Recommended Bible Software Purchases for LTSG Students – MGVHoffman 2008.09

 

I realize that buying Bible software is a significant cost, but as Church leaders, these are the tools of your profession. Bible software is a long-term investment, but I can assure you that you will need to use it regularly during seminary. My hope is that it will become a routine tool for you to use throughout your ministry. In order to speak the Word with integrity, you will need to be able to study that Word and engage in conversation with the grammarians, theologians, and other scholars that these resources reflect.

 

Having investigated everything carefully, I have decided to recommend to LTSG students products from Logos and BibleWorks, the two leading programs for Windows-based systems for work with original Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, and Latin texts alongside modern English Bible versions.

 

Note: If you are a Mac user, both programs run under Windows emulators. Logos now has a native Mac version, but the longstanding Mac Bible software program is Accordance: www.accordancebible.com/.  I have specific recommendations for the purchase of Accordance8 here: www.gettysburgseminary.org/mhoffman/greekfall08/accordancesale.htm For more info on BW7 with the Mac or Linux: www.bibleworks.com/content/maclinuxinfo.htm.

 

• If you have any familiarity with Greek at all, don’t even bother with the Christian Home Library, the Bible Study Library, or the Leader’s Library from Logos.
• If you are the sort of person who does not like reading books on a computer, if you simply want something to help you work with the Greek/Hebrew texts, or if money is tight, then purchase Logos3 Original Languages Library (=L3OL) or BibleWorks7 (=BW7). This will give you almost all the basic tools (I mention below suggested other books to supplement your purchase), and you can always add more books on later.
• If you like the idea of a digital library and if you have the money, then either buy the L3OL (and supplement it from the list I provide) or go straight to the Logos Gold Library (=L3G). (That is, it is not worth your while to bother with the Logos Scholar’s Library or the Silver Library.) In addition to the enhanced collection of original language tools, there are some fine other books in this collection that are worth the money.

 

Here are some things you need to keep in mind when making a decision:

• Purpose and Approach:
• BW7 is text-centric. It focuses on a verse or even word of biblical text and links outward to related resources. All the resources are directly related to the Bible in some way: biblical texts in ancient or modern languages, grammars, lexicons, text critical tools, etc.
• Logos3 is a library management system. (FYI: Logos is the name of the company and of their Bible software. Logos uses the Libronix Digital Library System which they developed and have licensed to other publishers.) It wants to organize a complete digital library which is not limited simply to biblical resources. Logos is aggressively expanding the number and kinds of books you can purchase to integrate into its library. In addition to biblically related materials, it can include textbooks, theology, history, etc. (Among your required textbooks in your seminary classes, you are quite likely to have at least a couple that are accompanied by a CD-ROM using the Logos/Libronix system.) It can look across the books of this library and look down into each book to the verse or word level.
• Accordance is more similar to Logos than to BW in offering a range of resources related to and linked to the biblical text. It is not really a library management system, and it does not have as many additional texts (though the ones it does have are generally the most important ones). The various resources are well-connected to the biblical text, however.
• Interface and Performance:
• BW7 has a fairly utilitarian, 3 panel interface: search/select texts > browse texts > analyzing aspects of the text.  It is very streamlined and returns results very quickly. One’s productivity with the program is greatly enhanced by becoming familiar with numerous shortcut combinations, right click options, and command line parameters. (Yes, a command line, for those of you who remember DOS programs back in the day…)
• Logos feels much more integrated with Windows programs in general. The good part of this is that it does often seem more intuitive, but the bad part is that you often have to go through a few extra steps to get a similar result as in BW7. Logos windows are also more manipulable, and you really need to take some time to figure out how you want your workspace to look. You also should be aware that Logos, since it is working with a ‘library,’ is noticeably slower than BW7 and requires more processing power and more RAM in your computer.
• Accordance appears to be completely consistent with the Mac interface. I (who am mostly familiar with Windows) find some tools hard to locate and miss the functionality of the middle mouse button. I do like the Accordance interface with its use of both tabs and popup panes that make it easy to keep work organized. Accordance is quite fast and responsive, even under emulation.
• For example: to find all the times that any form of γράφω occurs in the NT, Logos takes about 20 seconds to completely return all of the 191 occurrences in their Greek context. In BW7 it even has a little response notice ‘bragging’ that it only took .09 seconds. (Yes, .09) Accordance is similarly quick. Now if I want to scan all these hits using the NRSV instead of the Greek, it will take a couple clicks and about another 20 seconds to get them in Logos. It is less than a second in BW7. Accordance is the best here in that it quickly can add an English version pane that is synchronized with the Greek results. Do note, however, that there are quite a number of interesting things I can do with these results in Logos that are only a click or two away, things that are not as easily accessed in BW7 or Accordance.
• For example, if I wanted to find what sort of direct or indirect objects are used with the verb γράφω, it will take about two minutes, but Logos can tell me using its syntactical resources. I would not be able to do this at all in BW7 except to look through all 191 hits individually.
• Cost: (Prices reflect academic discounts through purchase programs for LTSG students only)
• BibleWorks7 - ~ $255
• Logos3 Original Languages Library - $292 (+ ~$40 for Analytical Lexicon of Greek NT and Harper’s Bible Dictionary)
• Logos3 Scholars Gold Library - $966
• Accordance8 Scholar’s or Studienbibel w/ some other basics: $370-460

 

For those of you trying to decide between Logos and BW7, the table below lists all the books in the Gold library and indicates which ones are in LG3OL or BW7. I have also included at the end an additional list of books in BW7 that are not in Logos. Do note, however, that you cannot simply compare Logos and BW7 on the basis of contents alone. As I have already noted, they look and function quite differently and offer different capabilities.

 

In addition, you should not make a decision simply on quantity of books. I hope that this list of recommended books is helpful. I am somewhat reluctant to compose such a list, because of the warning of Eccl 12.12: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” The only thing worse than the ‘making’ of many books is the ‘buying’ of many books! May I suggest that you only buy something that you will actually, definitely use within the next nine months. I have also found that the problem you will face is not finding information but being overwhelmed by too much information. This list, then, is an attempt to reduce the amount of resources to check to those that are more likely to be most helpful.

 

How did I make these determinations? If you look at the listing of books below you will see that I have ‘graded’ them according to my opinion of their value or usefulness. “My opinion” reflects a Lutheran, somewhat liberal Protestant perspective. I have, therefore, avoided most books that are self-described in some way as “conservative classics.” (This usually means old and in the public domain and may reflect information that has been superseded by more recent discoveries. Some of the “classics” are indeed “classic,” however, so use your discernment.). I have also avoided most of those from Victor Books or Moody Press or by scholars from Dallas Theological Seminary, not only because they tend to reflect a “conservative” theology, but also because they identify themselves as pre-tribulation, premillennial, Dispensationalists. (The theology behind the Left Behind stuff. Few Lutherans would hold such a view. See the Doctrinal Statement which all Dallas Theological Seminary faculty must affirm at: www.dts.edu/about/doctrinalstatement/ ) These scholars do pay close attention to the Greek and Hebrew, however, so they can still have reliable information and insights.

 

For a summary of the backgrounds of the various multivolume commentaries, see: www.logos.com/commentaries/multivolume. You can also guess something about a book or commentary by noting upon which English translation it is based and when it was published.

 

Do also note that I have focused on books useful for biblical research. I just don’t know how much value there is for Lutherans with the books in the Theology and Apologetics collections. I have also not made any recommendations on the Leadership, Ministry, and Small Group books included in the Gold collection. If someone works through that stuff and wants to share their assessment with me, I would appreciate it.

 

Understanding my recommendations

 

I use the following color coding system:

RED = Very useful books you will probably use regularly or want to have available when needed

• books marked with ** are ones you should definitely considering getting if you get the Original Language (= OL) library
• in addition to those books, ones marked with * should be among the first resources you consult

GREEN = Perhaps useful or use with discernment

BLACK = not really useful or ones I do not know about or have found occasion to use

 

Also be sure to look at additional books I recommend following this listing

 

Note that the GOLD Library includes every book listed in this table!

OL = Original Languages Library

BW = Books that are included in BibleWorks7 [ (X) = available for extra cost ] – Note: This is not  a complete listing of works in BW7 but only shows overlap with Logos (cf. www.bibleworks.com/content/full.html for complete list and see very end of this file for some notable resources included in BW7 that are not in Logos)

	Comments	OL	BW
English Bibles
New International Version			X
New Living Translation			X
New American Standard Bible - 1995 Update		X	X
English Standard Version		X	X
The NET Bible **	A hardcopy text also required at LTSG	X	X
Holman Christian Standard Bible			X
The Message*	useful for translation comparison, available online
American Standard Version			X
New Revised Standard Version **		X	X
Revised Standard Version		X	X
Darby Bible 1890			X
New Century Version
International Standard Version - New Testament		X
New King James Version			X
King James Version		X	X
King James Version Apocrypha		X	X
King James Version: Cambridge Paragraph Bible		X
Word Study Bible: KJV (Zodhiates)
Young's Literal Translation			X
Good News Bible	useful for translation comparison, available online
Wuest's Expanded NT
Interlinear Bibles
The Greek New Testament, Fourth Revised Edition w/ McReynolds English Interlinear & Logos Morphology		X
Nestle-Aland 27th Edition Greek NT w/ McReynolds English Interlinear & Logos Morphology	if you like interlinear, these are helpful	X
Lexham Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible		X
Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament (Newberry)		X
ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear of the NT		X
ESV English-Hebrew Reverse Interlinear of the OT		X
NRSV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear of the NT		X
Greek Texts & Morphologies
The Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament *		X
OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament *		X
Byzantine/Majority Textform w/ Robinson Morphology		X	X
Elzevir Textus Receptus (1624) w/ Robinson Morphology		X
Scrivener's Textus Receptus (1894) w/ Robinson Morphology		X	X
Stephen’s Textus Receptus (1550) w/ Robinson Morphology		X	X
Westcott-Hort Greek NT (1881) w/ Robinson Morphology		X	X
Tischendorf's Greek New Testament		X	X
Septuagint (Rahlfs) w/CCAT Morphological Tagging **		X	X
Nestle-Aland 27th Edition Greek NT w/ GRAMCORD™ Greek New Testament Alpha Morphological Database **	my first choice, but any of the next three entries are acceptable options		X
Nestle-Aland 27th Edition Greek NT w/ Logos Morphology
The Greek New Testament, Fourth Revised Edition w/ Logos Morphology		X
The Greek New Testament, Fourth Revised Edition w/ Swanson Morphology		X
The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts	use w/ Metzger Textual Commentary	X	(X)
Analytical Greek New Testament w/ Friberg Morphology			X
The Works of Philo: Greek Text with Morphology	very helpful if you want to do anything w/ Philo		X
Hebrew Texts & Morphologies
The Andersen-Forbes Analyzed Text of the Hebrew Bible		X
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia w/ WIVU Hebrew Morphology		X
The Parallel Aligned Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Texts of Jewish Scripture (Tov)		X	X
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia w/ Westminster 4.2 Morphology **		X	X
Aramaic Text & Morphology
The Targums from the files of the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project		X	X
Syriac Texts & Morphologies
Syriac Peshitta NT w/ Morphology		X	X
Old Syrian Gospels : Codex Curetonianus		X
Old Syrian Gospels : Codex Sinaiticus		X
Latin Texts
Clementine Vulgate		X	X
Ancient Texts in Translation
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the OT in English (Charles)	useful, but look for the forthcoming Greek Pseudepigrapha by Charlesworth	X
The Nag Hammadi Library in English: Fourth Revised Edition		X
The Context of Scripture (3 Volumes)	very nice background texts for OT study	X
Amarna Letters		X
Complete Works of Josephus		X	X
Works of Philo			X
Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume 1		X
Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume 2		X
Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume 3		X
Greek Lexicons
Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament		X	X
Dictionary of Biblical Languages (Greek NT)	not great, but an acceptable entry level  lexicon	X
Enhanced Strong's Lexicon
Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell & Scott)*	links to full L&S online	X	X
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged ("Little Kittel")
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (10 Volumes) *	important resource but use w/ discernment	X
A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (Lust) *		X	X
Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (3 Volumes) *	=EDNT: excellent resource; if not BDAG (described at end), then use this
Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains (Louw-Nida)**		X	X
Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament **			X
NAS Greek Dictionary		X
Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicons
NAS Hebrew Dictionary		X
A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament	=Holladay	X	X
Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon of the OT *	=BDB – The best Hebrew lexicon is HALOT (described at end), but this or Holladay is next best	X	X
Dictionary of Biblical Languages (Aramaic OT)		X
Dictionary of Biblical Languages (Hebrew OT)		X
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament			X
Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the OT Scriptures (Gesenius)		X
Syriac Lexicon
Analytical Lexicon of the Syriac NT
Latin Lexicon
Dictionary of the Vulgate New Testament		X
Original Language Grammars
Elements of NT Greek (Nunn)		X
Key to the Elements of NT Greek (Nunn)		X
Syntax of NT Greek (Nunn)		X
Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in NT Greek		X	X
Greek New Testament Insert (Chapman-Shogren)		X
An Introduction to Aramaic		X
Beginning Biblical Hebrew (Futato)		X	(X)
Hebrew Bible Insert		X
Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar		X
Hebrew Grammar (Gesenius)		X	X
Hebrew Syntax, 3rd Edition (Davidson)		X
Latin Grammar
An Introduction to Ecclesiastical Latin		X
Original Language Tools
Tense Voice Mood
Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology		X
Lexham Clausal Outlines of the Greek New Testament (Deppe)		X
Diagrammatical Analysis		X
The Andersen-Forbes Analyzed Text of the Hebrew Bible: A Systematic Glossary		X
The Andersen-Forbes Phrase Marker Analysis of the Hebrew Bible		X
The Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament Glossary		X
The Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament: Sentence Analysis		X
The OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament Glossary		X
The OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament: Clause Analysis		X
NT Genre Coding		X
OT Genre Coding		X
Building Your Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary		X
Building Your New Testament Greek Vocabulary		X
Novum Testamentum Graece Apparatum Criticum (Tischendorf)		X	X
Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Metzger)**	your best resource for comments on text critical issues in addition to the NET Bible notes	X	X
Bible Commentaries
Teacher's Commentary
New Bible Commentary
Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the OT (10 Volumes)
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Bible
Life of Christ (3 Volumes)
St. Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen
Saint Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (Lightfoot)
St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (Lightfoot)
St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians (Lightfoot)
Bible Exposition Commentary (23 Volumes)
Be Available (Judges)
Be Comforted (Isaiah)
Be Committed (Ruth & Esther)
Be Decisive (Jeremiah)
Be Determined (Nehemiah)
Be Holy (Leviticus)
Be Obedient (Abraham)
Be Patient (Job)
Be Satisfied (Ecclesiastes)
Be Skillful (Proverbs)
Be Strong (Joshua)
The United Bible Societies' New Testament Handbook Series (20 Volumes) *	These UBS Handbooks have very useful notes on translation
The United Bible Societies' Old Testament Handbook Series (21 Volumes) *	(>> UBS Handbooks + NIGTC alone are worth quite a few hundred dollars)
The New International Greek Testament Commentary (12 Volumes) *	=NIGTC: use with discernment, but excellent attention to the Greek text
The Pulpit Commentary (77 Volumes)
New American Commentary (31 Volumes)
Bible Knowledge Commentary
Journals
Semeia: An Experimental Journal for Biblical Criticism (91 Volumes)
Bible Introductions & Outlines
Introducing the New Testament
Introducing the Old Testament
Survey of Old Testament Introduction
Why Four Gospels?
Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament
Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament
Willmington's Bible Handbook
General Introduction to the Bible
New Testament Introduction
Old Testament Survey Series: The Pentateuch
Old Testament Survey Series: The Books of History
Old Testament Survey Series: The Wisdom Literature and Psalms
Old Testament Survey Series: The Major Prophets
Old Testament Survey Series: The Minor Prophets
Outline Bible (Tyndale)
Bible Reader's Companion
Topical Bibles
New Nave's Topical Bible			X
New Topical Textbook
Bible Dictionaries
Complete Word Study Dictionary NT
Easton's Bible Dictionary			X
Tyndale Bible Dictionary
Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names		X
Harper's Bible Dictionary **	concise and very helpful resource
New Bible Dictionary
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (4 Volumes)
Biblical Studies Tools
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Willmington's Book of Bible Lists
NAS Exhaustive Concordance		X
Word Studies
Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volumes)
Word Pictures in the New Testament			X
Synonyms of the Old Testament (Girdlestone)		X
New Testament Synonyms (Trench)		X
Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (Bullinger)
Wuest's Word Studies
Bible Maps & Photos
Logos Deluxe Map Set *	(BW7 maps are superior)		X
Images of the Holy Lands
Biblical History & Culture
Time Travel to the World of Jesus
Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Edersheim)
Sketches of Jewish Social Life (Edersheim)
The Temple (Edersheim)
New Testament Milieu
New Manners and Customs of the Bible
Bible History: Old Testament (Edersheim)
Bible Archaeology
Dead Sea Scrolls & Modern Translations of the OT		X
Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land		X
History of the Church
Early Church Fathers (37 Volumes)
Studies in Early Church History
History of the Christian Church
Theology
Biblical Theology of the New Testament
Biblical Theology of the Old Testament
Concise Theology (Packer)
Dogmatic Theology (Shedd)
Systematic Theology (Hodge)
Systematic Theology, 3 Volumes (Strong)
God, Revelation and Authority (6 Volumes)
Institutes of the Christian Religion
Ryrie's Survey of Bible Doctrine
Great Doctrines of the Bible
Moody Handbook of Theology
Biblical Ethics
Biblical Ethics
Following Christ
Ethics for a Brave New World
Moral Foundations of Life
Apologetics
Christianity on the Offense
Defending Your Faith
Difficulties in the Bible: Alleged Errors and Contradictions
Engaging the Closed Mind
Basic Questions on Alternative Medicine: What is Good and What is Not?
Basic Questions on End of Life Decisions: How Do We Know What's Right?
Basic Questions on Sexuality and Reproductive Technology: When is it Right to Intervene?
Basic Questions on Suicide and Euthanasia
Pastoral Resources
Star Book for Ministers
Fresh Ideas Series
Fresh Ideas for Administration & Finance
Fresh Ideas for Discipleship & Nurture
Fresh Ideas for Families, Youth & Children
Fresh Ideas for Preaching, Worship & Evangelism
Leadership Library Series
Called into Crisis
Clergy Couples in Crisis
Leaders
Learning to Lead
Liberating the Leader's Prayer Life
Making the Most of Mistakes
Sins of the Body
The Contemplative Pastor
The Healthy Hectic Home
The Magnetic Fellowship
The Secrets of Staying Power
The Unity Factor
Weddings, Funerals & Special Events
Well-Intentioned Dragons
When It's Time to Move On
When to Take a Risk
Music, Youth & Education
Preaching to Convince
Helping Those Who Don't Want Help
Being Holy, Being Human
Library of Leadership Development
Leading Your Church Through Conflict & Resolution
Renewing Your Church Through Vision & Planning
Growing Your Church Through Training & Motivation
Building Your Church Through Counsel & Care
Library of Christian Leadership
Changing Lives Through Preaching and Worship
Deepening Your Ministry Through Prayer & Personal Growth
Empowering Your Church Through Creativity & Change
Growing Your Church Through Evangelism & Outreach
Mastering Ministry Series
Mastering Church Finances
Mastering Church Management
Mastering Conflict & Controversy
Mastering Contemporary Preaching
Mastering Outreach & Evangelism
Mastering Pastoral Care
Mastering Pastoral Counseling
Mastering Pastoral Role
Mastering Personal Growth
Mastering Teaching
Mastering Transitions
Mastering Worship
Pastor's Soul Series
Character Forged From Conflict
Deepening Your Conversation With God
Leading With Integrity
Listening to the Voice of God
Your Ministry's Next Chapter
Pastoral Grit
Power of Loving Your Church
Preaching With Spiritual Passion
Pressure Points Series
Pressure Points: Dangers, Toils & Snares
Pressure Points: Measuring Up
Pressure Points: Standing Fast
Pressure Points: Time Crunch
Pressure Points: Voice in the Wilderness
Pressure Points: Who's In Charge?
Sermons
Elements of Preaching
Rediscovering Expository Preaching
Selected Sermons of George Whitefield
Sermons on Several Occasions
Sermon Starters, Vols 1-4 (Zodhiates)
Illustrations
Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations
Quotations
All the Questions in the Bible
Great Quotations
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Quotations
Small Group Resources
Big Book of Small Groups
Seven Myths About Small Groups
Small Group Idea Book
Small Group Leaders' Handbook: The Next Generation
Starting (and Ending) a Small Group
Getting Together
Good Things Come in Small Groups
Biblical Foundations for Small Group Ministry
Bible Study Training
How To Study the Bible
Handbook to Bible Study
Diving For Pearls in God's Treasure Chest
Keys to the Bible's Treasures
Witnessing
True Evangelism
Discipleship
Training of the Twelve
Prayer
Necessity of Prayer
Power Through Prayer
Prayer: Basic Training
Handbook To Prayer
Family Dynamics
Different By Design
Fulfilled Family
Home School & Christian Education
Keyword Learning System
Soul of Science
English Language Reference
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Thesaurus
Christian Reference
Who's Who in Christian History
The Encyclopedia of Christianity: Volumes 1-3
Christian Living
Be What You Are
Christian's Secret of a Holy Life
Growing In Christ
Fourfold Gospel
Living a Full Life
Worship
Logos Hymnal, 100 MIDI Hymns
Devotionals
Alone with God
Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories
Drawing Close to God
Imitation of Christ
Morning and Evening
My Utmost for His Highest
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour
Fiction/Allegory
Pilgrim's Progress
In His Steps
Addins
Bible Tools Addin		X
LLS Addin		X
Logos Bible Software Addin		X
Personal Bible Study Tools Addin
Lectionary Addin
Bible Puzzles Addin
Biblical People Addin
Timelines Addin (8 Timelines)			X
Sentence Diagramming Addin		X	X
Graphical Query Editor Addin		X	X
Syntax Tools Addin		X
Compare Parallel Bible Versions Addin		X	X
Biblical Languages Addin		X
Original Languages Addin		X
Bible Analysis Addin		X
Greek Pronunciation Addin with Erasmian & Modern Data Sets			X
Remote Library Search Addin
Parallel Passages
Analytical Outline of the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles (Crockett)		X
Synopsis of the Old Testament (Jackson)		X	X
OT Quotations and Allusions in the NT (Jones)		X	X
Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament (HCSB)		X
A Harmony of the Gospels (Robertson)		X
A Harmony of the Synoptic Gospels (Burton, Goodspeed)		X
Synopsis of Matthew, Mark, and Luke		X
Eusebian Canons (Eusebius)
Synopsis of the Four Gospels (Aland) **	The one you want, but it is unavailable in OL		X
Records of the Life of Jesus (Sharman)		X
Pastoral Epistles (Brannan)		X
Jude - 2 Peter (Jackson)		X	X
Data Sets
Biblical People
Revised Common Lectionary	apparently unavailable in OL

 

Logos: The following books are not included in Original Language or Gold Libraries but available for purchase separately:

• Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics* - excellent resource to supplement your Greek
• BDAG = Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich Lexicon* – the definitive Greek-English lexicon for the NT
• HALOT = Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT* (Koehler, Baumgartner, Stamm) – the definitive Hebrew-English lexicon for the OT
• >> Note: BDAG/HALOT Bundle discount available
• Harper’s Bible Commentary – If you want to find brief commentary on a passage, this is your best choice
• Anchor Bible Dictionary – if you have the money, it is an excellent resource
• Essential IVP Reference Collection
• The Text Of The Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts
• Interpretation Commentary Series
• Word Biblical Commentary Series $$$
• Ancient Christian Commentary Series $$$
• The New International Greek Testament Commentary (12 Volumes) $$$$
• Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah
• Hermeneia Series $$$$$ - sets standard for the field
• A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature = BDF = BlassDebrunnerFunk
• Encyclopedia of Judaism $$
• Handbook of Exegesis to the NT
• Mishnah: Neusner
• Idioms of NT Greek: Porter
• Greek Pseudepigrapha
• Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible (SESB) $$$ – This is the only digital way to get critical texts with variants of the OT and NT; wonderful, but it will cost you… Get the Logos edition and save compared to the German edition
• Introducing The Apocrypha: Message, Context, And Significance (deSilva)
• The Apostolic Fathers in Greek and English (3 Editions, with Morphology)
• Moulton-Howard-Turner Greek Grammar Collection (5 volumes) $$ - a classic
• The Bible in Translation: Ancient and English Versions (Metzger)

 

• Do also note the many books from other publishers that use the Libronix format. They include quite a number of AugsburgFortress books, Luther and Reformation books, textbooks, etc.: www.logos.com/products/groups/allitems/publishing-partner-products

 

Notable resources in BibleWorks7 not included in Logos

(note that Logos has comparable resources for some of these)

BibleWorks also has numerous addin modules for extra cost store.bibleworks.com/modules.html

 

• The Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
• The English Standard Version (2001)
• Peshitta—James Murdock Translation (1851); Peshitta—Etheridge (1849) Translation; Peshitta—Lewis (1896) Translation; Peshitta—Norton (1881) Translation; Peshitta—Magiera (2005) Translation
• The New Jerusalem Bible
• Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (1985)
• Luther 1545 German Bible
• Multiple, modern Bible translations in German, Dutch, Spanish, French, Cyrillic, Italian, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Portugese, Norwegian, Czech, Slovak, Swedish…
• Apostolic Fathers English translation
• Apostolic Fathers (Greek with Morphological tags by Gieniusz/Bushell)
• Apostolic Fathers Latin
• Complete Greek Works of Flavius Josephus, parsed and lemmatized (with the 1828 Whiston English translation: Logos includes English translation)
• Works of Josephus Latin
• Basic Hebrew for Bible Study (Futato)
• Beginner’s Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Davis)
• Grammar of Septuagint Greek (Conybeare & Stock)
• Greek and Hebrew paradigm charts (revised)
• Greek Enchiridion: A Concise Handbook of Grammar and Exegesis (MacDonald)
• Greek Grammar Handbook (MacDonald)
• Greek New Testament Diagrams (Leedy)
• Greek NT Vocabulary Sound Files (Schwandt)
• Hebrew Vocabulary Sound Files (Verbruggen)
• Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament (Archer & Chirichigno)*
• The Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, Revised Edition (Gingrich/Danker)
• TEXTKRITIK des Neuen Testaments (Gregory)
• Textual Commentary on the Greek NT (Metzger)
• Thayer Greek Lexicon (unabridged)
• Metzger's Bible Outline
• A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the Greek New Testament
• The Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge

 

BibleWorks: Additional Modules available for BibleWorks that can be purchased separately

• Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics* = ESNT - excellent resource to supplement your Greek
• BDAG = Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich Lexicon* – the definitive Greek-English lexicon for the NT
• HALOT = Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT* (Koehler, Baumgartner, Stamm) – the definitive Hebrew-English lexicon for the OT

• >> Note: BDAG/HALOT Bundle discount available

• Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament – You might consider getting this instead of BDAG
• BDF = Blass, Debrunner, Funk Greek Grammar of the NT – a classic grammar but somewhat difficult
• CNTTS = Center for New Testament Textual Studies Textual Database/Critical Apparatus: This is BW’s answer to Logos’ SESB in offering a text critical edition of the NT
• New Testament Greek Manuscripts by Swanson – Another way to get the NT text critical information
• Croy’s A Primer of Biblical Greek – your best friend…!
• The Text Of The Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts

 

BibleWorks is more ‘open-source’ than Logos, so users have posted public domain databases that can be installed in BW7 at: http://www.bibleworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53

Note that you can get such works as:

• Classical Greek works (Homer, Hesiod)
• Jewish works (PirkeAboth, Targumim and translations)
• Apocryphal (Enoch)
• Ante-Nicene Fathers (partial)
• OT and NT Pseudepigrapha (partial)

 

 

The Bottom Line

	PROS	CONS
Accordance8	·      Mac integration ·      attractive interface ·      variety of resources ·      speed	·         lack of intermediate Greek lexicon ·         some limited functionality if run under emulation on a PC ·         more expensive
BibleWorks7	·      best value for biblical texts ·      speed ·      user expandable ·      best choice for modern, non-English Bibles	·         inconsistent interface ·         learning curve for advanced usage ·         limited list of secondary resources
Logos3	·      function as a library management system ·      consistency with Windows interface ·      manipu-ability of workspace ·      long list of available resources, including textbooks ·      reproduces book-reading experience ·      specialized tools: syntax search, discourse NT, reverse interlinears	·         somewhat more expensive than BW7 ·         slower ·         (unreliable LXX tagged text)

 

So which program should I buy? I gave some initial guidelines in the second paragraph. As for myself, I had the opportunity to get review copies of all three programs. For Mac users, Accordance is more expensive for getting similar resources, but its Mac integration really makes it an excellent choice. What I find I have ended up doing is… having both BW7 and Logos running (and using the Atlas module in Accordance). When I want to look up something quickly in the text and do any textual research, I use BW7. If I want to do broader biblical research, I use Logos. (I also use Logos when I need to use tools found only there, such as the SESB critical editions or the syntactical texts.)

 

BW7 is a great value for the texts and tools you get. Logos3 Original Languages is a very good value and has more room for future expansion. Logos3 Gold is a great value if you plan to actually use the key books in the collection.

 

Whether you buy Accordance, BW7 or either the Logos 3 Original Library or Logos 3 Gold, consider adding:

• Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics* = ESNT - excellent resource to supplement your Greek
• BDAG = Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich Lexicon* – the definitive Greek-English lexicon for the NT
• HALOT = Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT* (Koehler, Baumgartner, Stamm) – the definitive Hebrew-English lexicon for the OT

• >> Note: BDAG/HALOT Bundle discount available

• Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament – You might consider getting this instead of BDAG (and note that this is already included in Logos 3 Gold)

 

If you go with Accordance, check out my recommendations.

If you go with BW7, you are pretty well set (except to think about adding the books just mentioned).

If you go with Logos 3 Original Language, consider adding:

• Harper's Bible Dictionary **
• Harper’s Bible Commentary – For brief commentary on a passage, this is your best choice

If you go with Logos 3 Gold, also consider adding:

• Harper’s Bible Commentary – For brief commentary on a passage, this is your best choice