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PREACHING SKILLSBible Software ReviewA survey of five major Bible software programsLee Eclov
I keep shaking my head in amazement. I've been examining five major Bible study software packages and am astonished at what these new tools will do. They're not all alike. Some work better than others. They're not cheap, but they are all fascinating. And they can change and improve the way pastors study for preaching and teaching.
If you don't use Bible software to study—even if you are using software that is five years old—you can't imagine what you're missing. The ease of use, the sophisticated procedures, and the vast array of additional resources put today's generation of software in a different league.
If you don't use Bible software to study—even if you are using software that is five years old—you can't imagine what you're missing.
In this article I will focus on these five software programs, all being the most recent versions:
- Biblesoft's PC Study Bible Version 5 (Professional Reference Library)
- BibleWorks 7
- Logos Bible Software 3 (Scholar's Library: Gold)
- QuickVerse 2008 (Platinum Edition)
- Zondervan's The Teacher's and Pastor's Library 6.0 for Windows (Pradis-based)
There are many other Bible software packages. One good place to browse through all of them is at www.bitsbytescomputer.com, an online source of "trustworthy tools for biblical studies." For this project I enlisted the help of several seminary students and pastors. Some use study software all the time; others almost never. Some are skilled in biblical languages; some are not. Some are very computer savvy; others not so much. Our purpose was to consider how these various software packages would help average pastors do their work.
Bible software provides help in two ways. First, these programs help you study the text of Scripture using various translations, Greek and Hebrew resources, and cross-references. Second, they provide a digital library of books and resources in easy-to-search forms to vastly expand your study and personal growth. I will compare the various ways these programs help you study the Scripture directly. Then I will provide more information about the libraries you can acquire. Finally, I'll spell out the costs and offer some suggestions.
Benefit #1: Studying the text of Scripture
For old school guys like me, throwing away books is akin to trashing a flag. But if you have any of these software packages, you might as well clear out your Strong's and Young's concordances and all those other behemoth reference works that list every use of this-or-that in the Bible. In each software package, you can find any word, or group of words, in any order, in multiple Bible translations or the original languages. But that's old news. Bible software has been doing that for a long time. Here's what's new:
Multiple versions: The programs all provide many different translations and paraphrases. BibleWorks also provides the Bible in dozens of other modern languages. All the packages tend to puff up their list of Bible translations with a few versions you probably wouldn't bother having on your shelf. Surprisingly, QuickVerse does not provide the NIV in their Platinum edition, though they're happy to sell you an add-on of the NIV, TNIV, and NIrV for $40.
Various Greek, Hebrew, and English versions can be displayed in parallel fashion, as many or as few as you want to see. It is easy to cut and paste from them into other programs. Two programs—Biblesoft's PC Study Bible and Logos—provide especially quick and ingenious tools for pasting biblical text into other documents, like MS Word.
Searches: You don't really need these packages to do English word searches. You can do that in several translations for free at various Internet sites. Where these programs are really valuable is in tracking, for example, all the uses of certain Greek or Hebrew words or phrases in the Bible. Even if you do not know the languages, you can still use the tools. Two of the packages—BibleWorks and Logos—do far more than simple word searches in the original languages.
What these two programs do is astonishing. They don't do the same thing, and space does not allow me to spell out the intricacies of their systems (and they are intricate). Each allows you to search for a particular kind of grammatical construction, regardless of the word. In fact, each has a long list of the various ways you can search and the kinds of things you can search for. In Logos, for example, you could look for every verse where the Holy Spirit communicates in any way—speaking, announcing, or calling. Logos and Biblesoft have numerous training video clips at their websites that show how various features work. This is a feature I wish the others had. It helps you see what you would be getting for your money.
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