Biblical Recorder, Dec 14, 2002, p. 12
Software to make Bible study more effective
By Tony W. Cartledge
Logos Bible Software Series X
As a long time user of Logos 2.0, I expected to be impressed by the new Logos Bible Software Series X - Scholar’s Library (www.logos.com), and was not disappointed. The Logos program is built on a digital library platform called “Libronix,” enabling the integration of multiple resources. Logos Series X is available in five versions ranging from the “Christian Home Library” at $149.95 (stocked with theologically conservative home-schooling aids) to the “Scholar’s Library” at $599.95. Versions targeted to pastors ($299.95) and students of original languages ($399.95) include extra resources for the designated audience, some of them quite valuable. Pastor’s resources include up-to-date leadership resources from Christianity Today and authors like Leith Anderson.
Logos is king of the hill when it comes to available add-ins, now up to 3,000 volumes from more than 100 publishers. Most of these, however, must be purchased separately or in packages and digitally unlocked.
Perhaps it is the sheer mass of Logos X’s offerings and the variety of available approaches to study that make it a bit more unwieldy to set up and use, but the results are worth the effort. The search functions are straightforward. Users can type in a passage, click “go,” and then choose to examine it in a variety of parallel translations (including critical Greek and Hebrew editions), or to access a wide variety of linguistic study aids and commentaries hot-linked to each word in the Hebrew or Greek text.
Pastors can even check to see if the text is linked to any of 7,700 sermon illustrations, or if it is discussed in either the full or the abridged version of Kittel’s comprehensive Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.
The Scholar’s Library contains 16 English translations of the Bible, 6 Greek versions of the New Testament, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia edition of the Hebrew Bible, and Rahlf’s edition of the Septuagint.
Additional resources in the Libronix format can stretch as far as the user’s budget allows.
© 2002 Biblical Recorder. Used by permission.