Logos prejudice proven (timeline of authors of "collected works")

Okay, the subject line belongs on a tabloid but honest, how would you interpret this timeline if not showing that Logos favors English language resources after 1500 A.D. Angel I have coded the data with denominational data but only distinguished Jewish, Catholic, Other by color as I'm not confident in some of my denominational classifications. This is not complete - it's not easy to get the Logos website to select the collections I wanted.

I'll gladly add additional people to the chart or even color code additional denominations if given the data. Notes: people for whom I didn't find dates live and die in 1900. People who haven't died are arbitrarily killed off in 2100.

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Hapax Legomena

Missing Brown, Fitzmyer, Ratzinger . . . to name a few.

Jack Hairston

You don't suppose that the more recent works would sell better, do you? <duck and run>

Bill Anderson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379638#Comment_379638

Missing Max Lucado.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379638#Comment_379638

You don't suppose that the more recent works would sell better, do you? <duck and run>

Not likely. Logos' best seller was completed about 100 A.D. and was in Hebrew/Greek not English[:D]

Tom Reynolds

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379642#Comment_379642

Personally I think Logos is prejudiced towards what sells in large numbers. Of course this has been self reinforcing but they are currently working on expanding their customer base so they can sell even more to even more.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379663#Comment_379663

Personally I think Logos is prejudiced towards what sells in large numbers

True - and the number of books available to print is greater after the printing press was introduced. But neither of those explanations are as fun.[:)]

Paul N

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379669#Comment_379669

But neither of those explanations are as fun.

lol!

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379669#Comment_379669

Personally I think Logos is prejudiced towards what sells in large numbers

True - and the number of books available to print is greater after the printing press was introduced. But neither of those explanations are as fun.

Also the Logos customer base is dominated by English speakers and for most of Church History English was NOT the #1 theological language. Speaking as a Lutheran, I know that quite a bit of historically important theology has never been translated into English - both from the Evangelical side as well as Rome's, let alone the Eastern church.

Unfortunately there are few that can really pick up and read Migne, for example, anymore.

Dean J

I think we should be very careful about using a weighted word like prejudice. 'Preference' would be better.

It's like when the RC calls their guy the 'apologist', and the other guy the 'anti-catholic'.

I had a laugh seeing all the early church fathers shaded the same color as later roman catholic writers.

I think George Salmon summed up the situation very well:

"An unlearned Protestant perceives that the doctrine of Rome is not the doctrine of the Bible. A learned Protestant adds that neither is it the doctrine of the primitive Church."

I realize I'm treading a fine line here with this post. I suggest that our rc posters refrain from prejudiced posts which mislabel others and which make sectarian claims.

George Somsel

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379640#Comment_379640

Missing Max Lucado.

If only [^o)] (plus a few others)

George Somsel

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379686#Comment_379686

Unfortunately there are few that can really pick up and read Migne, for example, anymore.

Tolle lege. You will only be able to do it if you make the attempt.

Todd Phillips

I'll gladly add additional people to the chart or even color code additional denominations if given the data.

It seems to me that you should add all of the writers included in the Early Church Fathers.

fgh

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379629#Comment_379629

Missing Brown, Fitzmyer, Ratzinger . . . to name a few.

It seems to me that you should add all of the writers included in the Early Church Fathers.

None of these are "Collected Works" (as in the thread title). More like "Selected Works".

(Well, perhaps a few of the Fathers are, but it would be an awful lot of work to figure out which.)

(Actually, not all of those included are "collected" either. We certainly don't have everything by Aquinas.)

Todd Phillips

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379731#Comment_379731

Missing Brown, Fitzmyer, Ratzinger . . . to name a few.

It seems to me that you should add all of the writers included in the Early Church Fathers.

None of these are "Collected Works" (as in the thread title). More like "Selected Works".

(Well, perhaps a few of the Fathers are, but it would be an awful lot of work to figure out which.)

(Actually, not all of those included are "collected" either. We certainly don't have everything by Aquinas.)

Many of the "collected" works are not complete. So Collected = Selected.

Also, many of the ECF authors are extensively represented in the ECF: Augustine, Chrysostom, Tertullian.

BillS

how would you interpret this timeline

Hi Martha, before sharing my thought, I want to commend you on your effort & chartsmanship... whether or not you forgot a few works isn't nearly as interesting as what possible causes might be... Before I go on, NICE WORK! Here are alternative thoughts pointing toward different possibilities for looking at the same data:

Is it possible the chart doesn't reveal so much logos' bias as much as it does their customers' bias--that Logos is developing what they can sell enough of to remain in business & grow?
Is it possible to a lesser extent that the chart also reveals human population growth----that there are simply more writers of enough "interest" to choose from after 1500 AD ("interest" (= possible sales, see #1; re AD, can't bring myself to take Domini out of the centerpoint of time by referring to it as CE, though I understand & support those who do)?
And is it also possible that if we also plotted what year these resources were developed & what year publisher accords were reached (with implied commitment to publish their resources), that the data might also correlate to Logos growth?

Just a few thoughts leading to other alternatives than any INTENDED bias on Logos' part, even if the result is as one sided as you've shown.

Many blessings to you.

BillS

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379706#Comment_379706

If only (plus a few others)

Stop holding back, George. Are you REALLY implying that you hold Max in the same high regard as interlinears? [;)]

George Somsel

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379744#Comment_379744

If only (plus a few others)

Stop holding back, George. Are you REALLY implying that you hold Max in the same high regard as interlinears?

It's close. I don't have much use for modern more "devotional" works. The reader should be able to make the application to his own situation.

(‾◡◝)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379751#Comment_379751

I don't have much use for modern more "devotional" works.

Amen.

[edit: I was going to say that they tend to be a mile wide and an inch deep, but that might be controversial, so I won't]

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379697#Comment_379697

I think we should be very careful about using a weighted word like prejudice.

I hope it was clear that I was teasing

I had a laugh seeing all the early church fathers shaded the same color as later roman catholic writers.

I would have colored them Catholic/Orthodox if I had the ability to shade in 2 colors.

I suggest that our rc posters refrain from prejudiced posts which mislabel others and which make sectarian claims.

I certainly did not intend to do either. I apologize to all who take the post in that manner. In a broad sweep, I see the Church as essentially 2 threads for the 1st millenium - Eastern (Nestorian) and Byzantine/Western.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379742#Comment_379742

Here are alternative thoughts pointing toward different possibilities for looking at the same data:

Well, I'll admit to the following:

Logos' base is English speaking so they are "biased" towards books written in English or translated into English.
Logos prefers to work from printed or electronic books so they are "biased" towards post-printing press books.
Logos initially targeted an American Evangelical customer base so their "bias" towards earning money and being financially solvent leads to English language post-reformation works.
As Logos has grown, Logos has been filling in many of its holes so they are "biased" towards being a broader resource.
I suspect the "bias" is intentional in the sense that a good business plan establishes a reputation in a slice of the market, then expands from that base. I don't see the bias as a bad thing, just a statistical effect of a good business plan and of Christian history.
I mentioned tabloids specifically to keep people from taking the thread title seriously and did put an actual title in parens.
I was taken aback by Dean053's reaction and would not have have put my tongue so firmly in cheek had I anticipated it. While I am reasonably adept at predicting the ACELO response (Anglican-Catholic-Eastern Church-Lutheran-Orthodox), I do sometimes step in it with other groups - including the Restorationist group in which I was raised.

fgh

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/379638#Comment_379638

You don't suppose that the more recent works would sell better, do you? <duck and run>

Well, Sweden is supposed to be a Protestant country, but I can assure you the Christian book market here does not look anything at all like that chart. Books from between, say, 1600 and 1900 are virtually non-existant, except for a tiny number of authors, almost all Catholic and/or mystics. Even from the 16th century, what sells is St Teresa and St John of the Cross, not Luther (and certainly not the other reformers).