Which Library to buy?

So I am in my first semester at seminary and I have been thinking about purchasing Logos for quite some time. I finally received a gift of money which would be able to help me purchase the product. I was thinking of purchasing the Scholar's library until I started looking into the certain books that came with it. Quite a few of them are more on the conservative side. I know this is a hard term to be defined and when looking throughout the forum I saw many different viewpoints. The fact that it is more conservative does not bother me, however, I am looking for more books that are on the liberal side/neutral side. Not saying that I cannot learn from someone who may be more conservative, but I do not want my library to be one sided. Are there any suggestions for a Mainline Protestant (Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on which Commentaries/Dictionaries/etc. I should be looking into?

I was not sure if it would be cheaper to pick up the leaders library and build up my own library, or stick with the scholars (since it does have ancient text) and go from there. Money is an issue though, as I do not have a large amount to spare. Any help would be appreciated.

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Edwin Bowden

Base pkgs are always the best buy. Don't worry abut the volumes that you don't think you'll use. Count up what you will use.

It's best to buy the largest pkg you can afford.

Do you know about the Academic discount?

Friedrich

Hey Trey! Hope you find your correct balance. Don't discount the value of some of the added Greek/Hebrew works in the higher end packages (from BDAG/HALOT to the EDNT), as well as decent commentary sets (like the UBS Translator's Handbook Commentaries, NT and OT--or whatever they are called). Portfolio will have a lot of pricey scholarly (and "neutral/liberal") works in the bundle, but it is a hefty price all at once.

But you need to know:

Hermeneia/Continental commentaries are currently on sale at a fantastic price: 598 for the WHOLE set.

Then there are other sets like the Anchor Yale Commentaries and if you act today, you can still get the Anchor Yale Reference collection on pre-pub today for a very good price (and there are sub-collections if you want some, but not all).

You probably get academic pricing, but if not, or for future reference, contact logos sales and develop a relationship with one of their staff who will often give you good deals if you just ask. I use jared at logos.

Welcome, and all the best in your studies! Be sure to scroll through the pre-pub page, too, and note that you can organize them by newest or ship-date,etc.

Trey

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/187243#Comment_187243

Yes sir. Its part of the reason why I would be able to afford the scholars library. I was told that I would likely be able to get discounts on certain books also. This is why I was going to see if there were any books/commentaries that others would recommend that are geared more toward mainline protestants with a more liberal view.

Trey

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/187244#Comment_187244

Hey dan, thanks for the response. As awesome as those sound, 598 would be far out of my price range on top of the scholars library. I will at least bring this up when I call one of the guys at logos back and see what price and maybe monthly payments could work. If only the scholarly were not so expensive .

Graham Owen

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/187244#Comment_187244

You probably get academic pricing, but if not, or for future reference, contact logos sales

Before you buy anything make sure that you have spoken with a salesman about your eligibility for Academic Pricing and about the best deal for a package of items that meets your needs. If you have not contacted them before try Jared (jared@logos.com).

In package terms I think Platinum is widely recognised as the best value offering overall and it does include some materials from a less conservative (evangelical) perspective. The Semeia journals are an obvious example which are also part of Gold. Silver, Gold and Platinum also include the Church Fathers which could be useful given the increased interest in them in all camps.

Don't be put off by resources that you think you don't need now as once you start using Logos it will become a fixture and its highly likely that some of the books that appear superfluous today will be a valuable aid tomorrow. I have been using Logos for 14 years or more and my usage pattern is always changing. The main packages are simply the most cost effective way of getting the resources you need to get started.Focus on the value of the items that you need rather than the books that you don't currently need.

As for anything else you need, Hermeneia is great value at the moment as mentioned previously but Academic Pricing and/or a discussion with a salesman is likely to enable you to get other resources packaged together to make a great library. It all depends on your budget and what you need for Seminary but there's lots of good material available including Barth, Yale, WBC, etc.

Pat Flanakin

Trey,

I trust you are going to a church where the pastor can possibly give you guidance on what resources to look into. He doesn't have to be on Logos since many print editions are in Logos, so the advice he might give you on his print library is good for Logos as well.

I would recommend you get advice on what you should have in your library first from your pastor or other believers you trust, then find them all in logos, add them up and then see whether a package has most of them and compare the price to a package plus whatever you would have to buy to complete your list.

I have the Portfolio package and compared to the resources I use now which I have bought separately, it barely made sense to buy it since it didn't have a lot of what I have been recommended to get. I believe the packages try to provide a mixed bag of resources from all kinds of Christian theological backgrounds; therefore, if you are certain you are, say, reformed and Calvanistic, with a covenant theology, that is going to way in on what you find useful. To the extent you want o understand what other theological backgrounds say about particular topics, you can buy those at will vs. having them thrusted on you in a package.

That is how you get a good Logos library. Getting a good library is more important than a voluminous one.

If you do not think your pastor can help, let me know and I have some suggestions.

Matt Hamrick

Hey Trey,

You can apply with LOGOS for the academic discounts and they send you a link to the academic page. There are deep academic discounts on certain products and you can use the monthly payment plan to help with purchasing the products. As a seminary student, I would say the Scholar's library should be a good start for you. As you progress through school you will be able to see what other Logos products you might need. Money is always an issue, but there are ways to get a good library less expensive than you might think. Try the community pricing and pre pub areas of Logos.

Matt

nicky crane

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/187279#Comment_187279

I have scholars and am very happy with it. I am also impressed at the way the conservative commentaries get to grips with textual criticism etc, now becoming more conservative from my original liberal position. If you caN AFFORD WBC, sale price $499, but hopefully you can get payment plan and academic discount, I much recommend it. It's very thorough and seems to quote everyone and is not exclusively conservative.

When you can eventually afford an upgrade to gold, you get lots of other commentaries. UBS Translators Handbook alone probably costs more than the upgrade. But that would be on your wishlist for the future!

David Ames

Quite a few of them are more on the conservative side.

After you pick a library that will work (or to see what else is available to add later - there are some 10,000 book available)

For some items with a different “bias” try

Logos.com

Products

[[There used to be a partners section but it seems to have been removed]]

Under TOP CATEGORIES click on ALL CATEGORIES

Scroll down to

Product Type

Then try Add-on Products - Collections

Also search the forum for Pre-Pub and Community pricing [Books not yet for sale]

Brian Davidson

You could always start with the original languages library and then add to it from there as you like. That is what I usually recommend for seminarians. Definitely talk to someone in the Academic Sales department.

Robert Pavich

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/187565#Comment_187565

I think that the best advice is to just look over the base packages, take note/make a list of what volumes you really want...then start there.

I bought Scholars silver first....then upgraded to Gold as the upgrade price was less than the one commentary set price that I wanted to buy separately!!

DAL

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/187248#Comment_187248

Yes, start with Scholar's Base Package -- unless you can afford Platinum, then go for that one instead. After that you can add anything you want. By the way, there might be books that you may think that you will never use, but trust me, it's always nice to have them as a reference. You never really know when you'll need them. One thing is for sure, you will NEVER go wrong with Logos products! [Y]

Michael Sullivan

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/187581#Comment_187581

DO NOT BUY THE SCHOLARS PACKAGE FIRST!!! Please read why:

The Original Languages package (OL) is upgradable to Scholars (S), but not Scholars to OL.

The best thing to do is first buy the OL package and upgrade it to the scholars. You will end up getting everything in Scholars and OL for only $50 more than buying the Scholars outright. If you do it in reverse, you will have to pay full price for each package.

My advice is to call a sales rep. Tell them want the OL edition and that you want to upgrade it to Scholars. Make sure they do it in that order, and you will see the price savings.

Blessings,

Michael

Jonathan Burke

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/187581#Comment_187581

I second what Michael Sullivan wrote. I recommend the same strategy to my friends who are starting off.

Friedrich

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/187594#Comment_187594

The Original Languages package (OL) is upgradable to Scholars (S), but not Scholars to OL.

that's weird . . . I never knew that. irrelevant to my own needs, but nice to know when talking to someone else. looks like Gold level is the one that incorporates all of OL and then some.