BibleWorks 4.0 -- By: Steven A. McKinion

Journal: Faith and Mission
Volume: FM 17:1 (Fall 1999)
Article: BibleWorks 4.0
Author: Steven A. McKinion


BibleWorks 4.0

Steven A. McKinion

Assistant Professor of Church History
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, North Carolina 27587

Hermeneutika bills its BibleWorks 4.01 as the foremost exegesis and research software program available. In many ways the product lives up to the billing. The reviewer has been familiar with the program for a number of years and has been pleased with each new release. The provisions BibleWorks 4.0 makes for its uses are numerous and quite helpful for most who would have interest in using computer software for Bible study, research, and exegesis.

Installation could not be simpler. When I inserted the CD, a box appeared (as it does with most software for Win 95/98) offering me the option of installing the software. The process ran smoothly, and once the program and fonts were installed, I was able to choose which databases I wanted to access from the hard drive and which ones I wanted to access from the CD. I chose only to place on the hard drive those English versions to which I most often refer, the Greek NT, the Hebrew OT, and the morphological tools. The reviewer encountered no problems with the installation. In fact, I have had no noticeable faults in the use of the software. Under “Problem Solving,” the User’s Manual lists problems associated with font installation, word processor compatibility, and the like. I was fortunate not to experience any of these difficulties.

I can think of nothing of note missing from BibleWorks. The makers suggest that the program is to assist hermeneutical research, and the tools included do just that. One would be hard pressed to find a tool not included here (with the exception, of course, of every commentary written!). The beginning researcher would benefit greatly from tools such as multiple Bible translations for comparative study, the morphological tools which parse every Greek and Hebrew word in the Testaments, and additional reference works such as Nave’s Topical Index, Robertson’s Word Pictures and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. One very significant addition to version 4.0 from previous versions is the second CD. There one will find a host of video demonstrations to help in learning to use BibleWorks.

Also, Hermeneutika includes the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. The numerous Greek and Hebrew lexicons are immensely helpful to those not fluent in the biblical languages.

I was unable to discover any blatant errors either in the texts or the morphological tools. However, it must be noted that I did not read every word of every ...

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