Bible Software Series X: Original Languages Library.

For Microsoft Windows 98/98SE/Me/NT 4.0/2000-/XP; Pentium 133MHz (300MHz recommended); 64 MB RAM (128 MB recommended for 2000/XP); 60 MB hard drive space; CD-ROM drive; screen resolution: 800x600 or larger. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 2002. $399.95.

Logos Research Systems has issued a major software upgrade with its LOGOS BIBLE SOFTWARE SERIES X. The program comes in several different configurations; all versions are built in modular fashion through the LIBRONIX DIGITAL LIBRARY SYSTEM (LIBRONIX DLS). Of these, the Original Languages Library (OLL) is directed to the biblical scholar. (The Scholar's Library [$599.95] seems more suitable for evangelical ministers, Christian educators, or the home-schooling market, including many older or evangelical publications and even a section devoted to "Home School and Christian Education" [with, e.g., several items defending creationism].)

Contents: The Logos OLL package comes with quick start guide, 5 CDs, and an instruction CD. There is no printed reference manual, but in addition to instruction CD there is substantial on-line help (local and at the Logos website). After an automatic installation, clicking on "My Library" shows what has been unlocked and is available for use (preview list at http://www.logos.com/products/), what is on the 5 CDs that has not been unlocked but is available if a license fee is paid, and what is currently available generally for Libronix System.

When the package is initially installed, biblical translations, Greek and Hebrew texts, dictionaries, and other research tools are unlocked. Out of the box, Logos OLL has a decidedly conservative cast, especially in respect to default Bible translations (New American Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, King James and New King James Versions, International Standard Version New Testament, Wuest's Expanded New Testament) and the publishing houses of its standard reference works.

Biblical language texts include Nestle-Aland 27th edition, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, and Rahlfs Septuagint, (without scholarly apparatuses, but these will soon be available because Logos Research Systems/Libronix has been chosen by the German Bible Society as basis for the Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible CD-ROM.) Logos OLL also gives student or scholar access to older editions of the Greek New Testament, including Stephanus (1550), Westcott-Hort (1881), and Tischendorf (all without apparatuses).

Default dictionaries include the older BDB, Louw-Nida, Kittel-Friedrich-Bromiley TDNT, and the Liddell-Scott Intermediate Dictionary. Grammatical study aids for both Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek are available (Gramcord morphology included).

Some useful scholarly resources come standard or can be unlocked from the original CDs. For instance, John Bright's A History of Israel or Avraham Negev's THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HOLY LAND will interest the critical historical student of the Bible. However, sometimes these resources are not current editions (Harper's Bible Dictionary first edition [1985]; The JEROME BIBLICAL COMMENTARY first edition [1968]). Commentaries in the package tend to come from conservative or evangelical presses (IVP, Multnomah Press) or conservative authors (William Barclay, I. H. Marshall, F. F. Bruce). The user has the option of adding the Logos Bible Atlas ($45), which is then seamlessly integrated and demonstrates the graphical power of the software. Works of theological or cultural interest are also accessible: All the volumes of the Ante-Nicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers; Milton's PARADISE LOST; Luther's 95 Theses; Calvin's Institutes; THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS; even the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Increasingly, publishers are offering new works in both print and Libronix editions. For instance, the Logos OLL includes (for an unlock fee) B. Malina and S. Joubert's A TIME TRAVEL TO THE WORLD OF JESUS (Halfway House: Orion, 1997, c1996). Other biblical and scholarly works available at the present time: THE ANCHOR BIBLE DICTIONARY ($230), Revised Standard Version, Tanakh, Harper's Bible Dictionary ($30), Bauer-Danker ($125), and Koehler-Baumgartner-Stamm HALOT ($160). Recently, Fortress Press has issued in Libronix format K. C. Hanson and D. E. Oakman, Palestine in the Time of Jesus (1998) and N. Gottwald, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (1985). The Biblical Archaeology Society has put BAR articles and photos in Libronix format. The interested reader can ascertain what is available at the moment through the Logos System's website: http://www.logos.com/ebooks/. The Logos Bible Software also permits easy purchase of available library items through the internet, and checks for updates to the software system as well.

Operation: The Libronix Digital Library System, the basic software engine and organizing metaphor for Logos Bible Software, is intuitive and easy to use. The standard tool menu easily allows straightforward access to the library contents, search facilities, and notating services. All library items are listed through a main author, title, and subject index. The Library System operates much like web pages. Opening a library item takes the user to a separate window; many such windows can be open at once, and are linkable and navigable through several methods. The power of hypertext linking and text markup is everywhere apparent.

Concording of texts can be done in several ways through routines built into the Libronix DLS. Basic search routines include parallel versions (shown side-by-side) or passage in a variety of versions. The "Exegetical Guide" will parse a passage and link various scholarly tools to each word in the passage. The "Lemma Report" will show a Greek or Hebrew word in all forms throughout a range of biblical works. Greek and Hebrew keyboards allow typing words for the search. The program provides facilities to copy text easily into Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect.

All texts in the library may be annotated with personal notes. This capability is very powerful and useful. For instance, notes may be attached to user-selected texts in the library, nested, kept in a variety of colors, and flagged with a variety of insignia to indicate significance. Also, notes may be easily searched for rapid access. The program will also generate customized or comprehensive bibliographies of reference works in the system.

Besides the standard English, Logos OLL provides Greek and Hebrew keyboards with two key-mappings BBLLS and Microsoft Windows. I have always preferred the old Scripture Fonts keyboard, and even developed my own version for WordPerfect for Windows. The LLS version is close and more intuitive, but the Microsoft Windows version is not (especially for Hebrew, e.g., >a= for shin, >s= for daleth!). As far as I can determine, the user may not customize the keyboards further. Greek and Hebrew searches (e.g., in the "Lemma Report" function) do not need to be slavishly precise in accents or pointing to achieve helpful results.

Some other comparisons are useful. I have been a user of Silver Mountain Software's Bible Windows for a number of years. (The Silver Classical Library contains many of the same public-domain texts as Logos OLL. Indeed, Josephus and the Church Fathers are freely available on the internet.) I like Bible Windows and probably will continue to use it for some things in preference to Logos Bible Software. Bible Windows, for instance, gives the user additional facilities for building special-purpose concordances. I also like its Awindow locking@ feature, which allows the user to see English translation in one window and Greek or Hebrew in another. Both may be locked and then scroll in unison. Logos does this in a way with its AParallel Bible Versions,@ but additional steps are needed to move to the morphological analysis. Bible Windows 7.0 is now available for $195.00 (http://www.silvermnt.com/). Another major program for biblical studies is Bible Works 5 ($299.95), preferred by many professional biblical scholars. I have not used this software, but a clear description is available at the Bible Works website: http://www.bibleworks.com/order.html. If the reader is planning to buy software for biblical studies for the first time or is considering switching to another program, the reviewer suggests a careful comparison of costs (including assessment of what is included with the initial purchase plus costs of additions), user interfaces, and basic purposes for use of the software. In Bible software programs, as in scholarship generally, caveat utens et emptor!

To sum up: Logos OLL needs to be customized at additional cost to provide a full array of critical, up-to-date biblical studies tools. However, the Libronix Digital Library System places very powerful facilities at the user=s fingertips for such customizing. Increasingly, publishers are making books of all kinds available in the Libronix format, and exciting new titles for the study of the biblical world are in the works. This makes the Logos package a strong contender in the biblical studies software field.

This reviewer encountered problems, though, in copying to WordPerfect 9. Some composite Greek characters were dropped out and replaced by spaces, and pointed Hebrew characters were not produced correctly.

Douglas E. Oakman

Pacific Lutheran University 

Tacoma, WA 98447