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Archive - October, 2011

Weekly Roundup: October 22

Jayson Bradley | Sat, October 22, 2011 | Misc Comments Off

The Weekly Roundup is a regular feature alerting you to significant things happening at Logos this week. Take a few moments to check out these newsworthy items for the week of October 22, 2011.

Important Information!

To celebrate the value of pastoral ministry, Logos has created Pastor Appreciation Month Specials.

For every week of October we’ve set a theme: leadership, worship, pastoral care, and preaching. We’ve lined up five resources (books, collections, or other goodies) for each of these themes which we think will benefit your pastoral ministry. Check back every day to see what new deals we’ve released—you never know what discounts or freebies may await you!

Introduce your pastor to Logos! Get 15% off of a base package today when you use the coupon code BLESSING at checkout—your pastor will thank you!

Pick Up Your Free Copy of Spurgeon’s The Pastor in Prayer!

As part of our Pastor Appreciation Month specials, we are offering Charles Spurgeon’s The Pastor in Prayer to you—absolutely free!

This offer—like the rest of our Pastor Appreciation Month deals—is good through the end of October!

Logos Talk

Interesting Discussions

Facebook

On Wednesday, our Facebook community discussed whether they would rather hear a sermon preached by Peter or Paul.

Twitter Daily Deals

Our Twitter followers have been enjoying some amazing Twitter-only daily deals. Each day we offer a new product at 50% off, but the daily deal expires at midnight PST. This past week we marked down the following:
Follow us on Twitter to get in on the action!

Products

New Pre-Pubs

The Works of Jonathan Edwards (26 vols.)

Last Chance Pre-Pubs

These are Pre-Pubs shipping next week. Don’t miss your last chance to pick these up at their amazing Pre-Pub prices!

Community Pricing

What’s New with Community Pricing?

Classic Commentaries and Studies on Genesis (22 vols.) topped the 100% mark this week! It was the first of the Classic Commentaries and Studies collections to cross over. Don’t miss out on the other awesome collections in this series:

Also new this week:

Remember, Community Pricing offers some amazing deals on classic works in the field of biblical and theological studies. Thousands of Logos users have gotten books for less than the price of a latté or a gallon of gas (which is around $4.00 in Bellingham, Washington). The Community Pricing Program gives you a direct influence on the priorities and price for new products! In a nutshell, you decide which books we produce—and what price you’ll pay!

Learn more about how Community Pricing works, check out this bidding strategy, and start bidding today!

Job Postings

Logos is hiring! Here are just a few of the newer postings on our Careers page:

Design & Editorial

Marketing Department

Sales

Publications

Original Languages Copy Editor

Software Development

Was there anything else from Logos you found interesting this week? Leave us a comment and let us know!

At Last, the Complete Works of Jonathan Edwards is on Pre-Pub

Corey Decker | Fri, October 21, 2011 | Products 1

We are pleased to announce the availability of Yale’s authoritative edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards on Pre-Pub.

Considered by many to be America’s greatest theologian and philosopher, Edwards propelled eighteenth-century America into the First Great Awakening. Preaching about a God who desires not only the intellect but also the affections of His children, his focus on the beauty of the holiness of God continues to radically challenge the church today.

Many Previously Unpublished Works!

Until now, many of Edwards’ original manuscripts had been kept in private collections, unavailable to the public. After the Edwards family released his writings to Yale University, scholars spent a great deal of time transcribing Edwards’ nearly illegible handwriting—one even said that “it can take years of experience to read Edwards’ handwriting accurately.”

These works, which now include critical introductions, analysis, commentary, and reflection by noted Edwards scholars, express why Perry Miller, founder of the Yale edition of the Works of Jonathan Edwards, describes Edwards as “the first and greatest homegrown American philosopher.”

The Life of David Brainerd

This collection is full of new scholarly insights into the philosophy, theology, and historical context of Edwards’ work. Take, for example, The Life of David Brainerd. Published in 1749, The Life of David Brainerd was the first popular biography to be published in the United States and remains one of Edwards’ most celebrated works. The Life of David Brainerd we are familiar with is not the original, however; Edwards changed his work to emphasize Brainerd’s anti-Arminian views.

The Works of Jonathan Edwards lets you read the well-known Life of David Brainerd alongside portions of Edwards’ original manuscripts.

Jonathan Edwards’ Private Notebooks

You’ll see how Edwards matured into a profound philosopher and theologian when you read through this collection of theological notebooks, unpublished sermon manuscripts, letters, and personal writings. Edwards’ intellect is revealed throughout the text, giving you a glimpse into the mind of an emerging public spokesperson for orthodox Calvinism.

Pick It Up Today!

This definitive collection is finally available on Pre-Pub, at a savings of more than $1,100! Join the generations whom Edwards has transformed and encouraged by ordering this collection today!

3 Steps for Interpreting Old Testament Pairings

Jayson Bradley | Thu, October 20, 2011 | Misc Comments Off

You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to get into the original languages. Each issue of Bible Study Magazine features articles to help you get into the Scripture’s original Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew. Here’s one adapted from the column “Hebrew Word Study without Hebrew.”

The article—originally entitled A World without God (Bible Study Magazine, Nov–Dec 2011)— is written by Douglas Mangum. Douglas has an MA in Hebrew Bible from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a contributing editor at Logos Bible Software.

A World without God

“The earth was without form (תהו, tohu) and void (בהו, bohu), and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen 1:2). The word pairing of the synonyms tohu and bohu doesn’t make this passage any clearer. What does it mean that the earth was formless and void? Did it already exist and God just shaped it? And did God create the matter and then shape it for a purpose?

But with a few interpretive steps, nearly any questions we have about an Old Testament pairing can be answered.

Identify the Original Words and Search for the Phrase
After finding the original Hebrew phrase behind the English “without form and void”—using the ESV English–Hebrew Reverse Interlinear—we can search for the phrase using Logos 4.In doing so, we learn that Isaiah and Jeremiah reworked this creation imagery to assert God’s authority and warn of Israel’s impending judgment. Jeremiah warned of Judah’s coming destruction by describing a future land where God’s creative energy had been reversed in punishment to unmake all things: “I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form (tohu) and void (bohu); and to the heavens, and they had no light” (Jer 4:23).

The prophet Isaiah also used tohu and bohuto describe God’s judgment as an end to civilization and the return of the land to untamed wilderness (Isa 34:11). Both tohu and bohu can refer to an empty, lifeless wasteland. The use of these words together is so rare that we can surmise that Jeremiah and Isaiah probably had Genesis 1 in mind. The prophets made powerful connections to the image of Israel’s greatest fear—a return to primordial chaos. A world without God seemed like no world at all.
Examine Passages with Similar Themes
The Old Testament was written over hundreds of years, which means that later writers were sometimes subtly responding to other biblical passages. They often played off familiar themes to make an unexpected point. One of their favorite themes to tie in and repurpose was God’s role as creator and sustainer of life.

We can find these connections by looking up key words, like tohu, in a lexicon. Using The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament(HALOT), we find other passages that expound on creation.In Isaiah 45:18, the prophet stresses that God’s primary objective was to provide purpose and order: “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens [He is God!], who formed the earth and made it [He established it; He did not create it empty [tohu], He formed it to be inhabited!]: ‘I am the Lord, and there is no other.’ ”

Isaiah is responding directly to the idea that God created an empty wasteland first, arguing, “No, He didn’t create a formless world. That was just one minor step in the process. He intended an inhabited life-giving world.”Isaiah focuses on God and His uniqueness, not the pre-existent state of creation. God brought form, function and order to His creation. His blessing is symbolized by order; His judgment by chaos.
State What It Tells Us about God
When reading the Bible, we must ask: how is the ultimate author of our text, God, depicted? From the opening lines of Genesis 1, God is depicted as the one who gives life, order and purpose to all things. A thriving creation is under His blessing; the wastelands are outside of His care—awaiting His creative hand.

Adapted from an article in Bible Study Magazine, published by Logos Bible Software. Each issue of Bible Study Magazine provides tools and methods for Bible study as well as insights from people like John Piper, Beth Moore, Mark Driscoll, Randy Alcorn, Priscilla Shirer, and more. Originally published in print: Copyright Bible Study Magazine (Nov–Dec 2011): pg. 44–45.

Subscribe to Bible Study Magazine today for only $14.95 and enjoy powerful tips and insights for your Bible study.

Camp Logos 2 Live: Don’t Miss This Pre-Pub!

Jayson Bradley | Wed, October 19, 2011 | Products, Training 2

Using Logos 4 is as easy as entering a passage and clicking “Go.” This means that anyone can benefit from Logos Bible Software, but did you know that most users use less than 10% of Logos’ full potential? Morris Proctor wants to help you tap into the other 90%.

Now you can learn to use Logos 4 like never before with Camp Logos 2 Live. While Camp Logos 2 Live can be used independently, it picks up right where Camp Logos Live left off—with over nine new hours of training!

As your resources grow in Logos 4, managing your library becomes an important part of profitable Bible study. In Part One of Camp Logos 2 Live, Morris will teach you to identify and organize every book in your library! With your library tagged and organized, there is so much you can do to cater your study to your tastes and needs. As Morris says in the video above, “I believe applying this tagging system is perhaps the single most important thing you can do to enhance the use of your ebooks.”

The second part of the series walks you through some of the important features in Logos 4 which didn’t quite make it into the first Camp Logos Live. You will look at:

Louw-Nida numbers
Syntax
Visual Filters
and much more

You don’t have to be a seminary student or well-versed in Hebrew and Greek to get something out of Camp Logos 2 Live. These training sessions are aimed at helping the average user get the most out of their Logos 4 software. Allow Morris to help take your Bible study to a whole new level by bringing our popular Camp Logos training sessions right into your home. With Camp Logos on your personal computer, you can stop when you need to, return to areas of training repeatedly, and work at your own pace.

Pick up your copy of Camp Logos 2 Live while it is on Pre-Pub and get it at 20% off!

Have you attended a Camp Logos, or own a copy of Camp Logos Live? Leave us a comment and tell us how it has been helpful to you.

Get 93% Off the Catholic Library Builder!

Andrew Jones | Tue, October 18, 2011 | Misc 1

Our 238-volume Catholic Library Builder is selling for only $395. At less than $2 a book, this one of the best deals Logos has ever offered! Act fast, though; this special offer ends on November 15.

For only $395, you’ll add amazing content to your library, including:

Early Church Fathers Collection (37 vols.)—retail price: $249.95
Catholic Theology and Dogma Collection (8 vols.)—retail price: $199.95
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (30 vols.)—retail price: $249.95
Catholic Spirituality Collection (12 vols.)—retail price: $119.95
G.K. Chesterton Collection (11 vols.)—retail price: $179.95
Collected Works of John Henry Newman (31 vols.)—retail price: $299.95
And much, much more… with a total retail price of over $6,100!

The Catholic Library Builder enriches your library in several important categories.

History

Spanning from the Church Fathers to the Second Vatican Council, from St. Thomas Aquinas to Dr. Scott Hahn, this collection covers the full scope of church history.

The Ancient World was the cradle of Christianity. The enduring insights of St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Basil and so many others deserve a revered place in every Christian’s library, as the great edifice of Christian scholarship was built upon their work.
The Middle Ages were at one time maligned as the “Dark Ages,” but modern scholarship has revealed their rich intellectual, artistic, and spiritual achievement. The writings of Thomas Aquinas, Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux, and many others will add the profundity of medieval thought to your library.
The Reformation is the most contentious period in church history. Ignatius of Loyola’s and Teresa of Ávila’s writings, the canons of the Council of Trent, and many other important texts—shed light on the Catholic dimension of the period, illuminating both modern Protestantism and modern Catholicism.
Modernity was a period of great struggle for the Catholic Church as it confronted secularization, industrialization, and atheistic ideologies. From Pope Pius IX’s “Syllabus of Errors,” to the First Vatican Council’s declaration of papal infallibility, the Catholic Library Builder provides the essential documents of Catholicism’s attempt to arrest the decline of its influence.
Post-Modern Christianity is diverse and decentralized, but with its over one billion members and rapid expansion (especially in the Global South), the Catholic Church remains important and influential. The epochal Second Vatican Council was the springboard for this evangelical movement and an understanding of it is a necessary component of an understanding of world-wide Christianity itself.

Spirituality

There are few parallels in the history of Christianity to the great mystics and spiritual writers of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. The Catholic Library Builder includes St. John of the Cross’ The Dark Night of the Soul, Thomas à Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ, the writings of Thérèse of Lisieux, and many more classics on the soul’s search for God.

Theology and Exegesis

The Catholic Library Builder includes works from such prominent scholars as Scott Hahn, Raymond Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and John P. Meier. Their insights and scholarship will greatly enrich your Bible study.

At over 93% off the retail cost, the Catholic Library Builder is the perfect resource for exploring contemporary Catholic doctrine and investigating church history! Such an amazing deal can’t last forever, though. This special offer ends on November 15, so order the Catholic Library Builder today!

Recommended Commentaries: Matthew

Jayson Bradley | Mon, October 17, 2011 | Products 1

Logos Talk’s Recommended Commentary Series highlights some favorite commentaries by Logos academics and the user community.

We Want to Hear from You!

Each week we will post a forum thread asking which commentaries, available from Logos, are your favorites for a specific book in the Bible. This is a great opportunity to let other Logos users know which commentaries you have found valuable in your studies.

Matthew Commentaries

We asked Logos Scholar-in-Residence Steven Runge to give us his favorite commentaries on Matthew. Here are a few of his choices in no particular order:

Matthew, Mark Cornerstone Biblical Commentary by David L. Turner, Darrell L. Bock, and Phillip W. Comfort
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Vol. 1 by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Vol. 2 by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Vol. 3 by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison
The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament: The Gospel of Matthew by R. T. France

Logos Community Favorites

Here are a few commentaries suggested by Logos users:

Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew by Leon Morris
The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew by John Nolland
Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 33a: Matthew 1-13 by Donald A. Hagner
Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 33b: Matthew 14-28 by Donald A. Hagner
Hermeneia: Matthew 1–7, 8–20, 21–28 by Ulrich Luz
The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary by Craig S. Keener
Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew by D. A. Carson
The New American Commentary: Matthew by Craig L. Blomberg
Matthew for Everyone, part 1 & 2 by N. T. Wright
Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament, Matthew by Charles H. Talbert

This is only a small list of the suggested commentaries for Matthew! For a larger selection of suggested commentaries, visit the forum post.

Do you have a favorite Logos resource on Matthew which isn’t listed here? Leave us a comment. Then jump over to the forum and share your favorite commentaries on Mark!

Don’t Miss These Recommended Commentaries!

Logos 4: Proximity Search from Camp Logos 2

Morris Proctor | Mon, October 17, 2011 | Training 4

Today’s post is from Morris Proctor, certified and authorized trainer for Logos Bible Software. Morris has trained thousands of Logos users at his two-day Camp Logos training seminars and provides many training materials.

A Logos user recently e-mailed stating that he was writing a paper on the purpose of Christ’s crucifixion and needed to find where that subject was discussed in his Logos books. I suggested that a proximity search containing multiple groups of words would do the trick. Here’s how to execute that search:

Click the Search icon
Select Basic as the Search type
Select from the drop down list the books to be searched such as the Entire Library
Choose the Search panel menu and select Match all word forms
Type (or copy/paste) this in the Search box: ((Christ,Jesus,Lord) WITHIN 6 words (death,cross,crucifixion)) WITHIN 6 words (purpose,reason)
Press the Enter key to generate the search results

This search locates the places where the words Christ or Jesus or Lord occur within 6 words of death or cross or crucifixion. These results then occur within 6 words of purpose or purposes or reason or reasons. In other words, Logos locates all the places authors write about the purpose or reason for the Lord’s death on the cross!

This type of power proximity search with multiple groupings of words is just one of many Logos features covered in Camp Logos 2, which is a two-day, hands-on training seminar that goes beyond the numerous topics discussed in Camp Logos.

And I’m very pleased to make a couple of very important announcements regarding Camp Logos 2:

First, we’re presenting a National Camp Logos 2 in Bellingham, WA on November 10-11. Each June, Logos welcomes users from around the globe to the headquarters to discover many exciting aspects of the software. We’ve decided to do the same for Camp 2.

At this national seminar you’ll not only learn additional powerful Logos features, you’ll also hear from Logos leaders about the latest developments for Logos Bible Software, Logos Apps, Vryso, Proclaim, and more. Also at the national seminars we’ll enjoy a couple of meals together which are included in your registration fee. Make sure to visit mpseminars.com for more information and to register.

Also, in case you can’t attend a live Camp Logos 2 seminar or need a refresher after attending, Camp Logos 2 Live DVD training is now available on pre-pub! This four disc set contains nearly 10 hours of video instruction and crystal clear video screenshots enhanced with highlights, call outs, and on screen graphics. Rather than describe the project in this blog, please visit the pre-pub page for complete details and to place your order.

This is the most extensive product that we have ever produced and is a direct result of the countless hours that our team has spent on the project. Recent Camp 2 attendees have been very gracious in their responses and we hope that Camp Logos 2 will encourage you as well.

Have you ever been to a Camp Logos seminar or purchased Camp Logos LIVE? If so, how has it helped you in your use of Logos? Leave a comment and let us know!

Weekly Roundup: October 15

Jayson Bradley | Sat, October 15, 2011 | Misc Comments Off

The Weekly Roundup is a regular feature alerting you to significant things happening at Logos this week. Take a few moments to check out these newsworthy items for the week of October 15, 2011.