Logos Talk: The Logos Bible Software Blog

Save up to 22% on Commentaries for Grads

Elly Hagen | Wed, May 1, 2013 | Products 0

Grad Sale

Graduation is a unique milestone. It represents change and possibility; you can’t possibly plan for everything. That makes it tough to pick a graduation present that’s useful for the future.

So give your grad a gift that helps them keep learning: a commentary set.

Starting today, we’ve put three of our best-selling commentaries on sale through June 15. These commentaries will help your grad find biblical answers on their own—guidance that’s useful in any career.

1. International Critical Commentary: Save $388 with coupon code ICC13

The International Critical Commentary has long held a special place among works on the Bible. Its comprehensive, rigorous scholarship brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis: linguistic and textual, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological.

2. Tyndale Commentaries: Get 20% off with coupon code TYNDALE13

The Tyndale Commentary Series has long been a trusted resource for Bible study. Written by some of the world’s most distinguished evangelical scholars, the series offers clear, reliable, relevant exposition. Continue Reading…

The Aramaic Bible: Get the Targums in English and More

Vincent Setterholm | Tue, April 30, 2013 | Misc 2

The Aramaic Bible is coming to Logos. This is a series I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time, so the sales team asked me to answer some basic questions, like “What’s a Targum and why should I care?” and “What’s so special about this particular edition?”

What are the Targums?

The Targums are early translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. They cover the entire Hebrew Bible except Ezra–Nehemiah (probably originally one book) and Daniel, portions of which are already in Aramaic; some of the books of the Bible have several different Targums. Some follow the Hebrew text very closely, while others contain significant additions and explanations. They’re useful for textual criticism or for resolving difficult passages in the Hebrew Bible (particularly those Targums that are older or stay closer to the source material), as well as for learning the diverse ways that the ancient Jews understood their Scriptures. Quite often, when I read someone commenting on places where a New Testament author “must” have been using the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures), looking at the Targums will demonstrate that the tradition being followed may have been alive and well in synagogues without the need to reference the Greek text at all. The Targums also demonstrate the diversity of ancient Judaism, sometimes disagreeing with each other, sometimes differing in interpretation from material found in the Mishnah or the Talmuds. Some of the Targums, particularly Onqelos on the Torah and Jonathan on the Prophets, are still used extensively in Orthodox Judaism today. Continue Reading…

Save 15% on Base Packages through May 20

Conor Larkin | Mon, April 29, 2013 | Misc 0

Save on tools for better Bible study

For a limited time, you can save 15% during our Spring Sale! Just use coupon code SPRINGSALE through May 20.

Whether you’re looking to enhance your daily Bible study, craft powerful sermons, or perform research for class, there’s a base package that’s right for you. On top of hundreds of resources, Logos 5 provides smart tools that allow you to take your Bible study deeper.

Powerful features

Bible Word Study—Understand the Bible’s original nuance. Choose any word in the Bible and find its Greek or Hebrew meaning. See where a word appears in your Bible, how often it’s used, and in what context it appears.
Bible Facts—Connect the dots between biblical people, places, things, and events. Bible Facts sets you up to learn more about people, relationships, locations, and artifacts.
Timeline—Explore over 8,000 events in biblical, church, and world history. Search by keyword or time period as you study specific passages.
And more

Through May 20, save 15% on Logos 5—just use coupon code SPRINGSALE at checkout!

Get Logos 5 today.

An Interview with Tony Reinke on John Newton’s Legacy

Jayson Bradley | Mon, April 29, 2013 | Products 0

Get The Works of John Newton, vol. 1 as April’s free book of the month. But hurry—tomorrow’s the last day!

Today’s guest post is from Tony Reinke, author of Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books. Tony, a researcher, writer, and content strategist for Desiring God, lives with his wife and three children in Minneapolis.

What compelled you to begin researching John Newton?

For several years, I helped serve the pastors of a small denomination in the United States, and Newton was one of the historical men I chose to study as a way of becoming familiar with the questions and pressures of pastoral ministry. I found him very readable and relevant to the contemporary needs and challenges faced by pastors.

Newton was not theologically educated (formally), but he leveraged his biblical insight and his street smarts about the world and his own heart to all of Christian life and to his rich pastoral counsel. He is a unique voice in church history for that reason. And so I really got to know Newton over those years, and the deeper I dove into Newton’s letters, the more I loved reading his works. The more I read, the more I became impressed with the cohesion I saw in the fragments of his pastoral care. The more I began studying Newton, the more secondary sources I began to read, and the more secondary resources I read, the more clear it became how difficult of a time others have had in trying to fit Newton’s pastoral counsel together. The challenge of fitting his works together drew me in even further to his writings. Continue Reading…

Logos 5: Open Multiple Copies of a Hebrew or Greek Dictionary

Morris Proctor | Mon, April 29, 2013 | Training 0

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

As you very well know, the Bible was originally written not in English, but in Hebrew and Greek. Consequently, sometimes when we read the same English word in different places in the Bible, we’re actually reading the translations of different Hebrew or Greek words. Thus, the same English word is translating Hebrew or Greek synonyms.

For example, both James 5:14 and 15 refer to the sick, but two different Greek words appear in the original text. If you ever want to examine both words in your favorite Greek dictionary at the same time, try this Logos feature:

Open an English Bible containing the reverse interlinear option, such as the ESV, NASB, or LEB
Navigate to locations containing Hebrew or Greek synonyms being translated by the same English word, such as sick in James 5:14 and 15 (A)
Right-click on the first occurrence of the English word, such as sick in James 5:14 (B)
Select Lemma “your word” from the right-click menu (C)
Select Look up from the right-click menu (D), which opens your highest-prioritized Hebrew or Greek dictionary containing an article about your word (E)

Get 20% Off Tools for Exegesis

Aric Nesheim | Fri, April 26, 2013 | Misc 0

What’s the “right way” to interpret Scripture?

Since the emergence of biblical criticism, scholars have argued over how to interpret the Bible. Some think that the text’s meaning can be understood only when we place ourselves in the shoes of the people who wrote it (in this case, Jews living 2,000–3,000 years ago). Others think that the text’s meaning can be reached only through the divine mediation of the Holy Spirit, or some other source of direct divine authority.

From this latter camp, we often hear arguments that history simply “doesn’t matter”—that the text “speaks for itself,” and that further study about the texts’ language and context is useless at best and damaging to faith at worst. On the other hand, from those advocating “higher criticism,” we hear that the text “has no meaning” outside of its historical context—that in order to come to a consensus about the text’s truth (if such a truth even exists), we must see exactly as the writers saw.

And so the student of Scripture is torn: which of these seemingly irreconcilable approaches is right? Continue Reading…

Free Update! Tim Keller Sermon Archive

Kent Hendricks | Thu, April 25, 2013 | Products 2

Yesterday we issued a free update to the Tim Keller Sermon Archive. If you own this product, you received new sermons without having to lift a finger. Simply restart your software, and the new content should download automatically.

One of the benefits of Logos is that you always have the latest updates to all your resources. Sometimes the updates are small and under the hood. We’re guessing you don’t notice when we add links to new data types or fix a rogue typo. But the cumulative effect of these small updates is that your experience using Logos is always getting faster and better.

But other times, like this, the updates are big and substantial, and we’re delivering you piles of new content.

With Logos, you’ll always have the latest and greatest version, and your books will always be up to date.

If you don’t yet own the Tim Keller Sermon Archive, now is the perfect time to get it. You’ll get all the sermons already available today, plus free updates in the coming months as we continue to transcribe and digitize additional Keller sermons. Get it now!

New Eastern Orthodox Resources at Logos

Gabe Martini | Wed, April 24, 2013 | Misc 3

Those who are familiar with Logos know that we are committed to building the best digital library of Christian resources in the world. As part of that commitment, I am excited to introduce myself as the new product manager for Eastern Orthodox content here at Logos. My goal is to ensure that Logos has not only the widest selection but also the highest quality of Eastern Orthodox products in the digital marketplace.

The Eastern Orthodox Church has over 300 million adherents, with the majority of its faithful living in Northern Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Russia. Since the 1800s, there has been a significant increase in the number of Orthodox Christians living throughout the Western hemisphere, thanks in large part to both the missionary efforts of Russian Christians to Alaska, Canada, and the United States, and the immigration of Orthodox Christians into both North and South America from predominantly Orthodox nations.
Continue Reading…

8 Pre-Pubs You’re About to Miss Out On

Kent Hendricks | Tue, April 23, 2013 | Misc 1

There are 72 Pre-Pubs shipping in the next few weeks. We know this is a lot to keep track of, so we’ve highlighted a few of the bestselling Pre-Pubs to make sure you don’t miss out on the best prices.

The prices for all these products will be going up soon—some in just a few days. This is your last chance to pre-order these books at the best prices.

Institutes of the Christian Religion
This is the authoritative translation of Calvin’s Institutes. Not only is it the academic standard, but it’s also the most readable and accessible. It’s $69.95 after it ships, but you can pre-order it for $49.95 right now.
Understanding the Bible Commentary Series: Old Testament
This is the New International Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, under a new publisher and a new name. Contributors include John Goldingay, Tremper Longman, Elizabeth Achtemeier, and other prominent scholars. The New Testament counterpart has been one of our bestselling commentary sets; don’t miss your chance to get the Old Testament volumes at a nice discount. The regular price is $239.95 for the set, but you can pre-order it for a little while longer for only $179.95.

Save Now on the Augsburg Fortress Ethics Collection

Jayson Bradley | Tue, April 23, 2013 | Misc 0

The need to apply biblical principles to the significant social and cultural issues of the day is one reason good scriptural interpretation is important. With the nine-volume Augsburg Fortress Ethics Collection, you’ll see how a diverse collection of noted scholars tackle serious issues like sexual ethics, war and nonviolence, global concerns, racism, and more.