# Just got Logos - what to use, what to not use?



## tangleword (Mar 22, 2012)

I just got the Logos 4 Bible study library; mainly for use on the IPad by my wife and myself. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions of which included works I should definitely use/read, any essentials that are worth purchasing separately (hopefully inexpensive) and maybe more importantly, which included works should definitely not use (and make hidden). Specifically for my wife, she loves looking up word studies and commentaries, but feels overwhelmed by the number of them on it, and would like to not have the non-reformed, non-useful commentaries hidden. 
For background information I am being voted on to be an Elder in my OPC church Sunday, and have a smattering familiarity with Greek. Both of us love our Key-Word bibles and use commentaries fairly regularly.
Thanks for any help.


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## ch0zen (Apr 3, 2012)

From what I hear the BDAG in languages is currently the most useful, and scriptually faithful language resource. 
I'm currently sifting through to see if I should buy logos as well.... It's a shame BDAG doesn't come included until high end packages.


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## Rev. Todd Ruddell (Apr 3, 2012)

Make sure to get yourself plugged into the Community Pricing deals, and if you have any trouble or desire to learn how to do things, use the forums. Most of the questions you will have have been asked and answered. Pre-publication specials are good, but community pricing is GREAT.


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## Apologist4Him (Apr 28, 2012)

tangleword said:


> I just got the Logos 4 Bible study library; mainly for use on the IPad by my wife and myself. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions of which included works I should definitely use/read, any essentials that are worth purchasing separately (hopefully inexpensive) and maybe more importantly, which included works should definitely not use (and make hidden). Specifically for my wife, she loves looking up word studies and commentaries, but feels overwhelmed by the number of them on it, and would like to not have the non-reformed, non-useful commentaries hidden. For background information I am being voted on to be an Elder in my OPC church Sunday, and have a smattering familiarity with Greek. Both of us love our Key-Word bibles and use commentaries fairly regularly. Thanks for any help.



The best advice I can give, is to research the authors first, Wikipedia is an invaluable source for learning about different people. I have found myself going to Wikipedia time and time again to learn about this person or that person. It may be more difficult to find information about newer authors/resources, but you might be surprised how many authors and information about them can be looked up. The past couple of years I've become more familar with Puritan authors, most I had never heard of. I have used Logos/Libronix software since around 1998 (I remember working at a local Christian Bookstore and buying a Logos Thomas Nelson package of digitized books). Anyway, I recently upgraded to Logos 4, and decided on the Leader's package, and it was worth it to me, mostly because it is compatible with all the Logos/Libronix software I had accumulated, and the ability to add custom books, and last but not least the tons of puritan works available, to have them all together under one hood with links and fully searchable, printable, in nice clean easy to read text, easy to copy and paste, and nice scrolling speed, is of great value to me. So far I've accumulated the works of a couple of Puritan authors (John Howe, and David Clarkson) for cheap ($25) thanks to community pricing. Personally I will get more use out of the resources I add than the ones that came with the package deal. Some of the Calvinist/Reformed books that came with my package include: J.I. Packer's "Concise Theology", Martyn Lloyd Jones' "Great Doctrines of the Bible" in 3 vol, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Charles Hodge's "Systematic Theology", Jamison Fausett Brown Commentary, John Calvin's "Institutes", etc. I have always appreciated Bible Reference books, and the package I went with included a whole slew of them, including many excellent ones published by Broadman & Holman. Anyway, go exploring who knows what treasures you'll find!


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## rpeters (May 2, 2012)

Are you a student? Huge deals for students! Also Look at their Vyrso App they Give away about 30+ books a month not all books research, but you can catch huge deals. Logos is going to work hard to be the one stop shop for seminaries students.


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## Constantlyreforming (May 2, 2012)

I read this as 

"Just got Legos - what to use, what to not use?"



I was all ready to answer....


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## jogri17 (May 2, 2012)

Berkhof's Systematic Theology or Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics
Luther's basic theological writings (Lull)
DA Carson collection
Commentary of the NT use of the OT (carson and beale)
Baker Theology Collection
Zondervan Hermeuntic collection
Westminster Confession/Historic Creeds and Confessions/Westminster catechisms
THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL COLLECTIONS!


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## jwithnell (May 2, 2012)

That's hard to answer because those of us who have had Logos for a while were able to get many works free through E4 which is no longer involved. 

For me, the search capabilities have been the most useful feature, and that's part of the base program. I like being able to hover over a word in scripture and get the word from the original languages and then open that resource if I want more info. (Is all that included?) The ability to search the confessional standards has also been helpful. 

I've been using newer commentaries and references in the last few years and am not sure if they are even available for Logos. I also like being able to set up several translations of a scriptural passage and print them out (or view on screen) in separate, parallel columns. I found this extremely useful when doing Bible studies with others who use different translations.


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