Book Reviews -- By: Matthew S. DeMoss

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 167:667 (Jul 2010)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Matthew S. DeMoss


Book Reviews

By The Faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary

Matthew S. DeMoss

Editor

BibleWorks 8. Bibleworks, LLC. Norfolk, VA, 2008. $349.00.

BibleWorks, LLC, in existence since 1992, has recently released version 8 of their software. The program is exegetically targeted, focusing on the text of Scripture. The retail price is slightly higher than the starting price for other software packages, but it reflects company philosophy: BibleWorks puts more resources into their base program, with a higher starting cost, but minimizes as much as possible optional modules that require additional dollars. The program runs on Microsoft Windows, whether natively on a PC or through emulation on Apple Mac OS.

BibleWorks is set up initially with the screen divided into three sections. On the left is the search window, where one can perform searches on the command line. In the middle is the browse window, which shows the actual text. On the right is the analysis window, where one can pursue analysis of the text. This layout is at first a bit intimidating but becomes easier and more logical with use. The program comes with hours of video tutorials preinstalled to give basic introduction on the major functions the program offers. Also installed are detailed help files; wherever the mouse-pointer is located when the F1 key is pressed, the help file for that particular function will come up (although there are reports that this functionality is altered somewhat by Windows 7).

At the top of the screen are the menu bar and the toolbar, which allow access to various program functions. BibleWorks 8 comes preinstalled with forty-one English translations. Users can parallel as many versions as the screen allows. The text comparison feature uses automatic highlighting to see where the selected versions differ. This is helpful for teaching and preaching purposes, in view of the fact that members of one’s congregation or Bible study often use multiple versions.

Including English translations, there are over 190 Bibles in nearly 40 languages (e.g., Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, Swahili), 35 original language texts and morphology databases (e.g., BHS, Nestle-Aland 27), and 29 lexical-grammatical reference tools (e.g., LSJ abridged, Thayer, Louw-Nida, Moulton-Milligan, BDB). BDAG and HALOT, the present gold standards for Greek and Hebrew lexical work, respectively, can be purchased together as an add-on module for an additional fee of $212, less than one would spend on hard copies. The lexicons demonstrate one of the best features of the program, namely, the morphological tagging of the text and the linking to resources. Whenever the cursor hovers over a word...

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