Results tagged “Free” from Logos Bible Software Blog

Since the launch of Logos 4 coincided with the beginning of the month, we've had to delay posting an update to the Great Bible Giveaway. That said, I've got great news. We still have 24 premium leather Bibles to give away through the end of December!

Entering the Great Bible Giveaway is easy, and you can enter up to 5 times per month. To find out all the details, visit http://bible.logos.com/content/giveaway.

November’s Prize List

Enter the Great Bible Giveaway this month for your chance to win:

• 1 ESV Study Bible, Black Calfskin (Retail $239.99) from Crossway
• 1 KJV Concord Wide Margin Reference, Black Goatskin ($229.99) from Cambridge Bibles
• 1 NASB In Touch Ministries Wide Margin Edition, Burgundy Calfskin (Retail $149.99) from Lockman Foundation
• 1 NASB Large Print Ultrathin Reference, Black Calfskin (Retail $149.99) from Lockman Foundation
• 1 NASB Side Column Reference Wide Margin Special Limited Edition, Black Calfskin (Retail $149.99) from Lockman Foundation
• 1 NIV New Women's Devotional, Espresso Renaissance Fine Leather ($59.99) from Zondervan
• 1 NIV Study Bible, Black Goatskin ($229.99) from Cambridge Bibles
• 1 NIV Thinline, Ebony Renaissance Fine Leather (Retail $49.99) from Zondervan
• 1 NKJV UltraSlim Bible Signature Series, Black Calfskin (Retail $129.99) from Thomas Nelson
• 2 NLTSB Tyndale Select, Black Calfskin (Retail Unavailable) from Tyndale
• 1 TNIV, Black Renaissance Fine Leather ($99.99) from Zondervan

October Winners

• ESV Study Bible winner: S. McIlrath
• KJV Concord Wide Margin Reference winner: L. Swingrover
• NASB In Touch Ministries Wide Margin Edition winner: J. Carter
• NASB Large Print Ultrathin Reference winner: N. Lee
• NASB Side Column Reference Wide Margin Special Limited Edition winner: M. Jones
• NASB Wide Margin Reference winner: M. Hoskinson
• NIV Thinline winner: T. Black
• NIV Study Bible winner: B. Burkett
• NKJV UltraSlim Bible Signature Series winner: J. LaFreniere
• NLTSB Tyndale Select winners: E. Weiss and M. Sale
• TNIV winner: A. Turner

The Great Bible Giveaway began in July, and since starting the promotion we've given away 48 premium Bibles worth nearly $8,000! Read our first Great Bible Giveaway blog post to see how it all began.

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The new Logos Bible Software iPhone app has totally revolutionized "Bible study on the go." There have already been more than 10,000 downloads within the first few days of release—all from a simple Twitter announcement that it was available. Seconds later, a flood of "re-tweets" and social networking word-of-mouth lit up the Internet, and that's just the beginning. So what is this incredible app that has taken off like a rocket? A whole new way to access Bible study on the go.

At its most basic level, this free download from the App Store will give you immediate access to more than 30 Bibles* from http://bible.logos.com.

...but wait, there's more!

When you sign up for a free account with Logos you will gain access to about another 30 free books!

...but wait, there's more!

When you register your account with Logos.com you will be able to access any free books from publishers that want to showcase new titles, or random books that we offer from time to time on free preview. You never know what might show up in your Logos Bible Software iPhone library some day. Imagine picking up your iPhone and seeing the hottest new title available in your library for free preview! One book per month, week, day? Who knows!

...but wait, there's more!

Add any Logos 4 base package and watch your resources grow as much of your library is synced with your iPhone or iPod Touch; the resources are available and your favorites, bookmarks and settings are transferred from one platform to another. Walk away from your desktop or laptop and your location is saved in the books you are using so that you can pick up where you left off on your iPhone.

The Logos iPhone app is so much more than a simple Bible reader. Mobile Bible study is transformed with multiple versions of the Bible that can be read, searched, cross referenced and compared. You can set-up reading plans that are synced from your desktop or laptop so your Bible reading is always on schedule. In addition, finding a passage is as easy as typing in the reference, using the book navigator, or dragging the scrollbar to the right location.

This application was created with the desire to bring the functionality of Logos Bible Software 4 to your iPhone. In particular, the ability to dig deeper into Scripture with the Passage Guide. Enter a verse and click “Go” to receive a report linking directly to commentaries referencing your verse. The Passage Guide also provides cross references, media resources, topics, and interesting words—all linked to resources in your library.

Do an in-depth Bible Word Study from anywhere by a simple "tap and hold" on any word, in a Bible with a reverse interlinear, and a pop-up will display the English word along with all the original language information. From this pop-up, click Bible Word Study to see the definition, pronunciation, translations, and example uses of the various translations.

Right about now you should be getting the idea that you need this app, you need it now, and you need to register it right away. There is simply no other Bible app that is this intuitive, intelligent and easy to use.

For more information check out some great screenshots and information, read our FAQs, and check out some customer reviews at the app store!

If for no other reason than to fully integrate your Bible study with your iPhone, you need to get a Logos 4 base package today. If you are a new user, check out the detailed information we have just posted about the most advanced Bible software in the world at our Logos 4 mini-site and if you are an existing Logos customer check out the limited time upgrade discounts available for you today.

Already a Logos Bible Software user?
Visit our custom upgrade discount calculator to see what discounts you qualify for on an upgrade to a brand new Logos 4 base package.

Want to be a Logos Bible Software user?
New customers should visit http://www.logos.com/4 to learn more and see what discounts are currently available.

* The list of e-books that can be read through Logos Bible Software is changing constantly as we secure rights and convert resources. Not all Bibles are linked word-for-word to the Greek and Hebrew yet.

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To celebrate the November-December issue of Bible Study Magazine, featuring John MacAthur, we have partnered with Thomas Nelson to give away a free download of MacArthur Bible Studies: Romans. Visit our John MacArthur on Bible Study page for all the details on how you can get your free download.

Along with giving away the free download, we're excited to announce a new John MacArthur pre-order opportunity. The John MacArthur Essential Bible Study Library assembles MacArthur’s best-selling Bible study books into a singular collection, with two dozen resources, including Bible studies, study Bibles, and more. Place your pre-order today!

If you're looking for even more John MacArthur material, be sure to visit our John MacArthur resource page.

Learn how to get your free download of MacArthur Bible Studies: Romans now!

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In the September–October issue of Bible Study Magazine, Chaplain (Major) Jeff Struecker shares how his study of the Bible not only helped him during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu (featured in the book and movie Black Hawk Down), but how Scripture influences every aspect of his life as a soldier. Read the article now.

Major Struecker speaks from experience, including combat in Operation Just Cause in Panama, Operation Iris Gold in Kuwait, Operation Gothic Serpent in Mogadishu, Somalia, and multiple tours in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. His awards for actions in these imminent danger zones include the Southwest Asia Service Medal (1 Service Star), Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (2nd award), National Defense Service Medal and the Bronze Star Medal (with “V” Device for valor, 3rd award). He has received other medals as recognition for his service in the United States Army. In addition to these awards and others, Struecker took first place in the David L. Grange Best Ranger competition in 1996.

Do you know someone serving in the military? Please send them a link to the article. We hope that it will be an encouragement to all soldiers seeking to grow in faith during military service. We are currently offering this feature article, “Drawing on Scripture Under Gunfire,” as a free download at http://www.biblestudymagazine.com/chaplain/.

Anyone who has heard John Piper preach or read one of his MANY books knows that he is a man passionate about God's Word. That's why we are excited to have him as the cover story for our September-October issue of Bible Study Magazine.

While the magazine is still at the printer and won't officially ship for a couple weeks, we decided to go ahead and let you check out the article. Visit the John Piper page on BibleStudyMagazine.com and read the article in its entirety. It is a great article with lots of insight and advice from Piper's personal time spent in God's Word, so be sure to tell your friends and spread the word. But that's not all...

Get a FREE copy of Finally Alive

In conjunction with the John Piper issue of Bible Study Magazine we wanted to announce the release of Finally Alive for Logos Bible Software. For one month only (August 14-September 14) we will be giving away Finally Alive for FREE! For full details on how to get your copy, visit the John Piper page and, remember, spread the word.

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If you don’t subscribe to Bible Study Magazine—or have just started—be sure to check out all of the free articles that are available at BibleStudyMagazine.com. Every month at least one new article gets posted on the Preview page.

The latest article, “Bible Study at Bat,” looks at the role of chaplains and Bible study in Major and Minor League Baseball. Past articles include

• “Does the Author of Ecclesiastes Need Prozac?”
• “Facing Today with the Book of Hebrews”
• “Choosing a Bible Translation”
• “Bible Study and Rock Music”
• “Bible Study in Hollywood”
• “NLT Study Bible”

We’ve also just launched a new Word Studies page, which features word study articles on πρωτότοκος (prototokos), נפשׁ (nephesh), and δύναμις (dunamis). If you don’t read Greek and Hebrew, don’t worry; the articles are useful for English-only Bible students as well.

• “Figuring Out the Firstborn in Colossians 1:18”
• “Soul Searching in Deuteronomy 6:5”
• “Discovering the Power of Luke’s Gospel”

Head on over to the Preview page and the Word Studies page to view the new articles.

If you’re learning a new language, mastering the most commonly used words is an essential task. Did you know that Logos makes available 24 different vocabulary lists taken from the most popular grammars to help you? We currently have 14 different Greek vocabulary lists, 7 Hebrew, 2 Aramaic, and 1 Akkadian. The best part is that all of these lists are free. Just download them and save them to C:\. . .\My Documents\Libronix DLS\VocabularyLists.

The two latest additions are the lists from Learn to Read New Testament Greek by David Alan Black and Essentials of New Testament Greek by Ray Summers. Visit our Vocabulary Lists page to download these new lists—and any of the others you’d like. You don’t have to own the corresponding resources to make use of the vocabulary lists.

Once you’ve downloaded them, you can access your new lists in Logos by going to File > Open, selecting “Vocabulary List” from the Types column, and then selecting the list of your choice from the Documents column.

With your list opened, you have the ability to add to it, edit it, and print out vocabulary cards that you can carry with you and review between classes or when you’re away from your computer.

If you’re not a fan of print vocabulary cards, you can work through the lists right in Logos. Just grab another Window and cover up the right column. Move it down after you guess the meaning for each Greek word.

Visit our Vocabulary Lists page to download the available lists.

The May–June issue of Bible Study Magazine featured an article by Elizabeth George on what it means to be a member of God’s household (pp. 19–20) based on her book Understanding Your Blessings in Christ, a study through the book of Ephesians, so we’ve teamed up with Harvest House Publishers to give away 20 copies of her book.

We’re also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of Bible Study Library.

There are four different ways to enter the giveaway, and you can increase your chance of winning by doing all of them.

Complete any or all of the following by June 30, 2009 to enter:

1. Simply fill out the entry form and click “Submit.”
2. Post a link in any of your social spheres (blog, forum, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) to www.biblestudymagazine.com/elizabeth letting people know about the giveaway. In July, we'll search through all the backlinks to the site and select winners at random.
3. Since Bible Study Magazine is published by Logos Bible Software, if you mention the giveaway and post a link to www.logos.com, we’ll search through those backlinks as well and select winners at random.
4. Subscribe to Bible Study Magazine between now and June 30, 2009, and we’ll give you two more entries.

Head over to the giveaway page at BibleStudyMagazine.com for all of the details.

For years we’ve had several quality Catholic products available, like the popular Collegeville Catholic Reference Library. You’ve asked for even more, and we’ve listened. If you follow our Pre-Pub (RSS) and Community Pricing (RSS) pages, you’ve probably noticed the many new Catholic collections now available for pre-order:

• The Catholic Encyclopedia (17 Vols.)
• Catena Aurea, by Thomas Aquinas (8 Vols.)
• Catholic Spirituality Collection (12 Vols.)
• Catholic Theology and Dogma Collection (8 Vols.)
• Collected Works of John Henry Newman (31 Vols.)
• Dogmatic Theology, by Joseph Pohle (12 Vols.)
• Douay-Rheims Bible
• G. K. Chesterton Collection (15 Vols.)
• Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler (12 Vols.)
• The Major Works of Anselm of Canterbury (4 Vols.)
• Patrologia Cursus Completus, Series Graeca, Part 1 (Vols. 1–18)
• PBI New Testament Studies Collection (11 Vols.)
• Summa Contra Gentiles, by Thomas Aquinas (4 Vols.)
• Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, English and Latin Bundle (30 Vols.)
• Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, English Only (22 Vols.)

If you haven’t already, I’d encourage you to check them out and place your pre-orders for the ones that interest you.

Catholic Product Guide

With the addition of all of these new titles, we decided it was time to build a Catholic Product Guide, which contains an exhaustive list of all of the Catholic titles we currently have for sale or pre-order. We’ll keep it up to date as we make more Catholic resources available, so be sure to bookmark it and check back regularly. You’ll find it at www.logos.com/catholic.

As always, we invite your suggestions for additional titles you’d like to see. Just email them to suggest@logos.com, and we’ll see about putting them on Pre-Pub or Community Pricing.

Free Catholic Lectionary

To kick off all of these new Catholic offerings, we’ve partnered with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to give away a new Catholic lectionary to everyone who has our Lectionary Viewer Addin, which is included in all of our Windows base packages except for the Original Languages Library. To get the new Catholic lectionary, simply run Libronix Update from the Tools menu in Libronix or run the 3.0f Auto-Update Script. You’ll find additional details and help on our Lectionaries page and in a prior blog post.

5 Free Copies of the Collegeville Catholic Reference Library, Version 2

If you appreciate these new offerings and want to see more, it’s largely up to you to make it happen! We need the help of all of our Catholic users to reach a broader audience so we can produce even more quality Catholic titles. As a thanks for helping us spread the word, we’ll be giving away 5 free copies of the Collegeville Catholic Reference Library, Version 2.

Here’s what you need to do to enter. You only need to do one, but you can do them all if you want to increase your chances of winning.

On Your Blog

1. Write about our new Catholic titles, the free Catholic lectionary, etc. on your blog and link to both the Catholic Product Guide and this blog post.
2. We’ll search for links to both and enter you in the drawing, but if you want to be sure that we don’t miss yours, provide a link to your post in the comments below or in an email to blog@logos.com with the subject “Logos Bible Software for Catholics.”

On Facebook, Twitter, etc.

1. Share the news about our new Catholic titles, the free Catholic lectionary, etc. on your favorite social networking site and link to both the Catholic Product Guide and this blog post (might be difficult to get both links in on Twitter, but we think you can do it!).
2. We’ll search for links to both and enter you in the drawing, but if you want to be sure that we don’t miss yours, provide a link to your post in the comments below or in an email to blog@logos.com with the subject “Logos Bible Software for Catholics.”

Via Email

• Send an email about our new Catholic titles, the free lectionary, etc. with the subject “Logos Bible Software for Catholics” to 5 people you know who you think would be interested and carbon copy blog@logos.com on the email.

At the end of June, we’ll pick out the five winners and send out the free copies of Collegeville Catholic Reference Library, Version 2.

The fourth issue of Bible Study Magazine is hot off the press and should be in your mailbox very shortly, if it hasn’t arrived already.

In the meantime, enjoy this preview of the May–June issue, which features a cover story about author and speaker Randy Alcorn.

By the way, don’t forget about this issue’s special promotion. We’ve partnered with Eternal Perspective Ministries to give away 40 signed copies of Randy Alcorn’s excellent book Heaven, and we’re also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of Bible Study Library. Visit www.biblestudymagazine.com/alcorn/ for all of the details.

If you’re considering subscribing, you have until June 5th to get the current issue.

In an effort to increase subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine, we were planning on giving away a free download of Money Matters by Larry Burkett as an incentive to everyone that subscribed to the magazine in the month of May. Right now the magazine is on sale for only $14.95 for a full year, and Money Matters is a $20 book, so it was a pretty good deal.

After thinking more about the tough economic times we are in, and how much this book could be of use to so many people, we just decided to give it away for free to anyone that wants it—with no strings attached.

All promotions, marketing and freebies aside, we really encourage you to subscribe to Bible Study Magazine. It has something for all levels of Bible study, and is not only receiving rave reviews from the Christian audience, but the secular as well. In fact it was just recognized as one of the top ten of all magazines launched in 2008 by Library Journal!

Check out what Library Journal says in Best of 2008: Magazines.

"The best new magazines of 2008 have in common the potential to create a devoted readership able to sustain circulation... Each succeeds in presenting distinctive and visually appealing content, in some cases with remarkably creative design. These mags demonstrate that the art of graphic design is thriving. The Best Magazines of 2008 represent a range of target audiences, from general to special interest...

...Bible Study Magazine is a serious, clearly written popular mag that uses biblical scholarship to illuminate but not refute the principal beliefs of evangelical Protestantism. Content includes interviews with well-known evangelical ministers and reports of research by religious studies professors, historians, and archaeologists. ...this colorful popular pub is to Bible studies what Scientific American is to science or Psychology Today is to psychology. A thoughtful bridge between the work of scholars and laypersons looking for a deeper understanding of biblical texts."

We would be thrilled if you would subscribe to Bible Study Magazine for just $14.95 for the entire year, but you don’t have to. No strings attached, if you want Money Matters, go ahead and take it free of charge, just follow the simple steps listed below:

Step 1 Add Money Matters to your cart.

Step 2 Enter coupon code: BIBLESTUDYMAGAZINE at checkout.

Step 3 If you’d like, click "Add to Cart" to subscribe to Bible Study Magazine.

Step 4 Proceed through checkout, and notice that whether you added Bible Study Magazine to your order or not, you will still be required to enter a valid credit card. The system will be unable to process the order for your free book without a valid credit card being entered, even though your total may be $0.00 and you won't be charged at all.

Step 5 Tell your friends, and link to this post from your blog so others can take advantage of this free gift too!

The May–June issue of Bible Study Magazine features a cover story about Randy Alcorn and how Bible study influences his everyday life as an author, speaker, and husband, so we’ve teamed up with Eternal Perspective Ministries to give away 40 signed copies of his excellent book Heaven.

We’re also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of Bible Study Library.

There are four different ways to enter the giveaway, and you can increase your chance of winning by doing all of them.

Complete any or all of the following by May 31, 2009 to enter:

1. Simply fill out the entry form and click “Submit.”
2. Post a link in any of your social spheres (blog, forum, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) to www.biblestudymagazine.com/alcorn letting people know about the giveaway. In June, we'll search through all the backlinks to the site and select winners at random.
3. Since Bible Study Magazine is published by Logos Bible Software, if you mention the giveaway and post a link to www.logos.com, we'll search through those backlinks as well and select winners at random.
4. Subscribe to Bible Study Magazine between now and May 31, 2009, and we’ll give you two more entries.

Head over to the giveaway page at BibleStudyMagazine.com for all of the details.

Last week I read some advice that a seminary student was giving to potential Logos users. It went something like this: when trying to decide whether to invest in Logos, calculate the print value of the books that you think you'd actually use and, if that amount exceeds the cost of the package from Logos, buy it. But in your calculations make sure to exclude any books that are available for free elsewhere (e.g., from Google Books or Amazon's Online Reader).

I think the first part of the advice is generally* sound, but the second part has problems. While it's often a good idea not to spend money for something you can get for free, this is not always the case. The advice above leaves out two important factors: quality and convenience.

Quality

First, the advice above is not really comparing apples with apples. The quality of Logos digital books exceeds the quality of books available at Amazon's Online Reader, Google Books, and other places on the internet.

So it may very well be worth paying money for books that are available for free online, if you want the ability to perform incredibly powerful searches, copy and paste text into papers or sermons with automatic citations, get instant access to Bible passages with a hover or a click, jump to cited books and articles, and all the other things that make Logos digital books so valuable.

So the advice would have been better if it had said, "Exclude any books that are of equal quality and available for free elsewhere." But that still doesn't quite do.

Convenience

Second, even if we were comparing apples with apples, that is, books of equal quality—or let's assume you are the rare person who doesn't need any of the benefits I mentioned above—there is value in the convenience of an integrated digital library. When your digital library is spread across multiple platforms and websites (e.g., Google Books, PDFs and Word docs on your computer, Amazon, and other places), it takes time (1) to remember where you have access to x, y, and z books and then (2) to perform multiple searches on multiple websites and desktop applications. That extra time spent can be quantified in terms of value, so it may be worth the money for the added convenience and time-saving benefit.

Let's say you use iTunes for your music library. Numerous legal sources allow you to listen to music for free online, but you have to be connected to the internet and go to the website to listen to it. You can't download it and integrate it into your digital music library in iTunes—or listen to it on your iPod. Perhaps for many songs that would be fine, but the benefit of convenience may make it worth it to purchase some music that is available for free elsewhere.

So I think we could further improve the advice by saying, "Exclude any books that are of equal quality and available for free elsewhere in a medium that offers equal convenience."

Everyone has different needs and different financial abilities, and there are definitely times when it is financially wise to be content to use good secondary tools like Google Books and Amazon's Online Reader. But if quality and convenience are important to you, it may very well be worth paying for something you can get for free elsewhere.

* However, I think you could make a case for why it might be wise to buy Logos even if the digital cost exceeded the print cost, but that is perhaps for another day and another blog post.

Do you read Russian, want to learn to read Russian, know someone who reads Russian, or just like free books (even if you can't read them :))?

Then head on over to Logos.com and check out the free Русский Синодальный Перевод (that's Russian Synodal Translation for you English-only readers), which just went up on Friday.

The RST was translated in 1876 and revised in 1956. Our edition has the Strong's numbering system integrated for the entire Bible. That means you can simply hover over a word and see the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic word in a pop-up window (if you have a dictionary with Strong's tagging like the Dictionaries of Biblical Languages w/ Semantic Domains, which are included in all of our base packages, except for Christian Home).

Those of you who have purchased from us before know the ropes. But if this is your first time, or if you just need a little refresher, then keep reading. Otherwise, just go download it and spread the word!

To purchase a book (or get a free book) from Logos.com, you'll need three things:

1. a copy of the Libronix Digital Library System installed on your PC or Mac
2. a Logos.com account with a credit card on file
3. a Libronix Customer ID that is connected to your Logos.com account

Here are the steps you need to follow to get all set up:

Step 1: Download and install Libronix for Windows. (Mac users can purchase the Mac version of the engine, or buy a Mac base package.) If you already have Libronix up and running on your computer, jump to the third step.

Step 2: Activate Libronix. When you do, you'll create a Libronix Customer ID (usually your email address, if you enter it). You can find your Libronix Customer ID by going to Help > About Libronix DLS.

Step 3: Create a Logos.com account. If you already have one, just log in.

Step 4: Make sure that your Libronix Customer ID is associated with your Logos.com account. Go to My Account, enter your Libronix Customer ID from Step 2, and click "Confirm." If it's already there, no need to do anything.

Step 5: "Buy" the Russian Synodal Translation. Go to the page and click "Add to Cart," or just add it straight to your cart from here. Proceed through the checkout process and then click "Submit Order." If you don't have a credit card on file, you'll need to enter your credit card information. Don't worry. You won't be charged. It's an unfortunate inconvenience in our current checkout system, and we hope to change it at some point.

Step 6: Unlock and download your new book. If you're on a Windows machine, just click the orange "Unlock & Download" button. If you're on a Mac, just synchronize your licenses (Tools > Library Management > Synchronize Licenses) and manually put the book file in your resources folder (Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Libronix DLS/Resources on the startup volume).

Step 7: Start using your new book! Open Libronix, open My Library, then type RST to find it. Since the title is in a different script, you'll find it all the way at the bottom. Double-click it to open it.

Enjoy!

Have any Russian-speaking friends? Let them know how they can get a Russian Bible for free!

Thanks to our friends at Northwestern Publishing House, we now have two more free Lutheran lectionaries available for everyone who owns one of our Windows base packages (excluding the Original Languages Library) or has purchased our Lectionary Viewer Addin.

• Christian Worship One Year Lectionary
• Christian Worship Three Year Lectionary (with Supplemental Lectionary)

To get them, just visit our Lutheran Lectionaries page and follow the instructions, or simply run Libronix Update (under the tools menu) from within the program. The lectionaries will appear under the "Recommended" section of the Libronix Update window that pops up. Be sure to check the appropriate boxes, and then click "Update."

Once everything is installed, you'll find these lectionaries in Libronix by going to Tools > Bible Data > Lectionary Viewer. Click on "Properties" to select which lectionary to display.

You can also easily integrate your new lectionaries into the Logos Bible Software home page by clicking "Customize View" and then checking the boxes next to "Lectionary" and any of the available lectionaries that you'd like to have appear.

Be sure to also check out the more than 100 other titles available from Northwestern Publishing House, like The People's Bible Commentary, Sermon Studies, Lutheran Confessions: Concordia Triglotta, the Franzmann Bible History Commentary, and the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly. They are all now available as individual downloads or at a huge savings in one big bundle.

For more great Lutheran resources, see our Lutheran Product Guide.

Recently we've blogged about the many ways to read the Bible in a year using tools from Logos Bible Software. Within the application, one can make custom reading plans, or you can join an online community of people reading through the same plan using either Global Bible Reader or Bible.Logos.com.

But all of these solutions currently support a 66 book canon only. If you also want to read the Apocrypha, or Deuterocanonical books, either because your faith tradition includes such books or just to learn more about the Jewish writings that appeared during the time 'between the testaments' and were read by the early Church, some additional help is needed.

So I've made a little Libronix digital book that contains a list of daily readings to cover the Apocrypha in one year. It functions just like other daily devotionals, with a link at the top to jump directly to the current day's reading. It can also be loaded into your Libronix Home Page in the devotionals section.

This reading plan covers the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican deuterocanonical materials. The 'additions' to Esther and Daniel are interspersed within and around the protocanonical portions of those books, and Ezra, Nehemiah and the last chapters of 2 Chronicles are included just before the Esdras writings to provide important context for comparison. So if using this in conjunction with one of the other Bible reading plans, you might end up reading some of the books of the Bible twice, but we think this is a high class problem.

Because of some (temporary) limitations to how the Bible data type functions, this first release of the Apocrypha Reading Plan is hard-coded to the NRSV, so we've made it free to any customer that already has the NRSV in their Libronix Digital Library. The NRSV is included in all of our base packages, and is also available à la carte.

Updated Instructions:

1. Determine the folder that contains your Libronix digital books. The default folder is C:\Program Files\Libronix DLS\Resources. If you have changed the default folder, you can see the folders your system monitors for new books by opening Libronix DLS and clicking Tools | Options | General | Resource Paths.


2. Save, do not run or open the following link to the folder that contains your Libronix digital books. Save this file to your resource path.


3. Open Libronix DLS (don't try to click on the newly downloaded file). You may see a message in the lower right-hand corner that says "Discovering Resources" - wait a few seconds for this message to go away.


4. Open My Library and type 'NRSV Apocrypha Reading Plan'. If you already own the NRSV, this will appear unlocked, otherwise it will be locked. If Libronix DLS was open when you downloaded the file, you may need to press the F5 key to refresh your My Library view, or close and re-open Libronix DLS.


5. Enjoy!

If you got a copy of the first issue of Bible Study Magazine (November-December 2008), you probably saw the super cool canon chart put together by our own Vincent Setterholm (pages 47-48). It nicely compares the Protestant, Ethiopian, Syriac, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Hebrew, and Samaritan canons and provides lots of helpful explanatory material.

More cool charts and graphs like this are coming in future issues. The January-February issue has a chart from Mike Heiser on the Ten Commandments. To be sure that you don't miss out on great content like this in the future, be sure to subscribe.

For those of you who missed the canon chart, we've made a really cool version of it available on BibleStudyMagazine.com. Check it out, and drop a mention of it on your blog if you find it helpful. Just paste the code from the code box at the bottom of the page into your blog editor.

If you prefer to have this chart in print, you can still pick up a copy of the first issue for only $2.95—or even better, get it for free! All you need to do is write a brief review of Bible Study Magazine on your blog or website or in print. Find out all the details in our previous blog post.

By the way, if you're looking for a good book on the canon, check out F. F. Bruce's The Canon of Scripture.

Oftentimes we'll get a newly licensed book that would be a perfect fit in a collection that's already up on Pre-Pub. What we end up doing most of the time is sneaking that book into a collection and giving you more content at no additional charge. Every once in a while we'll say something about it, but usually we do it without even telling you.

We usually have to raise the price after we add the new volume to cover the additional costs, but the good news is that those of you who already placed your pre-order are locked in at the lowest possible price.

We've done this several times recently, so I thought I'd call attention to them.

1. Holman Reference Collection (13 Vols.), which contains the award-winning Apologetics Study Bible, added two new books: 131 Christians Everyone Should Know and Harmony of the Gospels.
2. Studies in New Testament Greek and JSNTS Collection (17 Vols.) picked up Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics.
3. The Moody Counseling Collection (11 Vols.) now has A Gift from God: Foundational Principles of Biblical Parenting.
4. Face2face Collection (7 Vols.) got Elisha: Encountering the Messenger of Salvation.

What's the moral of the story? We do our best to reward those of you who faithfully order Pre-Pubs—and do so early.

If you don't want to miss out on little bonuses like these, make sure you're subscribed to our Pre-Pub RSS feed. This is just one of the several reasons it's a good idea to pre-order early.

Update: Two more collections just got new books!

1. A. T. Robertson Collection (15 Vols.) added Preaching and Scholarship, the inaugural lecture given at Southern Baptist Seminary in 1890.
2. Kress Biblical Studies Collection (8 Vols.) picked up Richard L. Mayhue's The Biblical Pattern for Divine Healing and Snatched Before the Storm: A Case for Pretribulationism.

bbPress is free forum software from the makers of WordPress. Though it's not as popular as some of the other options, it's looks to be a nice, simple alternative to more complicated platforms. It also has the advantage of integrating nicely with WordPress.

The latest version of bbPress, 0.9.0.2, does not allow you to edit your theme from the admin panel, and no one has developed a RefTagger plugin yet either. So to add RefTagger, you'll need to do it the old fashion way—via FTP access to your site's files.

Here's how to get it set up:

1. Navigate to your bbPress folder.
2. Open the bb-templates folder, and then open your theme's folder. The default theme is kakumei.
3. Locate footer.php and save a local copy (and a backup copy too).
4. Open the file in Dreamweaver, WordPad or your favorite code editor.
5. Scroll to the bottom and paste the customizable RefTagger code right before the </body> tag.
6. Save the file and upload it back to your server.

You're all set. RefTagger is now transforming your bbPress site.

If you're using RefTagger on your bbPress site, send us an email and let us know!

So, you haven't checked out Bible Study Magazine yet? Well, here's your chance. For a limited time, we are giving away a free review copy of Bible Study Magazine.

In order to receive your copy, all you have to do is agree to write a review of the magazine anywhere you can, in a church bulletin, ministry newsletter, blog, website, forum, or any other place that you have the opportunity to communicate with people.

So, if you'd like a free review copy, send an email to rburns@logos.com with Bible Study Magazine Review Copy Request as the subject. Also, be sure to include your mailing address so I know where to send it!

Review FAQs:

Do I have to be a blogger or journalist to get a review copy?
No. If you have any outlet for sharing a review, then we'll send you a copy. So, if you have a newsletter, church bulletin, email list, blog, website, skywriting service, or any other way to communicate with people, then you qualify.

How long does my review have to be?
Length is up to you. Obviously, if you're putting something in a church bulletin, then you're not going to have room for a full-out review. In that case, an adequate review might sound something like, "There is a great new magazine you should check out. Bible Study Magazine is an excellent resource to aid in your Bible study. More info can be found at www.BibleStudyMagazine.com." If you're a blogger, you have more room to review, so feel free to make your review as long as it needs to be.

Do I have to send you a copy of my review?
Short answer, no. However, we would love to see what you thought of the magazine. If you post your review online, drop me an email or post a comment with a link below so we can check it out. If your review appears in print, you're free to mail a copy to us. Skywriters, please send pictures!

Logos Bible Software
1313 Commercial St.
Bellingham WA 98225-4307
USA.

*Due to international shipping cost, we have to limit our reviewers to only those in the US. Sincere apologies to our international blog readers.