Bible Software Review Weblog

Check out the latest article by Bible Software reviewer Ken Ristau, entitled E-Search the Scriptures.

After a few delays, the much talked-about Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible (SESB) seems to be approaching its launch date. I would not normally comment on something that hasn't been released yet, but this is an exception to the rule ;-)

We'll have ample opportunity to talk about SESB, but suffice it to say here that this is the first product that will ship with the full standard critical apparati for both BHS and NA27. At last! Now, if we could only have UBS4's critical apparatus...

UPDATE (May 5): If you want to read about SESB in German, click here. If you are wandering why we should be excited to have an electronic edition of the critical apparatus (or even what kind of animal that is), you may want to read a little bit on the subject. This Logos page gives some basic and clear information. Although it talks about another project (Tischendorf's 8th edition of the Greek NT), the gist of the article holds true for any kind of critical apparatus. For more detailed information you can check out the Critical Editions of the New Testament.

UPDATE (May 14): There is now an updated Logos page with more info on the critical apparati. Note that different spellings are used for the plural form of apparatus.

If any of you out there would like to review some of the Bible software programs available for PDA or PocketPC, please drop me a line. This is a growing market, and we hope to open a section on it soon at Bible Software Review. Thanks!

While looking for something else, I came across "What Does the Text Actually Say?", A Festschrift in Honour of Dr Richard K. Moore. It is unusual to find this kind of work online, but there it is. I mention it here because a couple of articles, by Marc Chan Chim Yuk and Tim Finney are somewhat illustrative of the place computers play in today's academic research. The Festschrift is fairly recent (2002), and some of you may find it interesting.

Jim Davila links to a BPNews article on Bible proofreaders and states: "Well, someone has to do it."

That brings to mind the vital role of proofreading digital Bibles too! I have occasionally done it as part of the beta testing process, and it is a very hard and meticulous job. Many companies are trying to digitize as many Bibles and tools as possible, as fast as possible, and as cheap as possible. This means we have more material available, but not necessarily in as good a shape as we should expect it to be. I'm afraid some religious publishers are cutting down on proofreading, and the same applies to a number of Bible software companies.

The way a printed work becomes an electronic book is quite involved. Typos creep in at different stages of the process (OCR, keying in data, tagging, running automated scripts, etc.) It may even be that the original work has typos to start with! Whatever the case, the fact is that many of the databases aren't "clean" enough for public consumption. To my mind, there is clearly a need to take more care when it comes to publishing electronic texts. There is no place for an "anything goes", sloppy attitude, and given the fact that these databases are easily recompiled, I'd like to see a widespread policy of "fixing typos ASAP", and not just the "when the next version is released" kind of thing. It is also true that many self-publishing tools are available, and, as a result of that, typos are spreading exponentially. This makes even more urgent, IMO, the need to apply a strict quality-control on the databases included in the commercial Bible software packages.

This just arrived from the Biblesoftware Yahoo Group:

BiblePresenter is a small program that allows you to project Bible verses, e.g. in your community via a projector. It can load and present multiple Bible editions, as long as those are available in Zefania-XML format. These Bibles are not part of this distribution and they need to be downloaded separately from the Zefania Sourceforge Homepage. The BiblePresenter user interface can be configured to be German or English. However, Bibles of any language can be displayed!

Sounds useful and it's free.

I read the following in the Front Matter of the new Holman Christian Standard Bible:

Advances in computer technology have opened a new door for Bible translation. The HCSB® has used computer technology and telecommunications in its creation perhaps more than any Bible translation in history. Electronic mail was used daily and sometimes hourly for communication and transmission of manuscripts. The most advanced Bible software available has been used to create and review the translation at each step in its production. A developmental copy of the HCSB® itself was used within this software program to facilitate cross-checking during the translation process -- something never done before with a Bible translation.

Please note that I am not endorsing this particular Bible, since I have not used it yet. However, I thought that the reference to Bible software was interesting and fit for this blog. The publishers seem to be reluctant to mention the name of the specific software application used, which I think is wrong. I will not reveal it just yet, maybe one of these days... ;-)

I found out about it through Hypertext and Publication in Biblical Studies, an article written by Tim Bulkeley and posted to the SBL Forum. Thank you to fellow bloggers Torrey Seland, Mark Goodacre, and Jim Davila for pointing me to the new articles.

Tim's piece is well worth reading. Here is an excerpt from his conclusion:

(...) the ubiquity of many electronic media has to date had little impact on our professional writing (...) By contrast the gradual move from text to hypertext introduces huge potential changes. The broad hypertext universes of Libronix and other Memex-like systems will enable a new and potentially more comprehensive context for writing and reading as links to reference works and journal articles become more than footnoted appendages that the reader requires significant commitment to follow. In doing this these systems mitigate, but do not solve the problem of exponentially increasing information. On the other hand the accessible hypertext of the Amos commentary, and the Hypertext Bible Commentary & Encyclopaedia project springing from it, offer a new way for the guild to address and interact with our wider public, and also suggest new forms for the ways we present our ideas to each other.

The project he refers to is the Postmodern Bible Commentary, which is defined as "Bible study online - interactive commentary for serious Bible study including over 1000 sound & picture files. The Amos commentary is the trial prototype for a series of commentaries covering the whole Bible text. Written by established scholars - a new resource for online biblical studies."

So far, the book of Amos is the only one available, but the project certainly looks promising. Check it out and you'll see how powerful hyperlinking can be, and how it can change the traditional layout of a Bible commentary.

In this article, subtitled A Dozen Problems with Internet-based Research, Robert Velarde discusses the relationship between traditional, book-based research methods and the increasing use of Internet-based research techniques. In particular, he points out a dozen problem areas we may find when trying to use the net for study and research purposes. It is a sober call for balance and realistic expectations that should help us keep focused on the pros and cons of using modern-day computer technology. As an example, here is a little bit of what he has to say on search engines:

9. Online search engines are not the be-all and end-all of research. All the world's information is not available on the Internet. I don't know that there is anything more to say on this point, as it speaks for itself. Quite simply, there is a great deal of information that is not available online. What some may term the "Googlefication" of society gives the impression that anything can be found via an online search engine. By the way, I do not mean to deride Google specifically here, but I use its searching service as an example because of its high-profile and market recognition. Google is a useful tool, when kept in perspective. As Price observes in his article noted in point three above, "I'm starting to get the feeling that for others [non-librarians], the masses so to speak, finding the answer to a question does mean simply going to one site, entering a few words, and waiting for a link to 'the answer' to magically appear."

Hum... Interesting reading if you ask me.

Sometimes it's difficult to find the right time and the right place to blog. My workload is pretty heavy, and the world of Bible software is becoming very complex. There are so many programs, so many platforms, so many... Anyway, the good news is that more reviews are under way. I think I should be able to post some new material in the next week or so. So, stay tuned! And keep sending your comments and suggestions. I really appreciate them.

Mark Goodacre comments on a short review of Accordance 6.1.2 appeared on the Biblical Studies Bulletin newsletter. The review itself is very brief and general. Perhaps we should coin another term to establish some sort of difference between Reviews and reviews. Anyway, Mark's assessment of the concluding remarks of the review ("The good news for PC owners is that a free Mac emulator is available to enable them to join the Accordance party. But there's a better way: simply get a Mac and say goodbye to computer worms and viruses!") is what caught my attention. I reproduce it here in full:

And say goodbye to a few other things too, like right-clicking your mouse! I am one of those who is always a little taken aback by the sheer passion some have for Accordance and the Mac. I can't say that I am convinced that Accordance is so obviously superior to the Gramcord PC alternative. When we bought Gramcord for Windows for use here in Birmingham, I wondered whether it would be preferable instead to purchase Accordance and get an emulator to run it, but it was not clear to me that this represented any substantial advantage over Gramcord for Windows. I feel a bit like an unbeliever looking in when I hear the Mac devotees celebrating the wonder of Accordance. It is probably something we PC users simply will never understand unless we convert. And let's face it, that's not going to happen.

Leaving aside any "platform wars", I think there are a number of facts that can be asserted with a reasonable degree of objectivity:

1. The Mac equivalent to a mouse right-click is a Control-click. Having said that, many Mac users work with a two or three-button mouse, and therefore know perfectly well what right-clicking and context menus are like. Admittedly, context menus are underused (or not used at all) in a number of Macintosh applications, Accordance being one of them. This may change quickly with the increasing popularity of Mac OS X. Whatever the case, different platforms have different ways of accessing features and menus, but they are there. You just have to change your mindset.

2. Accordance is not the only program that is "obviously" superior to Gramcord PC. Other software packages for Windows currently offer more and better features (e.g., BibleWorks or even Libronix -- despite the fact that it is only at version 2.1 in the development cycle). We'll have to wait and see what the next 32-bit incarnation of Gramcord for Windows will have to offer.

3. I'm not sure if conversion is the right word to use here, but as early as 1994, Umberto Eco, talking about the "war" between PCs and Mac computer -- which he explained in terms of a religious war --, likened the MS-DOS based IBM-compatible PCs to Protestantism (of a Calvinistic brand!) and Macintosh computers to Catholicism. Windows, he asserted, was a sort of mid-way reformation, patterned after the Anglican schism. According to his definition, I guess I am a real "syncretist", since I consistently use them all (among others!). Anyway, experience tells us that there are "conversions" (i.e., the so called switchers), and that there are also those who are happy to take the emulation track in order to see what's on the other side of the fence.

4. The key, IMO, is to have some first-hand, unbiased, exposure to what's available. That applies to Accordance and to any other Bible program. But beyond that, different applications will meet the needs of different people. Make a list of your needs (or those of your organization), and then decide based on the facts, without closing any doors a priori. Well, that's what I did, and I don't regret it!

Tim Bulkeley left a couple of comments (here and here) over the weekend, and that's how I got to know about his weblog. It is called SansBlogue, and he defines it thus: "A sort of non-blog [sans blogue = no blog] to explore blogging. I am serious [sans blague = I'm not joking] about wanting to learn blogging, because I think the project needs one." The project he refers to, of course, is the Hypertext Bible Commentary & Encyclopaedia project, which I have noted before. It is by no means a daily blog, but it may be interesting to keep an eye on it as the Postmodern Bible Commentary project develops. Welcome to the blogsphere, Tim!

Danny Zacharias over at deinde blogs about e-Sword and says: "It's always nice when you can find a decent application that is free. E-Sword is a free bible study program that is especially useful for pastors and lay people, with a very nice interface. If your looking for good bible study software that is not too technical check out the free E-Sword." I would just add that the program is more than decent. I think it's outstanding, and we will review it here in due course.

Let me say, once more, that I deeply appreciate all the feedback I get. Some correspondents send emails, while others use the commenting feature. Still others, who have their own weblog, interact with certain blog entries. That's what is all about, so keep it up!

The recent piece on Talking about Accordance for Macintosh has provoked some interesting comments. First of all, Mark Goodacre of NT Gateway Weblog, who originated the thread to start with, thinks that I made "some sensible and balanced remarks" on the subject. I take it as a compliment. This whole issue is a difficult and touchy one, and prone to become very subjective. I am not trying to be politically correct. I say what I think (but not always think what I say ;-)), and do my best to base my thinking on factual data. I agree with Mark that we should try to avoid using clichés, since they aren't very helpful at all.

Ken Ristau states, among other things, "I can absolutely say that I love Mac OSX Panther and I love Accordance. Panther really for me takes Mac over the top. I admit to preferring XP over earlier Mac OS platforms. With Panther though, Mac is definitely a place to be." I basically agree. Furthermore, most of the PC programers and vendors I know have openly told me that they don't like Windows, and that Mac OS X is better. Go figure! BTW, Ken has also written a comment for Mark Goodacre here.

Tim Bulkeley, following up on Umberto Eco's metaphor, writes this: "I'm an ignorant Calvinist by birth and upbringing, who has seldom attended mass (translation: I've used PCs since I started, and have seldom touched a Mac). My institution and my family buy PCs because years ago they offered a much cheaper route to computing and since have stuck with what we know - except for a liking for Linux as OS for the platform if only there was an equivalent for Bibleworks and for Dreamweaver. To be honest the computer is a tool and not one whose "brand" I can get worked up about (I've always wanted to end a sentence with two pronouns!) This religious war has helped one poor peasant achieve a lifelong ambition..." I like it. I suppose he means two prepositions, but we all get the point. Actually, my first computer was an Atari, so that leaves me in serious doubt as to my real identity...

Some personal reflections in closing:

1. My impression is that "passion" isn't bad (call it excitement if you will), so long as it does not blur our vision.

2. Tradition and habits should not be an obstacle. You don't have to be stuck with what you've always known. Mac OS X, Linux (and others to a smaller degree) may not be a serious commercial threat to Microsoft (yet!), but in many respects are head and shoulders above Windows, IMHO.

3. Hardware and software are simply tools. Therefore, they should serve a higher end. But because our end is so lofty, we better make sure that we choose the best tools available for the task at hand.

4. There are only a handful programs that can truly be labeled as "killer applications". These are the kind of software apps that make you switch platforms, OSes or whatever in order to use them. Each one of us has to decide what the killer applications are in the Bible software world, and act accordingly.

5. Emulation is an alternative, but sooner or later you'll have to face some decisions about the real thing!

6. PC or Mac evangelism (or any type of evangelism for that matter) should be based on facts. Stereotypes and prejudice are to be avoided at all costs, since they only show our ignorance.

The latest version of Accordance has just been released. Among the new features there are two that stand out: a huge performance improvement in the Atlas and brand new Unicode export capabilities.

I have posted an interview with Brandon Staggs, author of SwordSearcher.

Some new links have been added to the User Groups and Third-Party Reviews pages. You can keep up with the changes if you check out the What's New section on a regular basis. Oh, and I have added webcounters to all the pages. This way I'll know exactly how many of you drop by.

Over at SansBlogue, Tim Bulkeley is looking for a group of Bible scholars who are into the "doing biblical studies with a computer" business. The aim is to make some short presentations and hold a panel discussion at the next Association Internationale Bible et Informatique conference to be held later this year in Leuven (Belgium). Read the full story here.

Joe Fleener, Director of Library Services at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary, Lansdale, Pennsylvania (USA), has posted a note at the BibleWorks Users Forum where he says they are considering hosting a professor's conference and panel discussion next July under the general title "Using Exegetical Software in the Classroom".

These initiatives are becoming common place. Now, given the fact that not everybody who might be interested will be able to go to all these different meetings, I submit to you the possibility of hosting a similar online event here at Bible Software Review. If we could have four or five people willing to invest some time in sharing their professional experience on the use they make of computer technology and Bible software resources in their writing, research, or teaching, I would be happy to coordinate the team and take up questions from readers. I'm just thinking aloud really (that's what blogging is in a sense), but if you think this might be something worth pursuing and/or you would like to participate, please email me.

Ken Ristau lets me know that he has started a new blog. In his own words, "Future updates to the site will be posted here in my blog, alongside my other random thoughts on news, politics, biblical studies, Bible software, movies, etc." Welcome on board! Notice that he has also opened a forum for the discussion of these subjects.

This is from the latest Software Newsletter from Christianbook.com:

In this issue, we compare commentaries on CD-ROM vs. print. If you've ever had to conduct your research in several commentaries at once, or across multiple volumes, you know how time consuming it can be. If you've ever had to move a multi-volume set, you know how heavy and cumbersome it can be. And of course, if you've ever purchased a commentary set, you know how costly they can be.

Software is a sensible alternative. Commentary software is searchable, portable, and affordable -- saving your time, your back, and perhaps most importantly, your money.

I agree that it is indeed a "sensible alternative". As a matter of fact, in my experience commentaries are some of the most suitable tools for computer-assisted Bible study. I must confess I don't like reading books on screen. It's hard on my eyes and, besides, it takes away the romanticism of holding the "real" thing in your hands (i.e., a printed book). Also, a commentary is not the kind of book you tend to read from cover to cover. Instead, you basically turn to it to look things up, or to read some sections related to the passage under study. However, when it comes to all the introductory and critical matters (which I do enjoy reading and which can at times be quite lengthy), I miss not having the printed copy with me. I can naturally print that part of the book, but that seems to defeat the whole purpose of owning an electronic version. Yes, I also admit to not liking the idea of having to print large chunks of material. I guess you can't burn the candle at both ends ;-) Anyway, just my thoughts. Your mileage may vary.

I'm really interested in the use of online courses developed with Blackboard, Moodle or similar packages, aka Learning Management Systems (LMS) or Virtual Learning Environments (VLE). The problem is that I have never had a first-hand experience with any of them. I know that some institutions make use of these systems, but I have not found a single one of them freely accessible. If anyone out there can share some info on the subject or, better still, allow me to sneak into a biblical studies or theology class, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

This is how the website itself describes it:

The Simple Parallel Bible is a search and lookup tool that can be easily added to any PHP/MySQL website. It lets you link to multiple passages, in parallel (for side-by-side comparison) or in a list, with a single link, without leaving your website.

This can be very useful, and you don't even need to host the database locally. If you want to write a passage on your site, simply point to the external link. For instance, to open John 1:1-18 you would write this code: http://jesus.com.au/demo/bible/index.php?q=john+1.1-18. The result would be John 1:1-18. But there's more. You could also point your readers to a parallel passage, like The Parable of Salt (pericope #218 in Aland's Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum, 15th ed.) -- a list view of the same passage would look like this -- or to a Bible search for verses in the New Testament than contain the term forgiven (in this particular case it will also match "forgiveness"). Please note that the only version currently available is the World English Bible, nevertheless, it can be a useful tool.

Accordance Bible Software has a brand new website with many new features and a "metallized" look, which should be very familiar to users of Mac OS X. Incidentally, one of the recent additions I recommend is a demo of the latest 6.2 version. Good job!

Further to my entry on the Simple Parallel Bible, I found this morning that Sean Boisen of Blogos includes a post about another useful tool that can be easily added to any website. By means of little scripts called favelets you can perform Bible word searches, passage searches, dictionary searches or whatever you like. Here is a short summary of how it works (but read the whole article!):

Favelets are applets (mini applications) in javascript that run from the Favorites list in Internet Explorer: Favorites + applets = favelets. They're cool because they add functionality to your browser environment, which (let's face it) is where most of the action is these days.(...)

Because of the New Testament Names project, i'm a regular user of the word search features on the ESV website, as i look up some semi-obscure name to learn and record information about it (like Ephraim, which i initially mistook for a reference to the OT figure of the same name). But i got tired of finding the page, typing in the word, using the pull-down to select New Testament only, select just whole word matching .... click click click click click!

Favelets to the rescue! Here's how it works:

• Drag (don't click) this link to the Links section of your browsers toolbar. It will complain that it might not be safe: you'll have to decide if you trust me :-)
  
• ESV NT word search
  
• Select (highlight) a word in your browser that you want to look up (like this one: content)
  
• Click on the favelet
  
• A new browser window will open up, with the URL constructed to do a search on that word in the New Testament only, whole word matching, text only.

I have tried it myself and it works fine. Nice tip, Sean!

According to a recent press release, Moody Distance Learning Center (MDLC) and Logos Bible Software have become partners in order to develop Bible courseware on CD-ROM. AM Bible Courseware is expected to be ready this coming Fall. The list of courses that will be made available can be found here. An online demo, as well as a general overview in PDF are also available. The most relevant part of the press release reads thus:

"Many people cannot attend seminary or a Bible school, be it busy pastors, lay leaders, housewives, businesspersons, college students who want supplemental material to their current education, or those who simply consider themselves too old to attend school," said Bill Blocker, division manager of MDLC. "AM is practical, available to anyone within reach of technology, is not partial to distance or location, and will not interfere with an individual's daily responsibilities."

The combined approach -- providing Moody's proven and effective method for biblical education along with a wealth of readily-available research and study resources -- will equip learners with the knowledge and skills they need for self-directed study as they mature in their Bible study. AM incorporates quizzes and exams to gauge personal learning and comprehension. As learners complete courses and pass the exams, they will receive a certificate of completion verifying their proficiency in that particular topic of study.

"We're excited about combining Moody's expertise in distance education curriculum with our advanced digital library technology. This integrated study environment is a huge advantage to students. It boosts the quality of their experience, and direct linking between Moody's courses and our libraries provides greater assurance that learners will follow through with additional research," said John Bryant, director of special projects at Logos. "In addition, our environment doesn't require online connectivity to access materials, so learners can study anywhere and have all their materials and a complete library with them."

I personally think that taking the courseware route is a natural development of Logos' LDLS. The amount of material that is becoming available in this electronic format is quite impressive, and can be adapted to suit the needs of a variety of people in different settings. Let's remember that Internet access is not readily available to everybody, and courseware on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM can be a very valid alternative. The nice thing about it is that you can have the study materials and the reference library in the same package.

Here is another tool that can be used from a web page. It shows any given passage in 7 different translations (World English Bible, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English, Darby's Translation, King James Version, Webster's Bible, and Young's Literal Translation), with further links to 10 additional (copyrighted) versions. You just have to use the format http://bible.cc/book/chapter-verse.htm and voila! Here is an example from John 1:1. Unfortunately, you can only point to a single verse at a time. For more info on current details and future projects, including a search feature, look here.

I came across this site, where Michael Paul Johnson (at least I think he is the author), after giving a very brief overview of some of the commercial Bible software packages available, lists the features that, in his opinion, the ideal Bible software (if such an animal ever existed) should include. These are:

• Wide selection of Bible texts in many languages, including:

  * Many translations in Spanish, English, and other Latin Alphabet languages
  * Translations in languages with other alphabets and/or pictograms
  * Support for audio Bibles
  * Other living languages (all of them - over 6,000)
  * Original language texts (Greek, Hebrew)

• Good helps, including maps, dictionaries, etc.
  
• Ease of use
  
• Export capability in many formats
  
• Easy, configurable copy & paste
  
• Printing/typesetting capability
  
• Support for open standards like those on the STEP technical information page.
  
• Support for many languages
  
• Preserves poetry & prose formatting (not just a list of verses)
  
• Simple, intuitive, and powerful searches
  
• Note-taking, highlighting, and journaling features
  
• Reasonably efficient use of computer resources
  
• Configurable side-by-side translations for comparison
  
• Interlinear translation support
  
• Support for multiple computing platforms (Win32, Linux, Mac, SunOS, etc.)
  
• Freely available.

These lists are as varied as users themselves, I'm afraid. However, I see a problem in the tendency to mix up objective and subjective aspects of software. There are certain features that can easily be measured: either they are there or they are not (e.g., original language texts, highlighting, etc.) But there are others that are highly subjective. A product may seem "easy to use" to someone, and absolutely "awkward" or "clunky" to somebody else. Similarly, what's "intuitive" to me may look "cryptic" to you!

Two final observations may be in order: STEP isn't currently a "standard" in the generally accepted sense of the term, IMO, and support for multiple computing platforms is expensive and difficult to develop (unless we enter into the field of emulation or some open-source project based, for instance, on Java). But the icing to the cake is to have all of that "freely available"!

I don't mean to be critical of this particular wish list. We all have our own, I'm sure, and I think they are useful and even necessary. But this one is a good starting point to realize just how difficult it is to make a single application all things to all people. So, do you have a list of the "ideal" Bible software? Maybe you'd like to jot down a few items and features, and take into account some of the things I've pointed out here. One of the things that's coming to Bible Software Review (a mid-term goal) is the ability to take polls and surveys. You can bet that one of the first questions will have to do with this subject... Until then, feel free to post comments or send emails if you feel so inclined.