Purchase Factbook Large Expansion or Oxford Handbooks?

Doug Yates · 2025-04-26T12:30:44+00:00

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Hi Everyone,

I'm tempted to buy a few Oxford Handbooks or the Factbook Large Expansion Set to broaden my knowledge outside of commentaries, and they both seem to be priced well.

Might seem like an odd choice, but the large expansion set provides unique encyclopedias and the Oxford Handbooks look like they deep dive into specific topics. My main hesitation for the Oxford Handbooks is they are "reader editions" so details won't easily be found in tools such as smart search or Factbook. Do you think it is likely these will be upgraded? Which one would you choose?

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John Fidel

In my opinion, dictionaries and encyclopedias are best if they are Logos Research Editions.

Doug Yates

John, thanks. Everything in the Factbook is considered a research edition, which is why I am leaning this way. These are the 3 primary resources of interest, along with a few other interesting ones. The discount on the Oxford Handbooks is pretty substantial.

https://www.logos.com/product/135823/encyclopedia-of-ancient-christianity

https://www.logos.com/product/8809/the-encyclopedia-of-christianity

https://www.logos.com/product/179186/comptons-encyclopedia

https://www.logos.com/product/30241/dictionary-of-biblical-imagery

https://www.logos.com/product/153869/the-dictionary-of-the-bible-and-ancient-media

NichtnurBibelleser

Here a quick overview what I got searching for the First Council of Nicaea (German UI):

Factbook (left) shows Dictionary entries; for the rest it is quite disappointing.

I own some of the Oxford Handbooks. A search restricted to them (right) gives a lot of hits, but I suppose, if I would have to dig deeper into the First Council, I'd open the Oxford Handbook's Table of Content first (like in a Paper Book).
Likewise, if I'd been toying with the idea of buying a Factbook Feature Expansion (which I don't own), I'd compare the Resources included in each package and evaluate if they cover my interests.

DMB

Agree with John.

I don't use Factbook. Too swiss-cheesy. But I do keep standard searches, one of which goes thru my dictionaries and their headings specifically.

BTW that Ancient Media one is interesting. An example is going in-depth into how ancient geneologies were constructed. I thought it'd be like a family tree. But no.

Doug Yates

Thanks, the challenge is while I can choose topics most interesting to me with the handbooks, the very nature of the Factbook expansion is to answer things very broadly for topics I may not even realize I need. I do like the idea of leaning into using Logos as a primary search mechanism for theology vs. Google, etc.

Alternatively I'm also thinking of picking up 5 Oxford Handbooks and the M Factbook to leverage a coupon code. I also don't spend quite as much.

DMM

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1367576#Comment_1367576

You might find some of these packages to be a better deal if you really want the Oxford Handbooks. Your price is going to vary, of course. The 31 volume set is included in the 2025 Anglican Platinum package.

Many of the other 2025 libraries contain a handful of them. The SDA Gold has 5 of them. You might look around and see what gives you the most bang for your buck.

NichtnurBibelleser

Still, Dynamic Pricing remains a mystery:

Aaron Hamilton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1367596#Comment_1367596

Collections do not take into account sales on individual resources contained therein.

NichtnurBibelleser

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1367604#Comment_1367604

And once again I'd like to have a Smiley banging against the wall emoji.

Doug Yates

Thanks everyone for the feedback, I split the difference and ordered (4) more of the Oxford Handbooks and the Medium Factbook. My electronic wallet feels lighter.

Doug Yates

I'll add that the Anglican Platinum package would have been a good deal if I was committed to buying the entire Oxford Handbook series. I appreciated the guidance to compare the package options before making the purchase.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1367615#Comment_1367615

That is what I would have done - the Factbook collection provides a breadth of coverage while the Handbooks concentrate on depth.