Over the past year or so I have enjoyed having the opportunity to use Logos Bible software. Among its many features, it does have a tremendous trove of Bible related resources to draw from. Unfortunately, creating a library can be daunting for beginners. Since I find that most folks I talk to tend to use it for research and reference rather than daily Bible reading, I wanted to create a list of resources available through Logos that seem helpful to that end. Please note that I personally own but few of these sources and my language abilities are near nil (which is why translations are emphasized below). I set this here as an ideal only.
Primary Sources – I want to focus on primary source materials, which really should be the default starting point for all of us. This is a group of texts that, other than NT documents, Logos’ library building upgrade packages tend to gloss over. Outside of the electronic environment these resources are rarely available in a single workspace and never with the ease and accessibility that Bible software can offer.
1. Old Testament Texts
- Critical Texts
- Apparatus
- Manuscripts
- Dead Sea Scrolls (also untranslated Biblical and sectarian manuscripts)
- Semitic Inscriptions
- Oxyrhynchus Papyri
2. First Temple Israel
- Context of Scripture
- ANET
- Overlapping libraries include…
- Writings of the Ancient World
- Ancient Egyptian Literature (1,2,3)
- Ugaritic Library
- Ugaritic Baal Cycle
3. New Testament Texts
- Critical Texts
- Apparatus
- Manuscripts
4. Second Temple Judaism
- Pseudepigrapha
- Philo (critical edition)
- Josephus (critical edition)
- Mishnah
- Midrash (and others)
- Targums (also untranslated)
- Talmud (Jerusalem and Babylonian)
5. Early Christian Texts
- Translated
- Untranslated
- Gnostic
Related Collections:
Secondary/Tertiary Sources – My choices of secondary and tertiary sources are far more uneven and represent my own preferences. If your favorite source isn’t listed, please shoot me an email. It’s very likely I don’t know what I’m talking about. :)
- Commentaries
- Critical
- Evangelical
- Linguistic
- Exegetical Summary Series
- UBS Handbooks (OT and NT)
- Other
- Keil and Delitzsch (OT only)
- JPS Tanakh Commentary (OT only)
- Reading the New Testament Commentary (NT only)
- Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture
- Journals
- Dictionaries/Encyclopedias
- Linguistic
- Biblical Studies
- Anchor Bible Dictionary
- IVP Reference Collection (and don’t forget OT #1 and #2)
- Word Studies