Want to quote a Bible verse without leaving your word processor using one keyboard shortcut?
Mark Ward describes two ways to do it.
Yes, it works from within Scrivener, too!
Want to quote a Bible verse without leaving your word processor using one keyboard shortcut?
Mark Ward describes two ways to do it.
Yes, it works from within Scrivener, too!
That’s 163 Logos Mobile Ed Courses in addition to I don’t know how many movies and videos on FaithLifeTV Plus.
If you’ve already signed-up you’ve been sent an invitation. Otherwise, when you get on the forum I’ll send you a personal invite.
NOTE: We’re setting up Small Groups and Churches on the Forum so they can easily find, vet, and share materials with each other. Send the details of your group so we can set you up!
Without making promises, yet, we’re also looking for video sharing options so Small Groups and Worship can be engaged from anywhere in the world!
Oh, and we have a new look that makes things easier to find, so come check us out!
Questions? e-mail Terence at tg@McGillespie.com
One year ago, I took the plunge into Logos Bible software.
I’d seen it advertised for 10 years but never understood what it was. The hundreds of books in various collections were impressive, but so what? E-books and pdf’s are ubiquitous, nowadays, and I had a dozen Bibles and a hundred other books in Olive Tree, already.
Little did I know, it’s what Logos does with the books that makes all the difference. Every book is indexed and cross-linked with every other book in your library, as well as with powerful language tools. The result is the ability to see your whole library from as many vantage points as the books you have in it.
I wish my entire library was in the Logos format!
Mmm, that’s an interesting idea …
Yes, of course it could. Much of my library is already in kindle; why couldn’t the same books be in Logos? It would be an enormous and ongoing challenge, of course. But I can’t think of a better company to do it.
There are 1575 books in my Logos library and about the same number on the shelf behind me. For space and research reasons, I no longer buy physical books. That’s why my kindle library is at 453 books and growing. Why not have all these books accessible from the Logos software “Engine”? Imagine the wonderful new tools and interactives that might be developed to view math, physics, and biology books!
Logos enables the import of books but they have to be in MS-Word format. No, thank you. Anyway, having the book in digital form is only the start of the work FaithLife does in cross-indexing books with the rest of the library.
For much of recorded history, the words Philosophy and Theology meant the same thing. Since I believe we are spiritual beings having a human experience, I find it natural to have a library (and viewing engine) built around a spiritual core. After all, the Bible was the first book run through a printing press. When you’ve got a large library to digitize, why not start there as Logos has done?
I’d like to say the software is central to my workday, but that doesn’t capture it. Logos is pervasive to my work and personal life. I may even use it continuously, depending on what I’m writing about.
Logos has a front page that resembles an online newspaper. For me, that front page has replaced the Drudge report as the first thing I read in the morning.
Other key features for me, are:
Perhaps you can see why I’d love to have my entire library in Logos format?!
Though I care deeply about the true meaning of every passage, I am, to borrow a phrase from Mike Heiser, denominationally apathetic. C.S. Lewis would describe me as a mere Christian. I would argue that such makes me a Catholic, in the true universal sense of the word, but that’s a discussion for another day.
My mere Christianity left me baffled by the denominationally tiered packages offered by Logos. After analyzing each one, at great length and with the help of a seminarian, I went with the “standard” platinum package and then supplemented with the suggestions of a seminarian friend (Thank you, Dennis!).
At the time of purchase, Logos 6 was the latest. The upgrade to version 7 was free, and I also have a Logos Now subscription. I’m not exactly sure about all the benefits of the subscription, but I don’t think FaithLife is, either. They’re trying to figure out how to roll out functionality, quickly, and still remain profitable. Adobe addressed similar challenges with a subscription model, as well.
Upon installation, I felt the inevitable overwhelm of the vast resources and tools that FaithLife has been working on since 1992. There’s no lack of Logos training available, but even that can become a source of overwhelm.
It took a year, but I’ve now gone through most of the training available. Even so, it was only last month that I started to feel a sense of competence. To achieve the same in three to six months, I’d recommend taking the training in this order:
LearnLogos.com by John Fallahee looks promising but I can’t vouch for it since I’ve not taken John’s courses. He has 40+ hours of Logos 7 training with 1000 videos.
The Psalms Explorer
Timeline Interactive
Concordance Tool (Make a concordance out of ANY book in your Library!)
You can see them all on the Logos Pro Training page.
So far, I’ve written five articles for which Logos was a key resource. One of them required knowing every New Testament reference made of the Old Testament by both Paul and Jesus. The ability to gather knowledge like that was not possible before software like Logos came along.
The exegetical summaries provide an overview of most commentaries in one place. These enable me to objectively say things like, “Most commentaries refer to X” or “Commentaries are divided on Y”.
The reverse interlinears are the equivalent of light-speed language travel for the Greek and Hebrew handicapped.
The list goes on and on:
A young couple in our church are thinking about doing missionary work in the Philippines. If they go, Logos on their laptop and tablets will enable them to travel and work without being anchored to the roomful of books they relied on in seminary.
The videos of their prospective outpost show people traveling for days, by jeep and moped, just to spend a few days with someone with a firm understanding of the Bible. Upon graduation, new pastors may, or may not, receive the treasure of a Bible, a dictionary, and a systematic theology book.
Imagine how the strategic placement of laptops and tablets with a Logos library would transform the renewal of minds in remote places in the world!
As of the coming of Jesus, the Kingdom of God is already, but not yet fully, upon us. That’s a fitting metaphor for the way I feel about Logos Software. I’m already using it to great effect, but don’t yet fully understand the software and all it can do.
Given the work that FaithLife is doing to add ever more value and insight to the texts, I suspect the “already, but not yet” paradigm will describe my relationship with the software until Kingdom come!