Logos software - which package to purchase

[manito2000]

Hello everyone...I have about a $500 budget and would like to make the best decision on purchasing a Logos software package.

As a student I also have a discount which is really going to come in handy.

My concern is that I am not sure what to purchase. I was browsing today and looked at the Bronze package. I'd like to add the Tyndale commentary set and also the Bible Speaks Today series (John Stott)...any thoughts?

In a couple years I will have to take original languages and would like to have resources for that as well...

 

[christcentred]

My advice is this, don't spend loads of money on sets you don't need.

If you are desperate to get commentary sets, wait around. I got all the WBC and NICOT/NICNT commentaries at half price on a Black Friday sale. But I'd probably advise you to get on a book by book basis. The packages look attractive, but you will end up paying for hundreds of books you aren't ever going to look at.

To decide what commentaries to get check out Ligonier's list or get New Testament and Old Testament Commentary Survey by D.A. Carson and Tremper Longman III. As a tip, Tyndale and BST are aimed at the educated layman and often are quite old. Now this may be helpful to you in applying to your hearers, but on the whole they aren't going to be that helpful for sermon preparation and (especially) theological training. Bear in mind as well if you're a student you will have access to books in the library. You can buy the commentaries later in life once you've got a feel for which are helpful.

Also don't go spending tonnes of money until you know you're going to use them. Some people cannot read on a computer screen/mobile/tablet make sure that's not you. Books are a great temptation for all us theology heads, but they are still treasures of earth. We need to spend wisely.

I'm sure you will and you probably know these things being a Pastor yourself. I just want to warn you from making my mistakes.

 

[sevenzedek]

If I were you, I would purchase John Calvin's Commentary set and Hendrickson's New Testament Commentary set and then buy commentaries individually after that. That is what I am currently doing. However, you may find John Gill's set a better option than Clavin's since you appear to be a Baptist. The point is to get an affordable whole bible commentary as your base and then build your library with individual books.

Most commentary sets I have looked at are written by men of varying denominations and varying skill levels. That is why you generally don't buy whole sets without a really good reason if you are on a limited budget.

Also, do not over-look the NET bible; not for it's translation work, but for it's notes!

You can also look into e-sword for your PC. They offer many free titles including Calvin's set and I think Gill's is there too. They also offer free lexicons. Do yourself a favor and just google e-sword and see if any of their free titles interest you. Not only do I use the PC version of e-sword, I also use something similar for the iPad/iPod called "pocket sword" and it was all free to me. I hope this helps.

 

[charispistis]

I would call them. There are payment plans and you can divide everything in 18 months or so. That's what I did.

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

If I were you, I would purchase John Calvin's Commentary set and Hendrickson's New Testament Commentary set and then buy commentaries individually after that. That is what I am currently doing. However, you may find John Gill's set a better option than Calvin's since you appear to be a Baptist. The point is to get an affordable whole bible commentary as your base and then build your library with individual books.

I would second this recommendation. Getting sets of commentaries just doesn't pay off given the wide range between the authors. Better to pick and choose trusted commentators and build a library that you do not always have to second-guess.

 

[SolaScriptura]

What are you primarily wanting from a software package?

For that money you could get Bibleworks and with the leftover get some good commentaries.

 

[Shawn Mathis]

Depending on your particular proficiencies and what you want to use logos for, the cheap route is to find some older logos 3 packages (libronix) on ebay. Some give you basic stuff like Henry's commentaries, Strong's concordence or even some older greek bibles. Then you can do a more inexpensive upgrade to 5 (I think via 4 which should be free itself. My friend got 3, called to upgrade to 4).

The logos basic upgrade (the "minimal cross-grade") does not give you all the books like the bronze, but it does give you all the advanced features (like clause searches) that you don't get until the silver package. And, yes, I echo the other recommendations of sticking with one or two good full commentaries and then expanding by single volumes.