[B-Greek] Soft ware Books
Jeffrey T. Requadt
jeffreyrequadt_list at hotmail.com
Mon Feb 5 22:06:38 EST 2007
I have made the following policy for myself: I try to buy reference works in
electronic format and other books in paper. The reason is that if I'm doing
research, computer is so much superior in my mind, having worked with both
computer and paper resources at the college level over the past 5 years,
doing biblical, theological, and other kinds of research. I have Logos, and
using it to link all these different lexica and Bible dictionaries, and
grammars, and different versions of the Bible in different languages, etc.,
is truly amazing to me (I'm not that old, but old enough to remember a time
before household computers were still somewhat of a novelty item). In
college when I did a couple sessions for the freshmen on how to use Bible
tools, I made the point that computers won't change the way you do Bible
study, and using a computer will not give you some "correct" answer that a
paper reference won't. Instead, computers allow you to do the same thing
that you would do with paper, but in minutes instead of hours. When I have
deadlines, I usually don't find myself leafing through the lexicon on the
way to my word. I flip right to the word and start reading. Using my
workspace setup in Logos, I can flip right to the word in my 8 favorite
dictionaries/lexica, and I can flip right to the verse I'm looking at in the
N-A, Byz, NASB, NRSV, NET, ESV reverse interlinear, and the OpenText.org
Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament. I also have seven different
commentaries, that I actually use, open at the same time, and they all stay
with the same verse I'm looking at. And the lexica and dictionaries, even
though in print they all may have different numbering systems (or no
numbering system at all), or may be organized differently (alphabetically,
or by English word, etc.), they all stay on the same word when I'm looking
at it. I can instantly find morphological information if I'm stuck on
something (or to confirm what I think). In other words, I have way, way, way
more power to study the way I want to and not be hampered down because I
can't find what I'm looking for (I may not be able to find it anyway, but
probably because I'm in the wrong ball park). If it's something I'm going to
want to search (like finding all the occurrences of Romans 1:16 in a
commentary, or in BDAG, etc.), I'm going to want an electronic copy.
This sounds like I'm obsessed with electronic resources, but the fact is
that I only buy reference works for my computer (well, nearly
always--sometimes I find something else that I really like and quote a lot,
and I'll buy that too). Other books, like theological expositions,
inspirational stuff, ministry resources, etc., and anything else that I
wouldn't use as a reference work, I buy in print. The difference is that I'm
not going to spend an hour or two reading one article in a lexicon
(usually), but if I'm reading a book about atonement, or verbal aspect, or
Hosea, or ministering to single adults, or teaching reading in elementary
school, anything that I'm going to want to sit down in a chair and read, and
probably not search it concordance-style, I wouldn't buy it electronically.
I don't have a tablet PC or a PDA. I do everything on my laptop at home or
at school (I teach third grade), so I'm never going to sit down in an
airport and read something electronically. I would much rather buy it in
print, because I have found that reading print for long intervals is much
easier on my eyes (and sometimes my neck).
Case in point: I subscribe to the Logos prepublication RSS feed, so I can
find out about what they're planning on making, hot off the presses, so to
speak. Recent prepubs include "Luke - Historian and Theologian", which I
will NOT buy, "Text and Task", which I will NOT buy, and a "Studies in Karl
Barth" collection, which I will NOT buy. But ones I WILL buy include "The
Dictionary of Historical Theology", because that's a reference work that I
will probably want to search and link to other theological dictionaries,
"Jewish Law (4 volumes)", because I think that would help me understand the
context of the Bible better, and because it's a reference-type work,
"Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters," "Reading Scripture
with the Church Fathers," and "Synopsis of the Greek Sources for the
Hasmonean Period".
My long-windedness comes down to this: I decide if it is something that
would be *useful* to have electronically or not, and whether it is something
I would actually use, and if it would be something I would be likely to sit
down and read for a couple of hours when I had the chance. Electronic books
are superb for some things, and not-so-superb for other things.
That's my $.01
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David McKay
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 4:17 PM
To: B Greek
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Soft ware Books
Michael Bushell, the developer of BibleWorks,
periodically reminds us that electronic resources
easily become obsolete.
He counsels us to purchase books first and then the
electronic equivalents.
Computers have enabled me to have copies of many works
I don't own in paper format. We would need a larger
hosue to accommodate all of these in hard copies, but
I have to admit that you don't get to knwo a work in
the same way when your only copy is electronic.
For example, we have the 2 volume 1993 edition of the
Shorter Oxford, and a legal free electronic copy from
a British computer magazine. I appreciate this work
more because I originally got to know it somewhat in
the hard copy format.
But for a dictionary, an electronic version may be
superior to picking up those 2 heavy volumes.
I think my meagre knowledge of NT Greek has been
assisted by using aids such as BibleWorks, but I think
that there is much to be gained from picking up my
wife's 1975 3rd edition UBS and reading a hard copy.
It would be easy to dupe myself into thinking I can
read the NT proficiently if I only used electronic
aids.
But it is a great privilege to live in an age when we
have both, and the wonderful interaction on this
group.
David McKay
____________________________________________________________________________
________
Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know.
Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com
---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list