Buyers' Guide: Logos 6 Platinum editions

Since the launch of Logos 4, I've tried to write Buyer's Guides to Logos Base packages. Here are my belated opinions on Logos 6 Gold packages. (There are also guides for Starter, Bronze, Silver and Gold editions.)

Platinum includes all of Gold, and adds a lot of resources, but costs $600 more. For the extra dollars you get several Greek texts including NA28 [$39.99] and the Greek Audio New Testament [$44.95], plus morphologically tagged Greek editions of Josephus [$179.95], Philo [$99.95] and the Apocryphal Gospels [$49.95]. Useful commentaries include the pastoral Warren Wiersbe's Old Testament "Be" Series [$159.95] and IVP New Testament Commentary Series [$289.95], the academic Exegetical Summaries [$554.95] and JPS's Tanakh Commentary Collection [$399.95], a few critical 19th century commentaries and Metzger's Textual Commentary on the NT [$31.95]. Greek lexicons are better served, with the addition of BDAG [$150] and Louw-Nida [$35.95]. Also included is Aquinas' Summa Theologica [$249.95], the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge [$319.95] and some ANE journals.

Anglican Platinum has none of these additions, except Summa Theologica. Improvements over Anglican Gold include the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture New Testament [$148.95], John P. Meier's A Marginal Jew [$199.95], Butler's Lives of the Saints [$249.95], the works of George Whitefield [$199.95] and Erasmus [$199.95], and a number of works of medieval, 19th-century and modern theology, from Anselm of Canterbury [$17.95] to Alistair McGrath [$185.95]. Anglican Platinum also adds works from other base packages, including Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament [$119.95] from Bronze, and UBS Handbooks [$619.95] from Gold.

Baptist Platinum also misses out on several of Platinum's highlights, although it does include the IVP commentaries (from Baptist Gold), Metzger, and Louw-Nida. Several relatively simple commentary sets have been added: Believers Church Bible Commentary [$399.95], College Press NIV Commentary [$769.95], Exploring the Bible Commentary [$169.95], Reading the New Testament Commentary [$209.95] and Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures [$399.95], plus Butler's Bible Biographies [$299.95]. The works of John Gill [$299.95] and Zwingli [$69.95] are also included. The only really academic works are Justification and Variegated Nomism [$69.95] and TDNT [$199.95] which is added from Gold.

Lutheran Platinum has most of Platinum's Greek works (NA28, Greek audio, Josephus, Philo, Metzger, and Louw-Nida). To that are added Greek exegetical dictionaries (TDNT [$199.95] and EDNT [$139.95]), Moulton's Grammar of New Testament Greek [$179.95] and the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament Bundle [$149.95]. For the OT, there are quite a few volumes that will help with background, including the Ugaritic Library [$429.95]. as well as Forms of the Old Testament Literature Series [$243.95]. NT background is also fairly well served, e.g. with the Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition [$89.95] and Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism [$79.95]. Several one-volume Bible dictionaries included in early standard base packages are also finally added, as is The Encyclopedia of Christianity [$349.95].

Reformed Platinum has only Philo, Metzger, Louw-Nida and Schaff-Herzog from Platinum's goodies. The New American Commentary [$509.95] is finally included, and takes its place alongside the Evangelical Press Study Commentary [$299.95]. For Greek, there's Liddell and Scott's Lexicon [$135]; in Biblical Studies, Justification and Variegated Nomism [$69.95]; in Systematics, Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics [$179.95]. There are several collected works: from the contemporary Douglas Wilson [$189.95] through Geerhardus Vos [$159.95], B. B. Warfield [$274.95] and George Whitfield [$199.95]. There are also a few ministry collections on Marriage and Family [$89.95] and Preaching and Worship [$169.95].

Verdict: The Platinum base packages are something of a mixed bag. Platinum might suit pastors wanting to do in-depth Greek exegesis, but offers little new on the OT. Anglican Platinum is woefully short of commentaries and exegetical aids in my opinion. Baptist Platinum has some nice commentaries, but at this level I'd expect at least some of the additions to be more exegetical and academic. Lutheran Platinum is good for NT exegesis, fairly good for OT/NT background, OK for theology (if you like the Continental sort) but almost all its commentaries are very dated. Reformed Platinum is certainly a good improvement on Reformed Gold, and is not too far behind Platinum for Biblical Studies. If you're not a pastor doing in-depth Greek exegesis (or even if you are) remember that for about the same money, you could purchase Gold plus one of the denominational Silver base packages. That mix is likely to offer better value for money for most people.

Want more? You can read the entire guide to 37 base packages at my website: http://www.logosbiblesoftwaretraining.com/documents/logos-6-buyers-guide/