This Side of the Pulpit » Tech, Theology » Logos: Strike That

Logos: Strike That

September 10th, 2009 | 3 Comments

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After I wrote last week about using the Logos Bible Software, I found that I was actually dreading doing exegesis for sermons. Logos just wasn’t operating as easily as I hoped it would, and I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to make it work.

There were tons of training videos available, but they were condensed into two distinct groups: infantile basic “Bible Study” usages and overly complex morphological analysis that only crazy Seminary Profs and “Bible Scholars” would use. The really essential, mid-level type usages were only vaguely documented in the videos, and that oriented toward doing searches, not actual usage of data. There was no written documentation anywhere.

But the Logos-People (who annoyingly pronounce it “law-gaws” on the phone) generously give a 30-day return policy, so I returned it, no questions asked.

I ordered Bibleworks 8 and will write a review when it comes…

Written by Christopher Hall

Visit Christopher Hall's Website

Filed under: Tech, Theology · Tags: Bible, computers, pastor's life

3 Responses to "Logos: Strike That"

karl says:

September 11, 2009 at 8:17 am

I understand from your previous article on Logos that you had used Bibleworks for a long time previous, and so moving back to Bibleworks can be a good choice for you. But I would like to observe that there are a lot of other possibilities out there, some paid and some free. I work with The Sword Project (http://crosswire.org) which has a herd of Bible software applications, supporting Windows, Linux, MacOSX, and some PDAs. (Someone’s got a Sword app for iPhone in beta.) Our resource coverage isn’t as wide as Libronix’ — no one’s is — but there exist a good number of useful resources you might find worthwhile. The app with which I am involved, Xiphos (for Linux and Windows), actually has a manual, something you decried previously. And we have a number of maps modules, plus a direct map reference facility using BibleMap.org.

The Sword Project is not alone, of course. There are a number of free packages, some having narrow resource support, some quite wide. TheWord, BibleExplorer, e-Sword, and Theophilus are perhaps the other most-well-known names (and all Windows-centric). Please do yourself a favor and look around for other possibilities.

–Karl
Xiphos project admin

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1. Christopher Hall says:
  
  September 11, 2009 at 3:19 pm
  
  Karl–thanks for post, and for reading!
  
  I actually used GnomeSword/Xiphos on my Ubuntu machine at home for a while, but have to be honest that I still preferred Bibleworks, mostly due to ease of use. I saw a lot of value in your work, however.
  
  For my readers: listen to this guy. I think Xiphos is a good free (opensource) alternative, especially if the outlay of money for Bibleworks is prohibitive.
  
  Thanks again for your comment!
  
  Reply
Richard Borden says:

September 13, 2009 at 7:05 pm

Hi Christopher,
I am a Logos user and I recently ordered Bibleworks 8 and am waiting its arrival. I am anxious for your review of Bibleworks, especially coming off of the heals of using Logos. I have heard good things about Bibleworks and I am hoping it will simplify my bible study as well as expediting research. Please keep us posted!
Thanks,
Richard

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