I’ve been a user of Logos for almost 20 years. It’s my research library. I’ve written about how to use its free software; you buy the books, and can buy extra functionality, but you can download and get a lot of usage out of it for free. My previous posts about using Logos to get at Greek and Hebrew (instead of using Strong’s) here and here. I made some video demos, and there are many more on the logos.com site.

Every March, Logos holds March Madness uh, March Matchups. It’s a little different every year, but books, authors, or collections go into a bracket, and users vote. Every week, the winners move forward, with increasing discounts, until there is only one.  The winning books/collections this year get 60% off, which can be significant. Below is my “voting guide” for LDS users.

In some matchups, I don’t think there’s anything we care about. In others, a clear winner. And in yet others, either would be great. If the below doesn’t make sense to you, go to the bracket and browse through. Then register/log-in to Logos.com and vote 🙂

  • IVP is accessible, but New International Greek Testament has depth, if you’ve done any greek.
  • New Testament for Everyone (A very accessible, popular, non-technical commentary by NT Wright!)
  • New American Commentary (popular, accessible)
  • Baker DA Carson Collection (Very useful Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and Exegetical Fallacies, but those are probably cheaper individually)
  • Hermeneia and Continental Commentaries (Technical, scholarly)
  • NIV Application Commentary (Walton on Genesis, Enns on Exodus. Very useful to LDS, I think, in spite of the Evangelical orientation. I am much less familiar with the NT volumes)
  • Interpretation Commentary
  • JPS Tanakh Collection. I quote from this one a LOT. Very good.
  • Tyndale vs Lexham. The first is quite accessible, although I have very limited exposure to it. The Lexham series is produced by Logos. Notably, the Genesis volume is free this month, Jonah is $6 and 1 Peter $10. Get Genesis, and get an idea of how they’re structured. Very useful for intros, I think.)
  • Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library– A lot of (usually) expensive gold in here. Getting it for 60% would be a steal.
  • New international Commentary Series- a detailed, conservative Protestant series. Detailed.
  • Anchor Yale Bible Commentary series- A mainstay of Bible commentaries, thorough and technical.
  • IVP Bible Dictionary series vs Theological Dictionary series. The former is an excellent collection 8-volume collection accessible to laypeople. I quote from it often.  The latter is a 26-volume scholarly tool for language work, which people who don’t have Greek/Hebrew training can use if they’re willing to work a little.
  • Zondervan Counterpoints series has some useful books. Each takes a disputed topic, and presents 3-5 views, argued by different scholars. I’m a fan of Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither?: Three Views on the Bible’s Earliest Chapters. Note that Zondervan is a conservative Evangelical publisher, so the views represented and topics chosen don’t necessarily map well onto LDS interests or approaches.

 

There is also a March Matchup at Verbum.com the Catholic-branded version of Logos. (Books from Logos/Verbum are interchangeable. You can buy from either brand, and they’ll show up in your program.)

Worth voting for the Raymond Brown collection, the Eerdmans Old Testament History collection, the Catholic Old Testament Commentaries, and A Marginal Jew collection (although the Pontifical Biblical Language Studies collection is great)