Spurgeon on Barnes' Notes (Community Pricing)

http://www.logos.com/communitypricing/details/2132

With Barnes' Notes closing in on 70% at the $30 mark, the goal is almost in sight. In fact, if everybody who has bid at least $10 on Barnes would raise their bid to $30, it would be over 90%. If everybody raised their bid to $35, it would cross 100%--and likely would end up going for $30 by the time it closed.

For anybody still on the fence over whether this 10,000+ page resource is worth your hard-earned $35, here is what Charles Spurgeon had to say about Albert Barnes:

"Placed by the side of the great masters, Barnes is a lesser light, but
taking his work for what it is and professes to be, no minister can afford to be
without it, and this is no small praise for works which were only intended for
Sunday-school teachers." - Spurgeon in Lectures to my Students, vol. 4

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Comments

TCBlack

Most excellent quotation Ron. [y]

Ron

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/155796#Comment_155796

Most excellent quotation Ron.

Thanks [:)] I came across that quote a while back, but I've been "saving" it until I thought a push for Barnes' would do the most good. Hopefully this is good timing since there seems to be a fair bit of excitement surrounding Barnes' making progress and since there are technically enough bidders to get it over the top.

Simon

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/155800#Comment_155800

Barnes is well worth the money. Even though I have the big technical commentaries (NICOT/ICC/WBC/etc) and also some less technical commentaries, I always go to check what Barnes has to say...

At $30 it's a really good deal!

Rich DeRuiter

http://www.logos.com/communitypricing/details/2132

With Barnes' Notes closing in on 70% at the $30 mark, the goal is almost in sight. In fact, if everybody who has bid at least $10 on Barnes would raise their bid to $30, it would be over 90%. If everybody raised their bid to $35, it would cross 100%--and likely would end up going for $30 by the time it closed.

For anybody still on the fence over whether this 10,000+ page resource is worth your hard-earned $35, here is what Charles Spurgeon had to say about Albert Barnes:

"Placed by the side of the great masters, Barnes is a lesser light, but
taking his work for what it is and professes to be, no minister can afford to be
without it, and this is no small praise for works which were only intended for
Sunday-school teachers." - Spurgeon in Lectures to my Students, vol. 4

(Consider this a friendly nudge.)

If it's so good, why is it only worth about $0.0035 (0.35 cents) per page? Sorry, but I can't help but see a contradiction between the praise for this resource and the bids for it.

By your logic, if I understand it right, if everyone who bid between $30 and $55, would bid $60 this thing would go over the top today ($30@ 60% X2 = 120%). I'm in at $70, and would bid higher, but, after looking at his stuff on a web site suggested on another thread, I don't think Barnes will really be that helpful to me. In other words, I think even $70 for this large a resource is ridiculously low. A penny a page for this resource (at 10,000 pages) would be $100; even that is a steal, IMHO.

I have to ask, you and everyone else who says how important Barnes is, how much do you really want this? Does your bid reflect your level of interest?

Floyd Johnson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/155809#Comment_155809

Given the pricing for Community Pricing books - it would seem that we are bidding fairly. I wonder how the cost/page compares to that of some of the Hastings works that have gone through lately. Though I have had doubts (given that I picked up a competing product that has Barnes for free), I stand by my $75 bid.

Ron

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/155809#Comment_155809

(Consider this a friendly nudge.)

If it's so good, why is it only worth about $0.0035 (0.35 cents) per page? Sorry, but I can't help but see a contradiction between the praise for this resource and the bids for it.

By your logic, if I understand it right, if everyone who bid between $30 and $55, would bid $60 this thing would go over the top today ($30@ 60% X2 = 120%). I'm in at $70, and would bid higher, but, after looking at his stuff on a web site suggested on another thread, I don't think Barnes will really be that helpful to me. In other words, I think even $70 for this large a resource is ridiculously low. A penny a page for this resource (at 10,000 pages) would be $100; even that is a steal, IMHO.

I have to ask, you and everyone else who says how important Barnes is, how much do you really want this? Does your bid reflect your level of interest?

Yes, your math is correct.

Personally, I don't think the low bids reflect whether Barnes is viewed as important or valuable, I think a big part of it is that it is easily accessible elsewhere. I'd like it in Logos for convenience and I'm willing to pay $40 for that convenience. I'm not willing to pay $60 for that convenience primarily because it is freely available in e-sword, where I currently consult it from time to time. I'd much prefer to have it in Logos just so I can finally uninstall e-sword (Barnes & K&D are the only resources I still access in e-sword and I will have K&D as soon as I upgrade to from Bible Study to Platinum in the not too distant future), but I'm not willing to pay more than $40 just to make a small nuisance go away...especially since I don't consult Barnes' extensively, though I do value him enough to consult him from time to time. With that said, if it went for $60 (or more), I'd cough up the extra $20 since that would still be a great deal on such a large resource and since the price will only go up once it hits pre-pub and retail...but unless it comes to that, I'm willing to be patient and continue bringing attention to it from time to time in the hopes that eventually it will make it over the line at a lower price. It IS moving, just not rapidly. I can be patient...it is not something I'm in urgent need of since I have it elsewhere...and I'm guessing that's the case for many people.

Ron

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/155811#Comment_155811

Greater Men and Women went for $0.0028 per page or so, so I agree with Floyd that what is being bid for Barnes' is about in line with what other CP titles have gone for and a fair reflection of what people are willing to pay for public domain titles.

Jack Caviness

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/155809#Comment_155809

I have to ask, you and everyone else who says how important Barnes is, how much do you really want this? Does your bid reflect your level of interest?

I clicked on the max button ($90) many moons ago.

Todd Phillips

"Placed by the side of the great masters, Barnes is a lesser light, but
taking his work for what it is and professes to be, no minister can afford to be
without it, and this is no small praise for works which were only intended for
Sunday-school teachers." - Spurgeon in Lectures to my Students, vol. 4

Let's show the whole Spurgeon quote, which is useful in understanding where Barnes' strengths are:

"'Albert Barnes", say you, "what, do you think of Albert Barnes?' Albert Barnes is a learned and able divine, but his productions are unequal in value, the gospels are of comparatively little worth, but his other comments are extremely useful for Sunday School teachers and persons with a narrow range of reading, endowed with enough good sense to discriminate between good and evil. If a controversial eye had been turned upon Barnes's Notes years ago, and his inaccuracies shown up by some unsparing hand, he would never have had the popularity which at one time set rival publishers advertising him in every direction. His Old Testament volumes are to be greatly commended as learned and laborious, and the epistles are useful as a valuable collection of the various opinions of learned men. Placed by the side of the great masters, Barnes is a lesser light, but taking his work for what it is and professes to be, no minister can afford to be without it, and this is no small praise for works which were only intended for Sunday School teachers." - Charles Spurgeon.

Here are some other reviews as well:

Barnes, Albert. Barnes’ Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1975rp.
This includes 16 volumes on the Old Testament, 11 on the New Testament. The New Testament part of this old work was first published in 1832–1851. Various authors contributed. It is evangelical and amillennial. Also see the Kregel reprint (1966) in I volume of 1,776 pages on the New Testament. Often the explanations of verses are very worthwhile.
Rosscup, J. (2004). Commentaries for Biblical Expositors: An annotated bibliography of selected works (27). The Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications.

Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament (/Kregel in one vol., $54.79; /Baker in 14 vols., $670.00) marries common sense and pungent practicality but every so often resorts to eccentric exegesis.
Carson, D. A. (2007). New Testament commentary survey (6th ed.) (33). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

I did not know that "Various authors contributed" as stated by Rosscup. I guess maybe that's because Barnes is providing a summary of what other commentators have to say ("a valuable collection of the various opinions of learned men")?

Ron

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/155901#Comment_155901

Let's show the whole Spurgeon quote, which is useful in understanding where Barnes' strengths are:

Thanks Todd, I don't have Spurgeon's resources, so I only had the piece of the quote I had found while searching the internet.

Todd Phillips

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/155924#Comment_155924

Let's show the whole Spurgeon quote, which is useful in understanding where Barnes' strengths are:

Thanks Todd, I don't have Spurgeon's resources, so I only had the piece of the quote I had found while searching the internet.

No problem. I don't have that resource either (Commenting and Commentaries)--it's available online here (the actual quote is on this page).

Ron

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/155927#Comment_155927

Let's show the whole Spurgeon quote, which is useful in understanding where Barnes' strengths are:

Thanks Todd, I don't have Spurgeon's resources, so I only had the piece of the quote I had found while searching the internet.

No problem. I don't have that resource either (Commenting and Commentaries)--it's available online here (the actual quote is on this page).

Hey, lookie there! Thanks again [:)]