Reformed theology, Logos, and the rest of us.

I just purchased Reardon's excellent book Christ in the Psalms on Kindle tonight but would rather have purchased it in Logos. 

David Kirk Davis said:

I (...) wish Logos would bring out more from the Orthodox perspective.

Then please go to the Suggestion forum and add your support to threads like:

• Suggestion: Commentaries by Theophylact of Ochrid circa 1090
• Orthodox Lectionary Pastoral Commentaries
• Commentaries from COePA (Coptic Orthodox)
• Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity by McGuckin
• EOB New Testament available for a year ...
• Philokalia
• Dear Logos, to relieve the burden on those with large numbers of pre-publications being released
• SUGGESTION: Collection of sermons

(You too, Tom! [:)])

MJ, thanks for the recommendation. I have been reading him on the web the last few days. Great writer. I especially liked the sermon he gave on utopia and escapism found on his page. 

I've had the Adam Clarke commentary for almost 3 years in Logos. Don't know why it's not available now.

Seriously?   A 150 year old (+) commentary set that is free pretty much everywhere else for $100.00...><

Rene Atchley said:

Seriously?   A 150 year old (+) commentary set that is free pretty much everywhere else for $100.00...><

You think that's bad:

Charles Spurgeon Collection - $699.95

[:|]

to save you the effort in worrying about TULIP.

romans 8 & 9 should be read in perspective of Christian salvation vs Jewish 'law' forgiveness.

I realize this is a fast summary. but the point is that extreme Calvinist summaries such as TULIP didn't really think through the context of various verses.

The best starting point I can give is that: romans 8 & 9 refer to Christian salvation in contrast to Jewish 'law focussed' forgiveness. This conclusion can be gained by understanding that the purpose of Romans has a large focus on Christian salvation in  conrast to Jewish law based forgiveness.

you can find this out manually by counting the number of "Christ" and "Jesus" based verses and comparing to the "Jew" & "law" based verses __Surrounding___ Romans 8 & 9.

Thanks for your time.

Tex.P

Brad Fry said:

Todd Phillips said:

The Adam Clarke commentary was available up until until they decided to rebuild it along with his whole works. 

Showing some of my ignorance here. What is the purpose of rebuilding it? What will this correct or improve?

Rebuilding means retyping the content (to improve accuracy - fewer typos), manually tagging cross-references to add links to all current Logos resources, and building better indexes.  This is the message the product page had before it was moved to Community Pricing:

"The previous editions were created many years ago, using the best digital files available at the time. We’re rebuilding Clarke's Commentary from the ground up—The Works of Adam Clarke (24 vols.) contains new, updated files as well as eighteen additional resources."

This is similar to what they are doing with Spurgeon's Sermons.  It was also an old Ages product that needed updating.

Todd Phillips said:

Brad Fry said:

I've had the Adam Clarke commentary for almost 3 years in Logos. Don't know why it's not available now.

The Adam Clarke commentary was available up until until they decided to rebuild it along with his whole works.  First the Works collection was a prepub, then it moved to community pricing.

I think it likely that those of us who have the Adam Clarke Commentary already in Logos will receive the new updated commentary files, just as is being done for those who already have the Spurgeon's Sermons in Logos.  Of course, that is Logos' decision, but it seems consistent with what they have been doing.

I wonder if there is a special upgrade price for Adam Clarke's Works for those who already have the Commentary - which is his most famous work by far.

Texas Pete said:

p.s And this is stuff that most ppl have overlooked in published commentaries!

Has Anyone else come to this understanding before reading my post? (im interested because i've not read anything [ZERO] concerning a person with significant insight in published commentaries)

or references?

kind thanks. (sorry for slight boastfullness in my helpfullness but it's one of those days im happy to help & being slightly cheeky in realizing that almost no one is willing to publish a contextual insight into this subject

Tex.

 

One should be careful in thinking one has come to the proper conclusion of a text that everyone else, in all times, everywhere has missed. It might be that ones conclusion may be faulty, not everyone else's.

MJ. Smith said:

This is an example of why we need The Jewish Annotated New Testament edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler in Logos. Unfortunately, It is Oxford.

“I knew Jews shied away from reading the New Testament...because they thought New Testaments from Christian publishers sought to proselytize..." ~ Marc Z. Brettler

And here I thought that most of the New Testament was written in order to proselytize [;)]

MJ. Smith said:

Shmuel Birnbaum said:

Does Logos offer a balanced theological menu or is the balance weighed heavily in the TULIP direction?

As a Catholic, I'm a longways from TULIP. It all depends on what you call "balanced". Logos, like any company, gives preferential treatment to products that sell well. However, they do make an effort, especially through partnerships, to cover the broader Judeo-Christian market. With some of the user-driven selection of works to go into production, one doesn't need a large number of people to get resources for other theological schools - only enough to meet production costs. In addition users can create and share resources (in L3 but coming soon in L4) to add specialty resources.

Given the number of Messianic Jews on the forums, I think you are safe in assuming that there is enough benefit for you to risk the investment.

please don't take this negatively.  my comment - "like" (for lack of a better, FB-style process)

in response to Alan and Evan,

agreed, also one should be careful to stay with the ignorant on obvious things and not being a Pharisee by saying "i cannot tell" rather than stating what should be evident too! :-) pls consider that being "safely ignorant" so that you are not criticized as a flaw too! (catholics are notorious for this seeing they have been largely discouraged from even reading the bible - of which some of the logos publications should prove). 

I agree wholeheartedly with your comment on face value - but wounded by the seemingly un justified & un insightful response (but i suppose it isn't the point of the first post anywayz so i guess ill take it on the chin) regards - since i am comfortable with your safe response done in a probable nice manner.

Brent Hoefling said:

As a Catholic, I'm a longways from TULIP

No surprise here, seeing you dont believe salvation is by grace alone.

Brent Hoefling said:

please check your quote tags.  I did not say that.

Sorry about that.

Brent Hoefling said:

You may also want to ask and check before you make assumptions about any doctrinal stand someone might have - especially if you are basing your assumption with a broad-brush-stroke in pigeon-holing someone's personal beliefs. 

If someone says they are Catholic, I assume they follow the  Roman Catholic teaching in their Catechism .

MJ. Smith said:

Evan Boardman said:

If someone says they are Catholic, I assume they follow the  Roman Catholic teaching in their Catechism .

Let's start over:

...

MJ. Smith said:

Let's start over:

1. One can readily be Catholic without being Roman Catholic - around 17 million people are united under the Vatican but not Roman Catholic.

2. About 25 million people consider themselves Catholic but are to some degree estranged from the Vatican.

3. The Catechism is designed to assist in the teaching of the Catholic faith. It is not uniform across all Catholic rites e.g. a Byzantine Catholic will describe original sin and purgatory in a different manner than a Latin Catholic - compatible but not the same. Its for catechists not theologians and Catholics can be either.

4. Catholicism acknowledges different levels of certainty regarding beliefs - by knowing someone is Catholic you know they hold certain core beliefs but as you move away from the core there is more and more variation.

5. The core of Catholicism is worship - as we pray, so we believe. So if you wish to make assumptions regarding belief, look at the Mass not at the Catechism.

Thank you for informing me.

MJ. Smith said:

And you're right, I hedge my bets a bit more: I believe salvation is by God alone ... in fact, I believe I exist by God alone. I'm more a
Lex orandi, lex credendi kind of girl than a works vs. grace kind of girl.

Lord, I am not worthy to receive you...  or as the "improved" version says, "Lord, I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof, but say only the word and my soul shall be healed."  Seems to be a pretty clear confession of Grace alone to this Lutheran.  Even in the 16th century it was pretty clear that Rome taught Grace alone, especially in the liturgical prayers of the Latin rite, which were often written to be anti-Pelagian.

However, Rome generally views that Grace as a supernatural substance, and Luther's (in?)famous "Babylonian Captivity of the Church" does have some not so nice things to say about that.  The differences are still there (eg., "Deus Caritas Est" criticizes Luther for his lack of metaphysical view of faith).  But Rome confesses Grace alone stronger than many do.

SDG

Ken McGuire

Boy, this thread got off track in a hurry.  I simply inquired about what I saw as a recent slant and imbalance toward more Calvinistic resources as compared to non-Calvinistic ones.  I'm well aware of how intense the theological debate is, especially over the last decade or so with the rise of what I'd call a very aggressive push by Calvinists (hence my question about Logos and what I see as an overabundance of newer releases seeming to slant in that direction).  Nevertheless, I was hoping to just get a simple explanation as to why non-Calvinistic material (Arminian, Wesleyan, and classical Pentecostal) didn't seem to be offered at the same rate, or seem to be receiving the same "push" as the TULIP material did.  If Logos needs recommendations, I can certainly offer plenty. 

Heck, if they'd go back to the material offered on the AGES discs from the late 90's that would be a start.  They had some incredible material on the "Master Christian Library" that spanned both theological streams with equality.  An equality I do NOT see right now in Logos.