Something that is sometimes difficult for me while reading is grasping the context. This is especially important when reading older works like the Reformers. I don’t have the context of who they are responding to or why. Words are often older and unused today, or worse, have different meanings today than they did when they were written. The built in dictionaries are usually of little help because they are written for a modern context. Beyond that, phrases usually don’t have any definitions and taking time to figure it out, I lose the line of argumentation, if I understood it at all.
I have several ideas here, but am curious if others also have this issue.
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Yep, I 100% get you. I think it’s safe to say a lot of people have this issue… and if they don’t, they probably should—or are just incredibly smart and well-read. @DavidMikucki has said before that reading Calvin’s Institutes is sometimes like listening to one side of a phone conversation. He’s often chastising the Papists in some way, but sometimes it’s a bit inscrutable without knowing the ins and outs.
I would love to hear your ideas! You might even be hitting on a vein of ideas that is already on our wish list. 
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One way we plan to address this, which I mentioned in the Institutes thread, will be adding church history and intelligently tagging things. To go a bit further here, if we see that Calvin addresses the Socinians in a given paragraph, we could have an option in the Lightbulb icon that shows things like uncommon words, historical figures/movements, etc. You’d be able to tap on Socinian and see where the various church histories and historical theology resources have talked about the Socinians.
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Thanks both of you!
I am getting very close to beginning the UX project. I apologize it has taken so long, unfortunately I had to put it off for a variety of reasons. Lyndsey may be helping me out too, so that could be fun.
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Awesome news! And there’s no need to apologize. Both you and I are working on anything related to Relight largely in our free time, which ebbs and flows with the events of our lives. I’m just grateful that you are eager to help and to contribute your free time and skills.
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