Cool stuff. It seems that the disambiguation of Louw-Nida is paying dividends in the form of new and more precise electronic tools. Check it out!

Accordance Bible Software was not originally designed as a digital library. However, as the number of Accordance-compatible titles has been growing exponentially over the past few years, the need to expand the hypertexting ability of the tools used by the program has become apparent. Until recently, the amplifying feature enabled one to select just about any part of a Bible, or a Tool (essentially anything that is not a biblical text), and “jump” to another resource (via the Resource palette, formerly known as the Amplify palette) to search for that particular bit of information. This is extremely flexible and powerful (see here, for example), but cross-referencing to another title available within Accordance had to be done, for the most part, in an indirect kind of way.

Bible references, footnotes, abbreviations and internal links (places where one work refers to another part of the same work) were all hyperlinked. But now, with the release of Accordance version 8, some of the more recent tools come hard coded with live links to other titles already available within the program (e.g., The Works of Flavius Josephus or Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic to English dictionaries and Index to the NIV, to name two examples) and Internet links (for mail addresses and websites). In fact, the updated Hymns tool includes links to the iTunes store!

For a short list of some of these new modules, see this blog post. But perhaps the prime example of this helpful feature is the just released Grudem’s Systematic Theology, which includes many references to classic Systematic theologies (like those of Calvin, Hodges, Strong, and so on). All of these are now hypertexted, and therefore just one click away.

Only a few of the newer modules take advantage of this feature, but as existing modules are being updated, more of these links will be implemented in due course. Note also that this kind of hypertexting is not available for user-created tools.

Jonathan Edwards’ A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections is being offered for free to celebrate the 305th anniversary of his birth and the fact that his works will soon be available in Libronix format. For more details on how to get your free copy and further discounted products, see the Logos Bible Software Blog. Do note that the offer is good for one week only.

These past few years we have seen a yearly release of QuickVerse, and 2008 will be no exception. The release of QuickVerse 2009 has been announced. Quite honestly, I’ve lost track of the many changes introduced. This is how it looks like now. As for being the “#1 Bible study software,” I wonder what that means. #1 in sales? #1 in market share? #1 in releasing a Windows version way back in Craig‘s good old times? Maybe someone could enlighten me, or is it just marketing hype?

As a Google addict, I know full well how much information this company manages. It is usually the very first page I turn to when I’m looking for any kind of information online. But what happened today was simply beyond my imagination.

I’ve been fighting this nasty cold for almost a week now, and have had to slow down on all pending projects. So this afternoon I thought I would do some research for a few blog posts and articles I have in mind. I was right in the middle of a Googling session when, all of a sudden (please forgive this little bit of self-indulgence) I saw that one of the search results linked to a Google Book Search with full details of my book on Bible software, including a generous preview and the ability to search the book!

When you consider that this book was published back in 2000, had a relatively small print run, and that it has been out of print for a while, you do wonder if in fact there is anything that Google doesn’t know…

So, if you read Spanish and want to check it out (here is the Preface in English), you can do so online now. It is badly outdated in the specific details and programs it makes reference to, but not so much in the general information it contains.