If you’ve been a Logos Bible Software user for a long time, or if you’re relatively new to the software, chances are the Support area of the Logos web site has some training articles for you.
The articles are broken into four areas:
Articles from Getting to Know Your Library to How To Use Verb Rivers to Creating Your Own Timeline can be read, referenced and reviewed.
Check ‘em out!
We’ve had a lot of folks ask us about Lewis Sperry Chafer’s magnum opus Systematic Theology.
Logos has recently completed work on Chafer’s most popular work and you can even purchase it today. Right now, even, through the wonders of that thing called “the internet”.
And you might want to purchase it today. Logos has a special arrangement with the publisher and we are only licensed to sell a specific number of copies. That is, the Logos Bible Software version is a limited edition (no, I don’t know how many we have, how many we’ve sold, or how close we are to the limit). But when we reach that limited amount, you won’t be able to purchase it anymore. Our product page for Chafer’s Systematic Theology describes it this way:
Many users over the years have asked for an electronic edition of this estimable work, but we were never able to secure a license to it. Now, for the first time, the publisher has agreed to a contract that enables us to bring you this resource, though in a limited quantity. When we sell out of our limited run, this title will be removed and we will be unable to take any more orders. We have no reason to believe that this title will ever be made available again electronically once all available copies are sold. We encourage you to place your order while you still can!
So if you’re into Chafer, or find electronic access to systematic theologies valuable, you may want to check it out.
Chances are you have seen or heard about Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. The idea behind the Wikipedia is to allow creation and editing of articles by just about anyone. The underlying technology is something called a wiki, which is a simplified content management system that allows anyone to provide or edit articles.
For awhile now, Logos has hosted a wiki for its users. Ours is a bit more simplified than the Wikipedia, but it does the trick. The Logos User Wiki is a place you can go to for tips and even some detailed processes on reinstalling the software, compose feature ideas that others can contribute to or flesh out, or just browse around for ideas on different ways to use Logos Bible Software.
Check it out, and feel free to add articles or tips that you think might help the Logos Bible Software user community! We even have a newsgroup dedicated to questions about the wiki. So give it a shot!
UPDATE: The Logos Wiki has moved to a new location as of 11/12/09.
I know, I know, I said I’d blog about searching the Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament. And I will. Really, I will. But not today.
I’ve been working on a different aspect of the Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament project recently: adding glossary information to just about everywhere a clause type or syntactic force note occurs. And wow, is it cool. Really.
Because syntactic terminology is at times confusing, and because different grammars and guides sometimes use the same terminology to describe different things and different terminology to describe similar things (got that?) we knew we’d need to include glossaries with our syntactic databases. And we also knew we’d need to provide links to further discussions of terms in standard grammar and syntactic references, so we’ve included (where appropriate) links to BDF, Daniel Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, and Smyth’s Greek Grammar (a classical grammar not yet in LDLS format … but give us time!).
At the end of December, we put 10 new titles into our Community Pricing System. It’s fun to see which ones people latch on to and how fast (and how cheap they end up being)!
There are a few titles that are set to close today (Friday, January 6, 2006) at noon Pacific Time. Check ‘em out to see if you want to get in on them at their cheapest:
History of Interpretation by F.W. Farrar just crossed the line yesterday and will move to prepublication next Friday.
There are some other titles that are getting close to the line:
Check out these (and all of the other titles we’re considering) and place a bid if you’d like us to do them.
Even though I work at Logos, I like to check out the reviews that our products recieve. I just noticed a new review from the magazine Worship Leader. This review is a little different because it isn’t a review of Scholar’s Library or Scholar’s Silver, it is a review of The Library of Christian Worship on CD-ROM.
I remember when we did the work on this set of books. I was impressed with the attention to detail in the printed editions and with the encompassing scope of coverage, both from a historical and theological perspective. The books aren’t just about music, they’re about worship. They’re not about contemporary vs. traditional vs. “mixed” vs. whatever; they’re about worship. As such, the series is a valuable resource to consult when considering issues of worship and praise in the church today.
The Logos web site product description has much more information, with descriptions and tables of contents for each of the eight books (seven volumes; vol. 4 was published in two parts).
Last week, I posted on the Lexham SGNT “running text”. I mentioned at that time that there are three primary pieces of the Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament:
Today it is time to look at the Expansions and Annotations resource. This resource is still in a state of flux, so the implementation may change somewhat between now and the time that the Lexham SGNT is released.
When approaching a text, one of the initial steps of exegesis is to do some general background study, thus becoming familiar with the larger context of a passage. If I’m looking at a passage in First John, I should have a decent idea of the author, recipient and setting of the letter. Logos has several resources (commentaries, handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.) that should provide assistance with this general process.
After this initial step, according to many guides to NT exegesis (e.g. Fee’s NT Exegesis) the next step is to work through the the grammar and syntax of the passage. Some guides mention that one should read (and re-read, and re-read) the passage. One must be familiar with the current context and the larger context for exegesis to be effective.
When you’re familiar with the text through the reading (and re-reading) of it, you’ve arrived at the point where detailed picking apart of the text is required. This is the point where one really begins to consider issues of grammar and syntax of the original language.
There are existing resources to consult to learn these things; some are even available in Logos Bible Software. These should be consulted and applied. But detailed reading of a book that provides hints, clues and process for exegesis does not magically transform the reader into a competent and confident exegete of Scripture. This only happens through practice and repetition.
And this is why morphologically and syntactically annotated editions of the primary texts of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament are necessary. They provide an example for you to check your work against, to use in the sharpening of your own skills. This is very helpful when you don’t have a hard-grading seminary prof check your work for accuracy.
This article walks through some ways to think about clause boundaries using Logos Bible Software; comparing these to the information provided by the Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament.
I’ve posted in the past regarding a project we’ve been working on with the good folks at OpenText.org; to make their syntactic analysis of the entire Greek New Testament available in Logos Bible Software. It is a massive project, and it will provide oodles of chunky syntactic goodness to Logos Bible Software users to inform and sharpen their studies of the New Testament.
But that isn’t all that we’ve got cookin’ on the Greek Syntax front. We’ve been working on our own syntactic analysis of the Greek New Testament. We’re calling it the Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament; this post (including a video link, see below!) introduces the work and begins to discuss it in some more detail.
I should say that this project involves a lot of work, and that it will be released in stages as the work progresses. We waited until we had the first major chunk — the General (or Catholic) Epistles, Hebrews through Jude — to consider a release. The first release (as happenstance would have it, perfectly timed with Logos Bible Software 3.0! What serendipity!) will therefore include these books. We hope to release an update in the spring that will include data for the book of Revelation. After that, the Pauline Epistles will trickle out over the following year or so; other books after that. At least, that’s the plan for now.
