New Logos version coming soon…

While I haven’t had a chance yet to talk much about Bible study software on this blog, I am very excited about the upcoming release of the new version of the Logos Bible Software. I have been a Logos user for over 4 years now and I must say that this product is outstanding. The integration of resources and the depth of resources available for Logos, in my opinion, really sets it apart from other products. Bible software overall is a tremendous tool for study. Imagine, being able to open every book in your paper library to the page that discusses the topic or verse that you are studying! That is the power of electronic libraries. With the simple click of the mouse, every resource available to you opens to the page you need. All you have to do is right-click on a word in your New Testament to see the Greek, link to your favorite lexicon and read a detailed explanation, or look up the word in your favorite Bible dictionary or commentary. For Greek work, standard resources such as The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT), BDAG and others make digging into the Greek text a breeze. The best part of all of these resources is their fidelity to the original books. For example, when you look up an article in TDNT it matches the printed version exactly – even giving you the proper volume and page numbers. This means that you can use these resources in your writing and cite sources accurately – not just some electronic source, but the printed version as well.

The new version…
I have been using the latest Beta version for about a week now and the number of changes and improvements in this new product is very impressive. They have completely reworked the interface to make it easier to navigate and they have added some awesome to tools. One of my favorites is called Biblical People. This tool allows you to instantly see the family tree of any Bible character. It includes a list of verses referring to the character and if you click on another name is the tree, the tool shows you the new tree for that person. There are dozens of other improvements and tools. The Bible Word Study tool allows you to see a detail list of references, listings and texts dealing with any word you click on, with links to all your major resources. This is a huge time saver!

While addmittedly, these packages can be very expensive, when you compare the price of the useful books included (not just the total number of books as some really aren't that useful), these libraries can be very affordable. There are a numkber of different packages available and you can start small and add new bnooks over time if you wish. When you add the time savings of doing research and study to the mix, the cost may be more than worth it.

I would like to tell you about all of the new features, but that will have to wait for a future review. Just suffice it to say…this new version is going to change the way you study the Scriptures!!! Check it out.