re-cast in Luther, Calvin, or Augustine's cadence. Distribute a handout the same morning.
No fluff. Just the text, shown its work.
Every claim ships with the verses behind it and a note about why they fit. You can argue with the rubric — that's the point. The conclusions are yours.
Stop searching the way Google search works.
Start studying the way the Reformers did — by place, not by string match.
The loci of discovery, made workable.
Rudolph Agricola's 1479 De inventione dialectica gave Western readers a vocabulary for finding what a passage teaches — twenty-four places of argument grouped under four heads. The Reformers used it for a century. Reformation Desk puts it back to work, classified by AI but reasoned by the rubric.
The full method — the 24 loci, the 8 arcs, worked examples from Romans, and the lineage from Aristotle to Melanchthon — lives in the About tab inside the app.
A subscription for the app. Credits for the AI.
Pro unlocks the workspace — saved searches, charts, voice profiles. Scoring credits are spent when the LLM scores passages against the loci rubric. Buy a small pack to start; top up when you need more.
$1.99 / month
Cancel anytime.
- ✓ Save searches & charts to the database
- ✓ Full access to all search settings
- ✓ Create & edit your own voice profiles
- ✓ Define · Results · Charting · Notes
$19.99 / year
~$1.66/month, billed yearly.
- ✓ Everything in Monthly
- ✓ Two months free
- ✓ Priority support
- ✓ Locked-in renewal pricing
Pay-as-you-score.
Credits are consumed when the LLM scores passages against the loci rubric. They never expire and aren't tied to your subscription period.
500 credits
Good for ~500 passage scores. Try it before committing.
$4.99
$0.0100 / credit
Buy2,000 credits
For regular use — weekly study prep, sermon prep, family Bible builds, follow-up runs.
$14.99
$0.0075 / credit · 25% off
Buy6,000 credits
For heavy research sessions — long series, dissertation work, classroom prep.
$39.99
$0.0067 / credit · 33% off
BuyA typical week of study, priced.
A topical run on Sunday, a small-group build on Wednesday, a chart for the family on Saturday. The Standard pack covers a regular reader for about a month at this pace.
| App access | $1.99 / mo |
| Topical study — score ~250 passages | ~250 credits |
| Small-group build — ~120 passages | ~120 credits |
| Family / class chart — ~80 passages | ~80 credits |
~450 credits/week · Standard (2,000) lasts ~4 weeks
Common questions
Is there a one-time purchase or permanent license?
No. Reformation Desk is subscription-based. There is no perpetual license option.
What does the subscription include?
The subscription covers full workspace access — saving searches, building voice profiles, and all settings. AI features run on credits, purchased separately. You pay for the workspace at a flat rate and for AI use as you go.
What's a credit?
Credits are the unit of AI consumption. Scoring passages, building study tools, and running AI Studio generators each draw from your credit balance at a rate that scales with output length and model. The AI Studio panel shows the cost before you run. Credits never expire and require an active subscription to use.
Do credits expire?
No. Credits never expire and do not auto-renew. Top up when you run low.
Can I cancel?
Anytime. Saved searches and notes export to JSON or PDF. Unused credits stay on your account if you ever resubscribe.
A study tool for anyone who wants to think clearly.
Reformation Desk (first called Disputation) began with working pastors and a software engineer who got tired of choosing between concordances that don't think and AI chat that thinks too freely. Melanchthon wrote his Loci Communes for any literate Christian who wanted to read Romans on its own terms. We're picking that up.
The full story — what we are, what we aren't, and the lineage from Aristotle to Melanchthon to Reformation Desk — lives in the About tab inside the app.
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What are you studying?
Where to look
Read it as
Describe what you want in one sentence — AI proposes the topic, scope, and a starter boolean.
Filter the slice
So we hold now that a man is justified without the works of the law, through faith alone.
…a man is not justified through the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ…
But to him who does not deal in works, yet believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted to him as righteousness.
+ 4 more groups collapsed: Effect › Effects, Comparison › Opposites, Nature › Property, Effect › Time
What next?
Pick one. Your slice and recipe carry into every action.
✜ Draft a sermon
Law/Gospel · 20 min · in Luther's cadence.
⊟ Bible-study outline
6 questions, leader notes, printable handout.
♪ Apply voice
Re-cast verses in Luther / Calvin / Augustine.
⌕ Refine further
Narrow by AI ranking, theme weight, locus blend.
↗ Send to Charting
Distribution map · arc / sentence diagram.
⤓ Export PDF
Verse handout w/ recipe, notes, citations.
Romans 52 · Galatians 38 — the doctrinal core. Red bars are locus matches. Click a bar to drill into chapters.
Justification by faith — Law/Gospel
apr 23 · 14 passages · Luther voice
Now that we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God. The first movement: the Law's verdict that drives us…
Original sin · Genesis–Romans
apr 22 · 89 verses · Augustine voice
Recipe — topic: original sin · scope: Gen, Ps, Rom · voice: Augustine. "Re-run" against today's data.
Romans 3:21–28 — Pauline arc
apr 19 · 7 verses · 3 arcs
Rom 5:1 — fits Effects
apr 18 · private
"Now that we have been justified through faith…" — peace as forensic, not psychological. Counter Trent §7 here.
Bible study — Galatians 2
apr 16 · 6 questions · leader notes
Opening question: when have you tried to "justify" yourself socially? · Reading: Gal 2:11–21.
Vocation · whole Bible · NIV
apr 12 · 156 verses
Top hits: 1 Cor 7:17, Eph 4:1, Col 3:23…