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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Computer-based tools for Scriptures
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The Silent Acolyte
Shipmate
# 1158
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Posted
What are your favorite computer-based tools for wrestling with scripture, especially the Greek NT? What are their strengths? Their weaknesses? Their biases?
Which are the good free ones? Which ones, though costly, are worth the investment?
Which ones are open? Well-maintained, with reasonable support costs and upgrade cycles?
I rely on my stack of dictionaries: Newman's, the Liddell's of the baby-bear and momma-bear sizes, BDAG, Brunner, Zerwick, and Louw & Nida in a pinch.
But, that all feels distinctly old-school and I'm itching for something I can drive with a keyboard and mouse.
Besides Biblegateway & the evangelically biased net.bible.org, what is there?
Posts: 7462 | From: The New World | Registered: Aug 2001
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
One of the best resources is Bible Hub. It's fantastic for side-by-side comparison between translations as well as having interlinear texts and Strong's referencing.
The downside is that's not as good as Bible Gateway for looking at whole passages; it's much more verse-by-verse.
One can also find a wide variety of bibles and commentaries at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Demas
Ship's Deserter
# 24
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Posted
For the paid stuff, I have Accordance which is fabulous. There are other systems but I don't have personal experience with them. Accordance will cost more the more resources you buy for it. I have it on my Mac, iPhone and PC and they all sync notes,library etc. Start packs aren't too expensive depending on available money. Warning: it is easy to buy just one more thing...
For free, Crosswire's Sword Project probably has the widest available set of free materials and open source software. You won't get a digital BDAG or HALOT for free though.
You can read most modern translations online for free, either through Bible Gateway or one of the newer sites like YouVersion.com which also has an iPhone version.
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They did not appear very religious; that is, they were not melancholy; and I therefore suspected they had not much piety - Life of Rev John Murray
Posts: 1894 | From: Thessalonica | Registered: May 2004
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Jammy Dodger
Half jam, half biscuit
# 17872
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Posted
I usually refer to Blue Letter Bible as a quick way of checking out the Greek for a verse.
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Look at my eye twitching - Donkey from Shrek
Posts: 438 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2013
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Bostonman
Shipmate
# 17108
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Posted
Accordance, absolutely. It's not so much the texts themselves as a) the complete morphological tagging of the Greek NT as well as a huge variety of Greek Fathers and other texts, and b) running texts in parallel with one another, with a dictionary in another pane. It's too much of a crutch for beginners, but once you're far enough along, it can speed up your ability to read big chunks of text and internalize a lot of forms and rules.
I guess this is true of Logos, Olive Tree, eSword, etc. but I can't speak to them. Accordance is often recognized as the best for Mac though.
Posts: 424 | From: USA | Registered: May 2012
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Nigel M
Shipmate
# 11256
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Posted
I rely a fair bit on Logos, mainly because it was the first platform I opted for when moving (or trying to move) off reliance on hard copy books and onto the digital equivalents. Building a library there, of course, costs money, so I limit things to the base resources such as the Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek texts, lexicons, a few commentaries.
Online working is more convenient; it harnesses the power of search engines and linked resources, and can be cheaper than buying hard copies of books (unless you buy second-hand). Some downsides - Logos for example is constrained by the publishing houses, so although I might want to acquire a commentary from a set (you know how it is - perhaps just one or two by the eminences in any particular series or collection is worth buying) and can do so with hard copies, some publishers will not allow Logos to split their digitised commentary set up. You have to buy the lot just in order to read the one.
There are some great free resources on the web. The Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek texts are free to view from the German Bible Society, though not with the critical apparatus. Filthy lucre has to pass hands for that.
As always with modern technology and human resource, there is a better version just round the corner. That's why some people never buy a new computer - let's wait a few months... I'm waiting on the (hopefully online) publication of a biblical dictionary organised according to semantic domains, rather than the more traditional lexicon. One project for this is already up and running under the auspices of the United Bible Society and some test pages can be found here.
I'm not sure God can speak through a lexicon, but he just might through that.
Posts: 2826 | From: London, UK | Registered: Apr 2006
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BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Nigel M:
I'm waiting on the (hopefully online) publication of a biblical dictionary organised according to semantic domains, rather than the more traditional lexicon. One project for this is already up and running under the auspices of the United Bible Society and some test pages can be found here.
Wow. That's seriously cool.
I'm a committed Accordance user. When I started using computer tools it was the only thing available for the Mac platform - though they also have Windows and iOS versions. I have also found the staff very helpful in finding the most economical ways for me to get what I want. This was especially true a year or two ago a when I was upgrading after a long period with an old computer where it had not been possible.
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005
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k-mann
Shipmate
# 8490
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Posted
I also recommend Accordance. Logos has also become better and better.
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"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt."
— Paul Tillich
Katolikken
Posts: 1314 | From: Norway | Registered: Sep 2004
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by k-mann:
I also recommend Accordance. Logos has also become better and better.
Logos has a Roman Catholic version called Verbum as well. It collects texts of interests for RCs (magisterium, Church fathers, ...), has RC bibles, etc.
Personally, I find the prices for all these tools fairly outrageous. I am prepare to pay about £30-50 for the analysis software and then roughly one tenth of what they are currently asking for concerning the collections. These prices are being justified by comparison to what an equivalent paper library would cost. Well, sorry, but that is just nonsense. The (re)production of electronic material is just incomparably cheaper. Of course, the same complaint could be raised about e-books in general. I expect at some point prices will come down drastically for e-texts, in particular for older material. Till then I'm not prepared to invest into these tools.
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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
I'll probably be investing in some of this in a year or so. I found this blog post very useful in helping me think through some of the options. It basically answers your question with a question: Why do you want Bible software? From its description, I may well be investing in Bibleworks, but we'll see.
For free stuff, I use Lumina pretty heavily right now.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Stejjie
Shipmate
# 13941
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by IngoB:
Personally, I find the prices for all these tools fairly outrageous. I am prepare to pay about £30-50 for the analysis software and then roughly one tenth of what they are currently asking for concerning the collections. These prices are being justified by comparison to what an equivalent paper library would cost. Well, sorry, but that is just nonsense. The (re)production of electronic material is just incomparably cheaper. Of course, the same complaint could be raised about e-books in general. I expect at some point prices will come down drastically for e-texts, in particular for older material. Till then I'm not prepared to invest into these tools.
+1 from me, although for "not prepared to invest" read "can't afford to invest". All of these paid-for tools look seriously useful and comprehensive, but I simply cannot afford them. And none of the free tools look to have the same features as these ones, which is a shame (though understandable).
![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif)
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A not particularly-alt-worshippy, fairly mainstream, mildly evangelical, vaguely post-modern-ish Baptist
Posts: 1117 | From: Urmston, Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2008
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Ohfergoshsakes. ![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif) Look, I worked in publishing, we did both kinds (academic books AND estuff). The price is the same (or close) because the cost of development is the same. The author, editor, copyeditor/fact-checker, proofreader, layout designer/coder--all these people need to eat. That doesn't change because we stop killing trees to make your resource. Oh, and throw in marketing, the poor sad creatures. They too need to eat to do their jobs. Plus you need to keep the lights on, the electricity flowing, and a certain modicum of heat in the building.
Paper and distribution is the least of the costs, it always has been. You can take it out of the equation, but you are going to make up for it by dealing with e-stuff specific costs, including de-fuckifying code after conversion into various media.
That is all.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636
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Posted
And the packaged version of any given text isn't just a download of the printed text, but something that has been extensively worked over to make it machine readable with tags, links, cross-links etc. so that it is a genuinely useful tool taking advantage of the other tools in the suite and the capabilities of the computer.
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005
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