Bible Study Software

Asry

Evening y'all.


I've been trawling around the internet, and while there seems to be an abundance of bible study software available, which one is any good? Logos seems pretty complete but maaannnnnn it's expensive.

Any suggestions?

AhSureTisGrand

I wonder if it's justifiable to pirate bible study software on the grounds that they shouldn't be making money out of it in the first place?

Asry

ha! yes! stealing from the rich and giving to the Asry.

It has a nice ring to it. :rolleyes:

Donatello

I think the best thing to do is forget software - just get yourself a good Catholic Bible and a Catholic Bible commentary.

Asry

But how do you know which one's good? I have a standard bible commentary but I feel I'm more at the intermediate level now. [or wish I was, anyway]


...how dorky am I that I'm now imagining me running around grinding a Jesus-related MMO and lvling up to the sound of the Hallelujah chorus...:cool:

Donatello

Asry wrote: »

But how do you know which one's good? I have a standard bible commentary but I feel I'm more at the intermediate level now. [or wish I was, anyway]

...how dorky am I that I'm now imagining me running around grinding a Jesus-related MMO and lvling up to the sound of the Hallelujah chorus...:cool:

This might help, it talks about Logos: http://www.catholic-convert.com/resources/recommended/software/

You (I'm assuming you are Catholic) need to buy a Bible commentary book from a good Catholic publisher.

Take a look at this: http://www.catholicfamilycatalog.com/catholic-software.htm

Quo Vadis

Asry wrote: »

But how do you know which one's good? I have a standard bible commentary but I feel I'm more at the intermediate level now. [or wish I was, anyway]


...how dorky am I that I'm now imagining me running around grinding a Jesus-related MMO and lvling up to the sound of the Hallelujah chorus...:cool:

This one is supposed to be first rate by all accounts

http://www.amazon.com/Ignatius-Catholic-Study-Bible-Testament/dp/1586172506

kippy

Bible Study software?
I am way way out of the loop on so many levels.

Asry

kippy wrote: »

Bible Study software?
I am way way out of the loop on so many levels.

nah, maybe you're way in the loop for not wanting something dorky like this
I just want to study the Bible in depth, but I don't want to have to actually talk to or be in the physical presence of other people to do it.

Asry

Also, the article on logos and then the different book suggestions are pretty damn good.

I have this one from years ago. I haven't looked at it in quite a while, actually. I found it really helpful in ordering the chronology of the Bible in my mind, and in getting the socio-political context of the texts themselves in place.

kippy

Asry wrote: »

nah, maybe you're way in the loop for not wanting something dorky like this
I just want to study the Bible in depth, but I don't want to have to actually talk to or be in the physical presence of other people to do it.

I.Dont.Get.It
On so many levels........
What does this software do?
Sorry, I actually am very curios here.

Asry

kippy wrote: »

I.Dont.Get.It
On so many levels........
What does this software do?
Sorry, I actually am very curios here.

I don't really know yet, to be honest I haven't got it! But the only other study software I've ever used was language software so...judging by that, I'd say that there would be different ways of learning different things...em...yeah I have no idea, I'm just thinking back to Irish class in school again.

So at a loss, I went and googled 'study software', and good ole Wikipedia comes up trumps again: STUDY SOFTWARE.

According to that, here's the benefits and the barriers of it:

Benefits that the various types of study software might confer include various mixtures of:
Offers variety of different information together (picture, sound, music, diagram, ...)
Improved access to variety of information - see databases
Makes making notes efficient (tablet friendly 'Microsoft ink functionality', speech recognition)
Notes are (made to be) easy to remember - colors, pictures, diagrams or mindmapping
Use of hypertext to connect related information
Testing, reviews and tracking of knowledge - 'spacing effect'

Barriers to the use of study software include:
Requires a computer and / or Internet access, which might not be available.
Some level of skill in typing on keyboard might be needed. This might slow down learning. There are typing tutors; speech and gesture recognition
Learning and knowledge is undermined by schools, which use lot of cramming. This results in students not eager to learn how to learn efficiently.
Programs don't communicate together as they could (see Unix philosophy). Selfcontained programs either don't offer enough features (e.g. calculation of the spacing effect to learn faster) or offer more than they should (Software bloat).
Content might differ significantly in different countries.

kippy

Asry wrote: »

I don't really know yet, to be honest I haven't got it! But the only other study software I've ever used was language software so...judging by that, I'd say that there would be different ways of learning different things...em...yeah I have no idea, I'm just thinking back to Irish class in school again.

So at a loss, I went and googled 'study software', and good ole Wikipedia comes up trumps again: STUDY SOFTWARE.

One would have to this about this:
There is a major difference between having to study something for an exam (and in essence requiring to know the material required to pass or excel in the exam) and wanting to study something "in depth".
I would suggest it is very difficult to do the later with software, unless that software is essentially a piece of software that presents you with all pages of every book of the bible which you can bookmark when required.
I could be completely wrong on that, I dont know what your aims are.

Asry

No, like, I have my own bible(s) already. I need supplementary material. Commentaries, arguments, stances, bibliographies of extra reading...the complete works of St Augustine, even! {I love St Augustine more than loads of things!...here let's stick a picture of him in here just for kicks}

I have a standard commentary already, that I cited above, that leads you through the general context and layout of the books in the Bible. But now I want more.

It's not about exams, no. I can't see me ever having anything to do with exams again...unless I'll be the one correcting them {which in fairness could happen but not today or tomorrow, and certainly not related to the Bible:(}.

philologos

Personally I use Logos because I thought it was worth the expense and I value very much their contribution to applying software solutions to the Bible, but there are plenty of open source free alternatives such as Xiphos and others.

Asry

I was wondering if anyone would know if the free ones are good?

philologos

I think Xiphos is quite good personally. I use it when I would boot into Linux. If you want some of the benefits of Logos without the financial cost, I'd suggest trying Biblia.com it has commentaries and the Biblical texts in a number of translations for free.