Over at deinde.org, Danny Zacharias wonders whether Codex Vaticanus will ever be digitized. I really don’t know, but his question reminded me of a very exciting development undertaken by Accordance Bible Software. Now, I know we are not talking about a digitized version of the manuscript itself, but Accordance does include morphologically-tagged editions of parts of the main Greek codices, namely, Vaticanus (the whole NT except for 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Revelation), Sinaiticus (NT), Bezae (Matthew, John, Luke, Mark and Acts) and Washingtonensis (Matthew, John, Luke and Mark). All these Uncials, displayed with the proper uncial font, retain most of the features of the actual manuscripts, and can be compared and searched in almost any imaginable way. Notice in the screenshot below that a search for the lexical form πνευμα finds all the occurrences of the term, including those displayed as nomina sacra.

Again, I know this is not what Danny had in mind, but it gave me an excellent excuse to mention what I consider to be a great tool that, in many ways, is much more powerful and flexible than the kind of digitization projects I have already mentioned before. In actual fact, the availability of these electronic editions enable us to go one step further than simply using the current critical texts available in many Bible software packages.

I expect to see more exciting developments in this area in the near future.

As a follow-up to my previous post on the subject, I found out other Bible software that works on the iPhone (and iPod Touch). Again, I don’t have an iPhone to try these applications, so you are all by yourselves. You can, however, look at the websites, watch the video demos available and draw your own conclusions.

Bible App

BibleXpress

Mantis Bible Study

TouchBible

Sorry I can’t offer much more info at the moment, but this should get you started if you are looking for some Bible software for that particular device. Feel free to share your experience if you have first-hand knowledge using these applications, or if you know of others that could be added to the list. Thanks!

My list of Bloglines clippings is becoming far too long and unmanageable. I clip things for a variety of reasons. Basically because I want to blog about certain posts I’ve read, or simply because I intend to go back and reread an entry when I have more time. Problem is that I never seem to “have more time,” so the list grows and grows until it defeats its original purpose. I still keep clippings going back to 2004!

In light of all this I’ve decided to post lists of sometimes unrelated bits and pieces that have called my attention. Under the original title of “Collection of Clippings” I will be sharing every now and again links and short news that you may find worth pursuing. I’ll do my best and try to group them around some common themes. Here’s the first installment for you.

One of the things I like to see is how Bible software users actually use these tools as part of their daily devotional, study, research or teaching routine, and also how they manage to find solutions for the cross-platform issues that very frequently arise.

Thomas Keene talks about how to run BibleWorks 7 on Linux with Wine. It sort of runs, if you can live without the toolbar (there are other ways to access the program features and tools) and some pesky problem with the numerous .chm files available (Microsoft compiled HTML help files).

Mark Barnes explains how he prepares a sermon with the help of a custom Logos Bible Software workspace. Don’t miss the couple of screencasts included in the post if you happen to be a Logos user.

Tim Bulkeley shares a screencast he did to show students how to use e-Sword like an English/Hebrew concordance to see how the Hebrew term helper/help in Gen 2:18 (Strong’s number H5828) is used in the Old Testament.

This Accordance forums thread on the default Accordance layout provides many useful ideas on how to organize the program based on different uses and tastes.

There is an excellent series of video tutorials by Michael Heiser on how to use the Andersen-Forbes resources available in Libronix here, here and here. I have been following them with interest, given the potential (and also complexity) of these tools. Update (August 21): Add this one to the list.

ScriptureDirect is not only an exciting new Bible software program, but also an innovative tool. iLumina paved the way for a whole new concept of user interface which brought together different multimedia elements into one single package (a la Encyclopaedia Britannica), but now ScriptureDirect has produced a 27-minute 3D animation movie called Back to the Source, where the term multimedia takes on a whole new meaning.

Rather than simply developing a professional and flashy ad to sell the product (only the last 4 minutes of the movie actually advertize the benefits of using ScriptureDirect), they have created a most interesting short movie explaining in very visual, entertaining and clear (albeit colloquial) language the “four keys” to biblical interpretation. While the plot unravels and Phil Davidson, a private investigator wearing Indiana Jones‘ hat and carrying around Luke Skywalker‘s binoculars, is out on his search for a treasure locked away by four keys, we are exposed to such important concepts as historical and literary context, original language and semantic discourse analysis. Even the typical New Testament exegetical workflow is laid out before us (i.e., divide the passage in smaller units, translate Greek into English, mark the significant meaning indicators, establish the meaning structure, and draw conclusions & make a summary).

This engaging story can be viewed online or downloaded, and it is particularly suited to introduce the work of exegesis to general audiences. I would say it will leave no one indifferent, and if you like Sci-Fi movies you will notice certain influences from titles like Minority Report or The Matrix.

One final comment, if you are a purist or think that exegesis has to be boring in order to remain a truly academic enterprise, don’t watch it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

I used to have a lot of spam coming from the older contact form on BSR, the blog and, particularly, the forums. Everyday I would face the prospect of deleting lots and lots of messages and weeding out the valid comments. It got so bad that I decided to closed the forums until I could find a solution. But this is all old hat now!

The spam filter plugin for WordPress (Akismet) takes good care of the blog, whereas the free reCAPTCHA service blocks 100% of the spam bots elsewhere (i.e., site and forums). As a result, I don’t have to waste any time at all sorting messages or activating accounts. It’s a wonderful feeling!

Incidentally, this is one of the main reasons we don’t have a huge amount of registered users at the BSR forums yet. Those who do register are real people with a real interest in Bible software. The other reason, of course, is that we have reopened the forums just recently, and it takes time to build a community of users who get in the habit of “hanging around” and participating in the discussions on a regular basis. So, I do invite you to take a look and register. It won’t take much effort to do it (for humans, that is), and you will have a nice opportunity to interact with other users and Bible software developers. Also, keep in mind that there are some subjects you won’t find here (or, at least, not in much detail), that are dealt at some length in the forums. See this new discussion starter thread as an example.