During two two-week periods each year Logos lets BJU students buy some of their major packages for 40% off. That time is about to expire. I’m helping Logos get the word out.
I bought the Scholar’s Gold package a little over a year ago, and I am glad I did. I have also purchased several commentary and reference sets. Here’s a complete list of what I’ve purchased, followed by approximate recollections of what I paid:
- Scholar’s Library: Gold ($700)
- Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament ($150)
- The Essential IVP Reference Collection ($80)
- Theological Journal Library 1-10 ($330)
- WEA Theological Resource Library ($18)
- Word Biblical Commentary 58-Volume Set ($250)
- F.W. Farrar, History of Interpretation (ca. $15)
- Craig Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables (ca. $15)
- Adolf Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East (ca. $15)
I have a few major recommendations to make to prospective Bible software buyers:
- Get BibleWorks first, then Logos. My good friends at Logos will not like me for this, but text-level work is primary, not commentaries or even reference works. BibleWorks is for original language exegesis. If you’ve studied Greek (and/or Hebrew), just get it!
- Regarding Logos: get reference works, like commentaries, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. That’s what I think you’ll use, though you may like reading books on your computer screen.
- Add up the value of what you will actually use and see if it exceeds what you’re paying for the package. Compare and contrast various packages.
- Make sure to check out the Theological Journal Library. Buy it from Logos or direct from Galaxie Software. They’ve got a new Internet subscription, too. $50 a year. Not bad.
- Sign up for Rejoice Christian Software’s e-mail list. I don’t know how he gets his deals, but he somehow manages.
BJU students: for more information or to make a purchase, visit: logos.com/academic/bju/spring2008
I’m struggling a bit with point 1. Yes, BibleWorks is “for original language exegesis,” but Logos is also “for original language exegesis”—and just about everything else. There’s plenty of original language exegesis taking place by those who use Logos exclusively. And one could make a case that that exegesis is—or has the potential to be—even more robust, given all the tools for syntactical analysis.
Syntax analysis has that potential, but the form in which Logos necessarily (?) comes doesn’t seem to me to be capable of the quick searching (in any language) and version comparison that are my bread and butter in BibleWorks. I’m a keyboard shortcut guy, too, and without a command line I get tired quickly. Click. Click. Click.
I don’t doubt that I could change my advice someday. I may even ditch BibleWorks! But I still prefer the BibleWorks interface for my most common exegetical tasks. It’s set up with those tasks prioritized.
Just to make sure, I went back to Logos just now and tried again to do what I do so commonly in BibleWorks–compare translations of one verse. It was slow compared to BW and I didn’t like having the translations in parallel columns; I’d rather have them in parallel rows like in BW. It’s more conducive to reading and comparison.
But like I tell my seminar attenders every year, BibleWorks to Logos is Apples to Oranges (with growing overlap, I admit, so sort of like Applanges and Oranples).
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