Standardize the format of Bible reference with choice of styles

MJ. Smith

From Harry Hanhe:
The format that Logos uses does not conform to any standard format used by publishers. For example, the citation is "Ro 8:28" rather than "Romans 8:28" or "Rom 8:28" or "Rom. 8:28".

It would be wonderful if this format could be changed in the settings, either to always use the full book name or to use the SBL abbreviations of Bible books. I don't know any publisher that uses the format Logos uses.

Also, the citation format varies depending on the way that the text is copied.

Select text and choose Copy form the Context menu, uses the strange book abbreviation: Ro 8:28
Select text and choose Copy Verse (Styled) from the Context menu, uses the full book name: Romans 8:28
Use the Copy Bible Verses Tool, uses the full book name: Romans 8:28
A custom style in the Copy Bible Verses Tool can use a short book name. But again, it is a non-standard abbreviation.

The ideal would be to be able to specify in the settings the format of Bible books to use SBL, Chicago Traditional, Chicago Shorter, T & T Clark, etc. The use of a British publisher (such as T & T Clark) would also separate chapter and verse with a period rather than a colon as in American styles: Rom. 8.28

If FL does not want to add this level of customization, at least it would be helpful to use one of the standard abbreviations, such as SBL or Chicago style. This would save a lot of time for writers who use Logos.

Unknown

I am sharing the gospel and answering bible questions online every day, I'm constantly quoting the Bible, and the way the Bible is referenced is not appropriate for my audience (non academic).  E.g:

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 11:4.

Should be:

Hebrews 11:4 (esv)


An option to change this would save me a lot of time.

Anderson Abreu

Very good suggestion. I hope it is implanted

Anderson Abreu

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1331338#Comment_1331338

@Glen Richards  Very good suggestion. I hope it is implanted

Josiah Young

I've been mystified by Logos' choice of abbreviations as well. The ability to choose a standardized formats seems like an obvious feature for research software; I think this would be a very natural and welcome fit in Logos. This is also such a frequently used feature (citing Scripture happens all the time in Logos) that it would be great if there was a universal setting for how tagged hyperlinks to Scripture were displayed throughout the app as well (e.g., Passage Lists, etc.).

Nathan M Hall

Fully agree. Since Logos is Bible software, being able to cite and copy the verses (and their references) intuitively and with great depth of customization should be very highly prioritized.

Joel Wingo

I agree this is a much-needed improvement. The formatting of the Scripture references is non-standard and it creates extra work. For example, when I use the Copy Bible Verses tool, this is the automatic format it gives me, which has to be manually edited for each quotation: “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35, ESV). There should be no period directly after "wept" and there should be no comma before the Bible version acronym (according to the SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd edition, section 8.2, the Christian Writer’s Manual of Style, 4th edition, page 330 ,and Turabian's Manual, 9th edition, section 17.8.2). The following format is correct: “Jesus wept” (John 11:35 ESV). For block quotations (more than 100 words), the only difference is that the period goes at the end of the quoted text instead of appearing after the parenthetical reference.

Joseph Andrade

I haven't noticed it mentioned elsewhere on this site (and forgive me if it is and I overlooked it), but I think it would be nice to have the option to use Roman numerals for books such as "II Kings", etc.