Need Author bio in the 'i'nformation window

Shawn Nichols
Shawn Nichols Member Posts: 94 ✭✭
edited December 2024 in English Forum

Logos has taught me much about the resources available to those studying the Bible. Having only been a serious Bible student for the past 12 years, and with little formal training, I make frequent use of the information lookup of the resources. Perhaps some of these resources are known to the greater Logos community. To me, for the most part, they are not.

That's why it would be VERY helpful to have a short bio of the author of the books in the information lookup. I'm often left scratching my head as to who he is. I'm interested in questions like:

- His denominational affiliation
- The period of his life (ancient, puritan, modern, etc).
- Known for. I may be reading a commentary on Ephesians, but it would be interesting that the author was known for his commentary on Romans (Like Lloyd-Jones).
- His genre of writing. Is he technical like in language. A commentator. A mega-church leader ....
- And for those authors of the past, a short 3-sentence bio of his ministry. Where he taught, pastored, etc.

Occassionally I use www.wikipedia.org, but it 1) takes me out of Logos, and 2) often doesn't list the authors I read after.

Comments

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 54,787

    Shawn Nichols said:

    That's why it would be VERY helpful to have a short bio of the author of the books in the information lookup.

    This idea fits best in the Suggestion forum rather than General. Something along these lines has been suggested before so you will find some support for your idea.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Paul N
    Paul N Member Posts: 2,087 ✭✭✭

    Shawn,

         When I first downloaded Logos I was much like yourself and wanted more concrete bio information on authors and editors but I quickly found that this information isn't as critical for the more scholarly works in the original languages or dictionaries/lexicons/encyclopedias/etc.  If we did dig up where Brown, Driver, Briggs, Barnes, Koehler, Baumgartner, Stamm, or Danker went to church I'd feel these works would be judged by the authors' affiliations in the eyes of certain Logos users instead of the resources they produced. 

         Now I see your point when it comes to commentaries, so I could see the benefit of easy access to past schooling, and I also find time period helpful, but for all other information we should pursue it on a want to know basis.

         I feel there's a right of passage a Christian/person endures to then discover great Christian (or non-Christian) works.  CS Lewis might be horrified to know his works have largely been familiarized with the public by way of coffee mug quotes or sterilized compilations with "The Best of" leading the title.  To bring it all back, i appreciate Logos treating each resource in an almost suspicious, yet entirely inefficient excerpt, so I get to discover the real work after I ask around, purchase it, and invest some time in it.

    Shawn, I think I went on a tangent and I apologize, but as I completely understand why you would want to know an author's perspective/background, to give it all away up front might casue us as individuals to miss some great work.

  • RyanB
    RyanB Member Posts: 686 ✭✭✭

    Hi Shawn,

    I too would like to have the author information. Specifically, I'd like the same author bio that is available on the back cover/book jacket added to the resource information pane.

    I've created a user voice submission about this if you interested. You can see it at: http://logos.uservoice.com/forums/42823-logos-bible-software-5/suggestions/3739109-add-a-section-for-author-information-bios-in-resou

    Thanks,

    Rya

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