Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 03:1 (Spring 2005)
Article: Software Review
Author: Charles L. Quarles

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JBTM 3:1 (Spring 2005) p. 213

Software Review

Charles L. Quarles

Logos Bible Software Series X: Scholar’s Library Silver Edition.

One of the questions which I am most frequently asked by students is, “Can you give me some guidance in building my ministry library?” That question is now easier to answer than ever before. Consider purchasing the Logos Scholar’s Library.

Six years ago when my family moved to Bucharest, Romania to serve as international missionaries, I faced a tough decision. We had limited funds for shipping items overseas and I could take only a fourth of my total library with me. I very carefully chose the volumes that would be shipped. My Greek tools, including lexica, grammars, and syntax texts, were necessary because I would teach New Testament and Greek in a university and seminary setting. I would also need as many solid commentaries as my crate would hold to assist me in preparing lectures and sermons. The crate space was quickly filled but hundreds of my prized books still sat on the shelves. Every few months I found it necessary to write family members, asking them to rummage through the stacks of boxes in the attic where the books were stored to locate particular volumes and ship them overseas to me at considerable expense. Now this struggle would be unnecessary. I can carry a library of nearly four-hundred volumes on my notebook computer just about anywhere I go.

The Scholar’s Library Silver Edition has the equivalent of over $8,000.00 worth of printed volumes in its digital library. Try lugging that around in a briefcase! And these volumes are not merely the old public-domain works that are packed into some programs to impress consumers with a large number of titles, nor are they mere devotional works that are of little benefit for serious exposition. The library is filled with the tools that I most frequently use for intensive exegetical research.

The library contains an impressive array of tools for studying biblical words. Greek lexica include Louw and Nida’s Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains, the intermediate edition of Liddell and Scott (an excellent resource for studying the usage of Greek terms in both secular and biblical Greek), and even the massive ten volume Theological Dictionary of the New Testament which not only thoroughly discusses the most important New Testament words but also often contains substantial commentary on individual passages. The library also includes two works on NT syntax. You can add A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature and Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics.

These additional resources cost approximately the same as the printed volumes. However, they have distinct advant...

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