Set Verbum to command

MJ. Smith said:

Donald Antenen (Faithlife) said:

However, your features will be the same in each.

This is not true - there are Guide sections in Logos that are not available in Verbum ... and unless it has changed recent, Collection Guide sections in Verbum that are not default collections in Logos.

These default collections in Verbum are a great feature, and it would be a shame if Logos installs couldn't use them when they want to.

If you do deprecate the command, please offer settings for features like these.

Bradley Grainger (Faithlife) said:

David Ames said:

Your own words imply that soon we will need to have both installed. And you are implying that new users already should install both. 

No, I'm firmly of the opinion that customers should install just one application.

I'm trying to understand why people think they need to install both.

Bradley

At present I am not a Verbum user but I have purchased a number of 'Roman Catholic' resources. It has always rankled me that Logos split its features into two streams. I am wary that in the future Verbum my be the beneficiary of the long prayed for Lectionary functionality and Saints resources leaving the standard Logos users behind.

I don't want a 'heads up' when you switch off my access I want an integrated product even if that means you have to allow the more blinkered users to switch off some aspects of the program.

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I had a chance to ask Andrew Jones, Director of Catholic Products for Logos, some questions about the new product line:

Why was Verbum created, and what distinguishes it from Logos?

What we’ve done with Verbum is taken the Logos 5 software and tweaked it here and there to make it better for Catholics. The idea was that while most of the tools and functions of Logos have great value to both Catholics and Protestants, there are certain things that Catholics do differently that needed our attention. Not least among these is our preferred texts. The software relies on a certain prioritized list of books. Whenever two books could occupy the same place, the software orders them according to this priority list. So, one of the things that we have done with Verbum is put the Catholic works at the top of the list. This may seem like a minor tweak, but it actually has significant consequences

Was there a feeling that Catholics needed a product that was somewhat separate from Logos, which is product with strong Evangelical roots?

There is just no way around the fact that Catholics and Evangelicals approach the study of Christianity in different ways and making use of different resources. It is a testament to the versatility of Logos’s software that Catholics could use it for our style of study and Evangelicals could use it for theirs. This remains the case. Verbum has all the functionality of the main Logos 5 product line. However, I felt that Catholics could be better served by producing a special version of the software just for them. It was important that Catholics could just pull the product off the shelve, open it up, and start using it without having to negotiate any sort of denominational “problems.” So, when you open Verbum for the first time, you will see a Catholic Bible, the Catholic lectionary, a Catholic blog feed and things like that. Verbum users are still a part of the Logos universe, with all the benefits that go along with that, but they have their own home now.

What are some of the new tools that are specifically tailored for Catholics?

One of the things we did was create default segments within the library of texts. There are three of them: Catechism, Church Fathers, and Church Documents. These segments allow for some simple, but very useful, functionality. For example, if you are doing a search on the word “Eucharist,” you can very quickly limit it to just the writings of the Church Fathers or to the Catechism. We have incorporated these segments into what we call the Passage Guide. The Passage Guide is a tool that behaves like a dynamic study Bible. So, if you are reading a certain passage in the Bible, the tool goes into your library, pulls out relevant information on that passage, and presents it to you in a useful format. In Verbum’s Passage Guide, you can see immediately how the Catechism uses the passage in question, where the documents of the Magisterium have cited it, and how the Church Fathers treated it. You can also see when the passage is read in Mass and with what other readings. This is in addition to the normal Passage Guide tools like cross references, parallel passages, maps, commentaries, and the like. You get the same sort of behavior in other Logos tools.

My feeling when Verbum was created was that Faithlife did not appear to realize where the divide in methods fell. In many ways, mainline Protestant denominations, Anglicans, Lutherans and both groups of Orthodox share needs and methods of the Catholics. Yes, each has their own collection of liturgical, catechetical and foundational resources but they need the same support. I think that labeling Verbum "Catholic" provides an excuse to not support it as needed in development (think Saints, Lectionaries and single passage workflows in Logos 8). If Verbum was labeled "catholic" and the appropriate denominational resources given the same support that is given "Catholic", I suspect Faithlife would see a significant uptick in sales to mainline Protestant and ACELO churches.

MJ, I think it is important to distinguish between what is best for marketing, and what is best for how the software works and is developed.

For marketing, I think Andrew's intuition that Verbum should exist as a separate website, marketing strategy, etc. designed especially for Catholics was and continues to be a fantastic idea.

As regards how the software works and development strategies, I agree with you, insofar as most (but not all) of the features developed by Verbum are useful for any liturgical based tradition. 

I think the best solution to the "Set Verbum to Yes/no" question is that Faithlife add a Setting where the user can choose their "theological tradition" from a dropdown. Settings such as those currently handled by "Set Verbum to Yes/No" could be basic Catholic/Protestant options, but other traditions could be added as well, with different settings, canons, etc.

The Logos/Verbum install could be limited to cosmetic/Marketing and just OOTB default options differences.

MJ. Smith said:

Fr Devin Roza said:

I think the best solution to the "Set Verbum to Yes/no" question is that Faithlife add a Setting where the user can choose their "theological tradition" from a dropdown. Settings such as those currently handled by "Set Verbum to Yes/No" could be basic Catholic/Protestant options, but other traditions could be added as well, with different settings, canons, etc.

This is where I hope they head at least for broad swaths of the liturgical traditions.

[Y][Y]

And thanks, MJ for the background recounting as well as pushing for greater usefulness for traditions who are more heavily involved with lectionary use/study.