The Digital Seminarian
I thought the Fall '11 semester may have been it... and maybe it still can be:
4 classes coming up in the fall:
Christian Ethics - assigned 4 books
Principles of Preaching- assigned 3 books
Intro to Pastoral Ministry - assigned 4 books
Elementary Hebrew I - assigned 2 books
My hope was that I would be able to go completely digital this semester. Even if it meant purchasing on other digital book retailer websites, the fewer dead tree books (and dead tree trade books specifically) the better.
Of these 13 books:
4 are in Logos
1.) Beginning Biblical Hebrew - Mark D. Futato - OWN; Available on mobile devices 
2.) Preaching - John F. MacArthur - DO NOT OWN - Locked in the Nelson Bundle I can't afford and with resources I already own 
3.) How Effective Sermons Begin - Ben Awbrey - DO NOT OWN - My professor is the author; Still in a bundle gathering interest in Pre-pub
4.) A Contemporary Handbook for Weddings & Funerals and Other Occassions - Abrey Malphurs & Keith Willhite - OWN - Bought it last night, then realized its not available on mobile devices 
<-- [My DRAW face]
Of the other 9:
- 3 are available through Amazon
- 2 are available through Kobo
- 2 are available through B&N
- 2 are available through Google Books
- 1 is available through Apple iBooks
This still leaves me with 5 trade/non-text books that seem to not exist digitally plus 3 in Logos that I can't access this semester
My reasoning behind this post is to visualize the potential nitch I believe Vyrso could fill in the Christian scholarly trade book market that seems to not be pursued by any company in the digital book marketplace. I understand Logos provides books at some seminaries and Bible colleges, but it is by request and done in exclusivity for these schools.
My goals as a seminary student in regard to books:
- Buy as few trade books as possible (most are one time reads)
- Buy those I have to digitally to avoid these books taking over my family's living space
- Buy from as few digital book sellers as possible to minimize the amount of programs I'll need to access them (iPad now/who knows how it will work in the future)
My hope now is that through Vyrso and with 3 semesters left (God willing!) maybe 2012 will be the year of the Digital Seminarian!
Comments
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...almost forgot; For those taking classes in the fall; How do your semester's look "digitally"?
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Paul -
I just graduated in May with my MDIV (it's a great feeling, by the way). I love your idea of this thread, and wish I had been around in the "year of the digital seminarian!" When I think back on all the textbooks I have purchased, I wish I had been able to purchase those on my Logos account!
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Paul Newsome said:
My hope now is that through Vyrso and with 3 semesters left (God willing!) maybe 2012 will be the year of the Digital Seminarian!
I'm in my third out of oh, I dunno 10 years in seminary and I have been hoping the same thing since I started. It reminds me of my linux days where every year a major linux mag published the article (YEAR) Is the "Year of the Linux Desktop". They've been doing this for the last 10+ years. I hope that perhaps the actual Year of the Digital Seminarian will occur before the year of the Linux Desktop.
JM
Edit: I forgot to add:
NT Greek: (3 books/0 on logos
)Mounce Basics of Biblical Greek BK Zondervan
Mounce Basics of Biblical Greek WK Zondervan
UBS 4th Ed W/ Greek English Dictionary Hendrickson
Macbook Pro | OSX 10.6.8 | 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 | 4 GB Ram | 320 GB HDD
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Paul Newsome said:
My reasoning behind this post is to visualize the potential nitch I believe Vyrso could fill in the Christian scholarly trade book market that seems to not be pursued by any company in the digital book marketplace.
I would think most seminary level textbooks would be better tools in Logos 4 rather than Vyrso. I would pay more and keep them permanently in my library. Vyrso would be better suited to general education textbooks like History, Government, Psychology and such. But that is just my opinion.
Paul Newsome said:I understand Logos provides books at some seminaries and Bible colleges, but it is by request and done in exclusivity for these schools.
I have heard of a few seminaries and Bible colleges using Logos (requiring it) for textbooks and such. There are also two Bible schools that have courses published in Logos.
Moody Bible Institute Foundation of Biblical Ministry (AM Bible Courseware) requires enrollment and exam codes are only good for one student. nI do not know if the instructional portion is reusable in our Logos library. It also appears to only work in Windows and only in Libronix. It may have been updated to run in Logos 4 but I haven't heard. It is hard to get a response directly from Moody Bible Institute.
Global University's Berean School of Bible courses appear to be usable as study guides or for enrollment purposes. The only question I have about thoses are the audio lessons. The coursebooks refer to audio CD lectures but there is no mention if this is part of the Logos version.
Be sure to consult the schools catalog to know what you get with enrollment that may not be included with just the Logos resource.
I am excited to see digital textbooks in the academic setting.
Logos 7 Collectors Edition
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..Super.. .Tramp. said:Paul Newsome said:
My reasoning behind this post is to visualize the potential nitch I believe Vyrso could fill in the Christian scholarly trade book market that seems to not be pursued by any company in the digital book marketplace.
I would think most seminary level textbooks would be better tools in Logos 4 rather than Vyrso. I would pay more and keep them permanently in my library. Vyrso would be better suited to general education textbooks like History, Government, Psychology and such. But that is just my opinion.
I agree with you on the textbooks; it's the position specific trade books (being the bulk of the out of class reading) that I would prefer not to collect on my bookshelves. These books mainly deal with more current events rather than 'standing on the backs of those who've come before'0 -
Paul Newsome said:
I agree with you on the textbooks; it's the position specific trade books (being the bulk of the out of class reading) that I would prefer not to collect on my bookshelves. These books mainly deal with more current events rather than 'standing on the backs of those who've come before'
I gotcha, and agree.
Logos 7 Collectors Edition
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Paul Newsome said:
2.) Preaching - John F. MacArthur - DO NOT OWN - Locked in the Nelson Bundle I can't afford and with resources I already own
Wonder about MacArthur Lifeworks Library 2.0 (Preaching book cover looks familiar, but page count different) or Nelson Bible Reference Bundle (200 vols.) [WBC, Preacher’s, and More!] , Newswire sale last month => Nelson Bible Reference Bundle on Sale
Paul Newsome said:3.) How Effective Sermons Begin - Ben Awbrey - DO NOT OWN - My professor is the author; Still in a bundle gathering interest in Pre-pub
Pre-publication Christian Focus Preaching and Worship Collection (12 vols.) shows under development (suspect several months away from shipping).
Jeff M said:UBS 4th Ed W/ Greek English Dictionary Hendrickson
Logos has an article comparing NA and UBS => http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/na-v-ubs
Looking at http://www.logos.com/comparison noticed "The Greek New Testament, 4th rev. ed. with Logos Morphology" (UBS4) is included in Original Languages and higher base packages (plus several Original Language Lexicons: "Dictionary of Biblical Languages: Greek, by James Swanson" and "Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 2nd ed., ed. J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida") seem to remember Greek English Dictionary being smallish (about 1/4" thick in print).
Suggestions forum discussion => Suggestion: Another Zondervan Bible reference dictionary includes Basics of Biblical Greek (plus many more).
Keep Smiling [:)]
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I started with MacArthur's Library--there appears to be two preaching resources by MacArthur. If you don't have it, it's worth having all by itself. It helped hook me into L4, never realized what was on there!
The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter
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I have just realized the benefits of having all my books on logos and not on paper this last semester. I'll be buying everything I can on logos this fall. I have no idea what my books will be though. I don't even have a complete list for my class that starts next week! Professors definitely aren't ready for fall semester yet.
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For a student, I can't imagine anything better than Logos. If you order a print book, you can be waiting up to three weeks for a book to arrive by Media Mail. On Logos, you only have to wait through a download and indexing.
When I was in Bible school, I spent a lot of time searching in bookstores. It was a great adventure and I got some real treasures for my time. How much more profitable would it be if that was time spent studying?
The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter
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Imagine the benefits someone will reap starting Seminary five years from now. Most of the big ticket items in Prepub will be ready for download. Nothing is more satisfying, than being able to lookup information on the fly, rather than going to the library.
Mission: To serve God as He desires.
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While not precisely in line with this thread, at least a foray into the digital seminarian was made by Moody Bible Institute with the advent of the AM courseware with logos
http://www.logos.com/products/search?q=am+courseware+moody
It would be great to see future seminaries start building booklists/collections for their students that would be coupled with tuition.
Sarcasm is my love language. Obviously I love you. 0 -
Thomas Black said:
While not precisely in line with this thread, at least a foray into the digital seminarian was made by Moody Bible Institute with the advent of the AM courseware with logos
http://www.logos.com/products/search?q=am+courseware+moody
It would be great to see future seminaries start building booklists/collections for their students that would be coupled with tuition.
[:D] Welcome to the thread Thomas. http://community.logos.com/forums/p/35902/269543.aspx#269543
Maybe you can clear up two things on the Moody course-ware for me.
- Can the instructional part of the lessons be used multiple times? I do know a separate exam code is need for each online testing.
- Will the resource run on Logos 4?
Thanks!
Logos 7 Collectors Edition
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Whomever at Logos unlocked Preaching by John MacArthur for individual purchase...
THANK YOU!!!! [8-|]
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I would shop around, you can get the entire lifeworks for less than the cost of that book.
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I will be teaching 2 courses this fall. Both of my textbooks are available digitally, though from 2 different platforms: 1 from olivetree (Mounce's Basic Greek) and the other in Kindle format from Amazon. I would always choose e-books as textbook if one is available.
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Super Tramp said:
Welcome to the thread Thomas. http://community.logos.com/forums/p/35902/269543.aspx#269543Maybe you can clear up two things on the Moody course-ware for me.
- Can the instructional part of the lessons be used multiple times? I do know a separate exam code is need for each online testing.
- Will the resource run on Logos 4?
Thanks!
Since I don't own the resource I don't rightly know. The thread just triggered my memory of the resource and I had to look it up.
At one point the tests were not working in L4; but I can't recall if that was fixed.
(aha it appears that it has.)
Sarcasm is my love language. Obviously I love you. 0 -
Paul,
I've done pretty well so far with Logos.
Christian Theology by Erickson for Systematic Theology II & III.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ by Walvoord for my Analysis of Revelation class.
Essentials of NT Greek by Summers for Elementary Greek I & II. However, I ordered this in the bundle with 2 other very useful titles.
Greek Grammer Beyond the Basics by Wallace for Intermediate Greek I & II.
Holman New Testament Commentary by Boa for Analysis of Romans class.
I purchased a lot of books that were not required to supplement my reading. (As if 900 pages per trimester were not enough)
I've also purchased a few titles in the Kindle format, but I wish they were available in my Logos library because the searching and cross references are amazing. They even let me return a book for refund when I discovered that the kindle version did not include page numbers which made it impossible to keep up with the prof in class.
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I'm just auditing one course, since I already graduated (in 2004), but I like to keep my toes in and keep learning.
I'm taking The History of World Christianity.
All three of the main course textbooks were available in Kindle format, and I have Kindle for PC to read them:
- The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission (Christopher Wright)
- Christian Mission: How Christianity Became a World Religion (Dana Robert)
- Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think About and Discuss Theology (Timothy Tennent)
All of them would have been good to have in Logos/Vyrso format, but alas they were not available.
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