Best Commentaries Sale: Does Not Correspond to Bestcommentaries.com

Let me begin by stating that this sale is a really good thing. Anytime high-quality commentaries are offered at a 50% discount is great! Thank you, Faithlife, for making this happen.

At the same time, the sale is not precisely what it seems to claim it is. From the way it is presently worded and displayed, I take it to mean that the number rankings on the sale page correspond to the rankings on bestcommentaries.com. This is NOT the case.

For example, consider the rankings on the sales page for the NT book of Luke:

The New American Commentary: Luke (by Robert Stein)
The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Luke (by Joel Green)
The Gospel of Luke: The New International Greek Testament Commentary (by I. Howard Marshall)
Luke: An Introduction and Commentary (by Leon Morris)
The Anchor Yale Bible: The Gospel according to Luke (two volumes by Joseph Fitzmyer)

Now consider the actual rankings from bestcommentaries.com (with Logos sales page books bolded):

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Luke (by Darrell Bock)
The New American Commentary: Luke (by Robert Stein)
The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Luke (by Joel Green)
The Gospel of Luke: The New International Greek Testament Commentary (by I. Howard Marshall)
Luke: An Introduction and Commentary (by Leon Morris)
The New International Version Application Commentary (by Darrell Bock)
The Anchor Yale Bible: The Gospel according to Luke (two volumes by Joseph Fitzmyer)

As can be seen, the rankings from the Logos sales page do NOT correspond precisely to those on bestcommentaries.com. This is true for other biblical books as well. It would appear that Faithlife was unable to reach agreements with publishers over certain commentary series to include in the sale. Personally, I am not bothered at all by this reality. But, to give artificial rankings to the commentaries Faithlife was able to include in the sale seems a bit disingenuous when making reference to bestcommentaries.com so prominently.

In conclusion, these are great sales. Do not be misled, however, in thinking that the sales page ordering of commentaries is identical to bestcommentaries.com. Some of the "Highest Rated from Genesis to Revelation" are not included in this sale.

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Comments

Simon’s Brother

Daniel this is nothing unexpected when it comes to Logos marketing - the lines have been blurred many times.

You have to read the fine print - now only if they included the fine print so we could read it.

Nick Highland

I really appreciate this, Daniel. I hope this will be corrected in some way, even if it is just to clarify the difference in rankings.

Bruce Dunning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977105#Comment_977105

The word "best" is so subjective. I'm not sure who compiled this list at Faithlife but certainly it is subjective too. That's okay with me and I'm thankful for the generous sale that is offered.

Clifford B. Kvidahl

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977109#Comment_977109

Having a site like Bestcommentaries.com rate commentaries is like have a site called bestbottledwater.com rate bottle water. You ask 100 people which is the best and you get a 100 different and rather pointless suggestions.

Cliff

James Chandler

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977109#Comment_977109

The word "best" is so subjective.

Funny, that's what I was going to say

DAL

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977130#Comment_977130

The word "best" is so subjective.

Funny, that's what I was going to say

Plain and simple summary!

Richard Villanueva

I would assume the best commentaries they can place on sale would also take into accounut what publishers are willing to particiapte as well - so maybe something that is considered "Best" may just not be available. Just a guess.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977145#Comment_977145

Richard you are undoubtedly correct.

To satisfy the original question, FL can put an asterisk by their title.

*These are the top five commentaries from each list that we publish and are able to offer at this discount level.

Ben Amundgaard (Faithlife)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977174#Comment_977174

Richard you are undoubtedly correct.

To satisfy the original question, FL can put an asterisk by their title.

*These are the top five commentaries from each list that we publish and are able to offer at this discount level.

Good points all around. I'm going to have the team add a note to the page.

Chi Shun Cheung

Yeah, actually on the other posts I have already made this following point:

The sale corresponds to Bestcommentaries, EXCEPT for any BECNT (or Baker OT) volumes (and Bock). Otherwise the list is pretty accurate. It seems that Baker is very reluctant to put their items on sale (as with March Madness).

Kaleb Cuevas

I have updated all the rankings to better reflect the ones on best commentaries. Please let me know if you notice any errors.

Chi Shun Cheung

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977332#Comment_977332

Thank you Kaleb.

Daniel Radke

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977332#Comment_977332

I have updated all the rankings to better reflect the ones on best commentaries. Please let me know if you notice any errors.

Kaleb, thank you for taking the time to do this. As I said in my original post, a big thank you to Faithlife for having this great sale!

Into Grace

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977338#Comment_977338

Thanks, Kaleb. When I saw the sale, I immediately thought of (to my recollection) Bestcommentaries.com

Allen Browne

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977332#Comment_977332

I have updated all the rankings to better reflect the ones on best commentaries. Please let me know if you notice any errors.

Kaleb, thank you so much for doing that. It really does feel so much more accurate today.

In a few hours, I'll be blogging this sale, and you've saved me having to "explain" it.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977332#Comment_977332

I have updated all the rankings to better reflect the ones on best commentaries.

I think that only helps a bit. Now the question might be, where are the ones FL publishes and are missing?

I believe there should be a statement similar to the one I suggested earlier right at the top of the listing. That takes care of everything.

Mike Childs

Well, all I have to say about all this is "Thanks Faithlife! Great sale!"

Paul Caneparo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977364#Comment_977364

Well, all I have to say about all this is "Thanks Faithlife! Great sale!"

Totally agree. This is the type of sale I've been waiting for, but couldn't even have dreamed of!

I loved the Galatians commentary sale a few years ago. Plus there was a great one on Daniel & Revelation commentaries. I think both of those sales pretty much offered every commentary in those books at 50% off. But to get a sale of 5 or so "best" rated commentaries on every book of the Bible is amazing.

Allen Browne

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977360#Comment_977360

Blogged: https://allenbrowne.blog/2018/05/03/best-commentaries/

Deacon Steve

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977332#Comment_977332

I have updated all the rankings to better reflect the ones on best commentaries. Please let me know if you notice any errors.

I've noticed that some of the circles with ranking numbers in the corner of the book image are different colors. Is there some significance to those differences?

Kaleb Cuevas

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977411#Comment_977411

1-2 are green 3-5 are blue and 6 or above is tan. It is just how best commentaries have their ranking system setup.

Nick Highland

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977431#Comment_977431

I really appreciate this fix!

Mattillo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/977432#Comment_977432

I'm still hoping 1 Kings by Ralph Davis gets squeezed onto this sale