As a freelance translator and writer of sorts, I have frequently been paid for my work. However, I have never accepted to write a paid or a sponsored Bible software review. I’m not saying I have been offered money in order to write a favorable review of a certain product. In fact, this has never been the case. What I am saying is that I would never allow this to happen. The same goes for humongous amounts of complimentary copies, unlocks or whatever. I like to call a spade a spade. If I see something I like, I rave about it. If I find something I dislike, I point it out. If someone doesn’t like what I say, tough. Remember, I am not above criticism myself, and there are certainly many areas where subjective assessments do not necessarily coincide. That’s where comments, feedback, civil and reasoned rebuttals, etc. have their place. You will find that there are many different ways you can express your opinions here at Bible Software Review. But I digress.

In recent times I’ve heard individuals from different walks of life say how important it is that bloggers speak in positive terms about people, products and services. A good comment can help a lot — they say –, while a bad remark can cause quite a bit of damage. Last person I’ve seen write on this whole issue is Michael S. Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, in his excellent post on Defending Your Brand Online. What he says is also applicable to Bible software companies and developers.

But how much influence do bloggers really have? I suppose the question boils down to the actual number of people who read what you have to say. I don’t know about others, but I am very happy with the faithful crowd who read BSR (and the fact that is ranked number one in search engines like Google, Yahoo, Lycos or MSN — just type bible software review, no need to use quotes), and whenever I write, I feel responsible for my recommendations and criticisms. I always want to do my best to be impartial and fair. After all, what’s good is good, no matter who says it, and what’s subpar, unclear or simply doesn’t work, needs to be exposed, with respect and in a constructive manner, but firmly. But blogs are interactive by its very nature, so comments can also have an immediate effect, as shown by this recent example. All in all, the “viral” spreading of news that takes place today over the net does have an impact to one degree or another.

So, next time you hear me praise some feature, you can be absolutely sure that I love it. Conversely, when I complain about the lack of communication from this company or that individual, or how awkward a particular implementation is, I really mean it. Whether or not this affects companies in a real way, as Michael says in his post, I don’t know for sure. I do not feel that important, to be honest. One thing I do know, though. I am committed to carrying out this task, and in the final run both users and companies will benefit from it. As we read in Proverbs 27:17a, “Iron sharpens iron.”

There is something about Bible Software Review that makes people want to have their software reviewed here. Several times I’ve even had to make clear that we are only interested in Bible software and related programs (you’d be surprised at the requests I get from time to time). This is really exciting, and I feel very honored. Unfortunately, I have to apologize for the long delay in getting out some of these reviews. This is still very much a one-person effort, much to my chagrin, and it’s difficult to keep up. I need more reviewers! There is so much more that could be done if there were more of us involved! But I digress again, though not entirely.

Coming back to the matter of influence, my personal policy is to link as much as possible, to as many products as possible, when I feel it’s relevant. This is good to help Bible software get more exposure and publicity, particularly in the case of small companies or less well-known applications. I don’t do link exchanges or things like that. Paid ads are another story. Those are not only beneficial to the company that hires them, but they also help me pay the increasing costs of hosting and other site-related expenses.

So, if you want to have your product reviewed, or wish to place an ad on this site (or blog, or forum), by all means get in touch, with the understanding that this is not going to change one bit my perception of the software The better it is, the more likely it will receive a rave review. And if you made a request a long time ago, don’t dispair. I have flagged all those messages and will eventually be getting back to you.

I’m not sure I have answered the original question of this post, but at least I hope I have contributed to what I consider to be an interesting and worthwhile discussion.

Peter M. Head’s discussion on Luke’s Genealogy: how many names? over at the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog, provides a nice test case that comes to prove my previous point on the importance of digitizing Greek codices. He observes the many variants that appear in the extant manuscripts and codices, and the widely differing number of names that appear in Luke 3:23-38, depending on which witness we read.

Peter quotes Irenaeus, who apparently knew a text of Luke’s Gospel containing 72 names, and adds:

But I can’t locate a manuscript reflecting that number, although there are lots of possibilities: e.g. Bezae has 65 names; 1071 has 73 names; Vaticanus has 76 names; Sinaiticus has 77 names; Alexandrinus has 74 names (W and 579 omit the whole thing).

Apart from the two minuscules he cites (1071 and 579, which are collated, among many others, in the CNTTS Apparatus, but have no morphological tagging), I was able to check the other witnesses (except for Alexandrinus, which is not available yet in Accordance). I decided to use the search syntax [NOUN proper] AND [RANGE Luke 3:23-38] (although I could have easily created a custom range in the Range pop-up menu). As expected, Bezae turned up only 65 hits (names). The reason is that Luke 3:28 is missing altogether. As for Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, Accordance found 77 hits (I’m not sure why Peter came up with 76). Finally, it is true that W (Washingtonensis) only includes Luke 3:23 (so, technically, there are 3 names but no full genealogy).

Not only could I check the numbers, but also compare different codices, display the search details and break down the results according to different parameters, contrast the lemmas and inflected forms by means of the [HITS] command, and a lot more. It was nice to play around, er… I mean explore the different ways of finding and sorting out the data. All this shows how useful and powerful it is to be able to work with digital and morphologically-tagged biblical manuscripts.

The post ends explaining that NA27 includes the somewhat arbitrary number of 77 names. In fact, Accordance showed that Tischendorf also includes 77 names, whereas Westcott-Hort has 76 and Stephanus’ Textus Receptus, 75 (as does Maurice-Pierpont’s Byzantine text). To reiterate what I’ve said before, with these tools we can now go one or two steps beyond the reading found in the critical texts currently available.

I found this info in the latest B-Greek Digest, and since I have been asked about this subject several times, I thought it would be a good idea to quote it here. Sarah J. Blake has first-hand knowledge of the difficulties faced by blind and visually impaired people who pursue the study of Hebrew and Greek, and writes in the following terms:

I thought this might be of interest to those on the list who teach. I am a seminary student who has studied both Hebrew and Greek; and I have put together a web site with information for blind students and college/seminary professors about issues of special concern when a blind student studies biblical languages. Of particular interest to you who teach will be the overview article at the top of the resources section, which explains the technology commonly used by students who are blind and how it is useful in the study of biblical languages.

The site is located at
http://faith.growingstrong.org/languages.html

The latest issue of Logos NewsWire announces that the Logos Blog has been revamped. It is easier to navigate, and looks much better. To celebrate this re-launch, Logos is offering a free commentary download — Tyndale’s Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, vol 11 (Matthew and Mark), by David L. Turner and Darrell L. Bock, respectively –,  (only until the whole Pre-Pub series moves into production).  To get your free download, go to this page, add it to your cart and use coupon “CORNERSTONE”. If you are not a Logos user you will need to create a free Logos account first, then download a copy of the latest Libronix engine (free) and finally create a Libronix Customer ID. The unlock and download script will do the rest.

Gonzalo Díaz informs us of the availability of Kalós version 4.13 (for Mac and Windows), which includes an improved look-and-feel, as well as several hundred new entries, covering all NT canonical forms. Here is the full list of improvements.

Danny Zacharias has been keeping busy, developing sets of multimedia Greek flashcards. These NT Vocabulary Expansion Packs, designed for use with Flash! Pro (PC) and iFlash (Mac), are keyed to the following 1st year Greek textbooks: Learn To Read New Testament Greek, A Primer of Biblical Greek, Basics of Biblical Greek and New Testament Greek Primer. See the demo video or these screenshots. He has also made available some free Greek flash animations. You can download them here. They were originally created by Glenn Wooden and he developed them specifically to work with Bill Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek. Hint: Danny embeds them in his Keynote presentations.

Mark G. Vitalis Hoffman reviews a Vulgate-based Bible software called VulSearch 4. Despite being freeware, it has some nice features not always found in commercial programs. It allows users to view and search the Latin Vulgate alongside an English or French Bible.

Finally, webmasters who run websites, blogs or forums which make frequent use of Bible references might be interested to know that Logos has enhanced a nice little script called RefTagger. This free utility is now highly customizeable and makes the full Bible text pop up when you hover over any Bible reference. The currently available versions are NLT, ESV, KJV and NKJV.

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.

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.

As I said in a previous post, Facebook, the popular social networking website, is a good place to keep in touch with like-minded people. I just realized there is even a new group for Bible Bloggers (thanks to Kevin A. Wilson for the heads-up). Bibliobloggers of the world, unite!

Just looking around for a few minutes I found out that there are a number of groups centered around Bible software programs. These are the ones I could spot with more than 3 members at the time of writing this post:

BibleWorks — The official group.

Logos Bible Software Users — This is also an official group. Then there are others like Students using Logos Libronix Bible Software and, for Spanish users, Usuarios de Logos (Libronix).

e-Sword: Free Bible Software

e-Sword

The Word

Christian Freeware and Open Source Software

christian linux users

If you know of any other groups that could be of interest, feel free to leave a comment pointing out the Facebook address where they can be found. Thank you!

Yesterday l learned that James White, director of Alpha & Omega Ministries is a “switcher.” That is how people who come from the Windows world are popularly known when they get a Mac. In the first five minutes or so of a recent Dividing Line broadcast, he shares how he was literally forced to move from a laptop with Windows Vista to a 15″ MacBook Pro with Mac OS X. Why? “Because Vista is unreliable.“ Again, in his very words, “Now I have a true computer… I have seen the light… the brainwashing that I experienced decades ago has finally broken way to the truth… It’s good to be with a real computer… it’s night and day“.

I can see some of you nodding your heads and asking yourselves, What’s all this Windows bashing got to do with Bible software? Well, for one thing it is not Windows bashing. It is simply stating the fact that there is life beyond Windows (read Mac OS X and Linux, among others), and a better life at that. Secondly, as I always like to say, remember that Mac does Windows, and that, in fact, my best PC is my iMac. Thirdly, it bears directly on Bible software, come to think of it.

Generally speaking, I believe the single most important reason why more and more people are switching to the Mac is the iPod + iTunes bundle (and, from now on, probably the iPhone). More so than decades of “Mac Evangelism” and the more recent Get a Mac campaigns. But more specifically, many Bible software users have been drawn to the Mac world because of a killer application like Accordance, and also because they are beginning to realize that even their cherished Windows-based Bible software runs better on a Mac than on a PC.

In closing, I would like to say that whenever I read someone say they could not take into account a certain Mac or Linux application as part of their review of Bible software packages because they only use Windows, it makes me feel sad. Sad for them and sad for their readers. They are really missing out! Granted, that might have been a real issue 10 or 15 years ago, but not now. Today there are no excuses anymore. An Intel Mac is the kind of environment where all Bible software programs (whether Mac OS native, Windows or Linux) can feel at home. Believe me, I know it full well. If it weren’t so, then Bible Software Review would be YAWOW (Yet Another Windows-Only Website).

It often happens when you read a book that you wish you could have the author sitting by you. That way you could ask him or her about what they meant when they said so and so, or why they built the plot like that and not in some other way, or why did a particular character behave in such a manner… and the list could go on and on.

I think software is a little bit like that. Developers are usually good at coding, but sometimes (most times?) the way they think is unfathomable… Most companies have somebody in PR, marketing, etc., and most programs include some sort of online help. But what I am talking about here is the concept — the philosophy, if you will — that lies behind an application. Who better than a developer to let us know why things work the way they do and are laid out in a particular way? There are multiple ways to solve the same problem, but why do some programmers choose or prefer one over the rest?

I think Bible software developers in general should be more approachable in this area. It would be good to see more examples like Accordance, talking openly about their interface design concepts, or a developer like Brandon Staggs, giving an overview of the design principles of his software. I know it takes time and effort, but users can greatly benefit from knowing exactly what to expect, instead of feeling utterly mystified by some specific feature in the user interface or the way a program does certain things. After all, it becomes very difficult to use a program if you can’t see the logic behind it.

A while ago I talked about a Logos Wiki (which currently seems to be down — don’t know why), and now it’s the turn of the Accordance Bible Software page on Facebook. Social networking websites (like Facebook or MySpace) have become really popular lately, so this is a good way to connect and interact with other Accordance users and fans. The page includes blog feeds (from the Accordance Blog), a message wall, photo galleries, videos, a discussion board and lots more.

It is difficult to explain the difference between a social network and a traditional blog or forum, so the best way to get to know it is by looking around. Registration is free.