Logos 5: thoughts on utility

Looking at Logos 5, we have considered the underlying Logos 5 platform, and then considered the base packages available before surveying a specialist package. In the last part of this extended review, I want to ask the question, "Should you consider Logos, and - if so - for whom?"

I think that the answer is, essentially, a thoughtful and careful yes. There will always be lazy and shallow readers for whom a product like Logos becomes a route to the veneer of understanding, a sort of expensive rent-a-quote or short cut to Twitter profundity. For example, it is all very well to inform others that the venerable Sibbes suggests that "if the Scriptures be compared to a body, the Psalms may well be the heart, they are so full of sweet affections and passions." But why did he say that, and where, and to what end? Sure, it's a great quote about the Psalms, but ripped from its context it shines well while it warms little. (I did still put it on Twitter - sorry!) However, such abuses are not the fault of the software, but of the user. Caveat emptor!

So, who might use this well?

It may be that some earnest pastor or eager reader has limited physical space. In such an instance, Logos would provide a wealth of material without further preventing the rapid oscillation of deceased felines. Similarly, for those who feel the need to downsize and are willing to trade in the material for the insubstantial, selling off the paper library might provide for it to be more or less replaced in the cloud. There might these days be men who would simply rather have their books in a black (or silver, or whatever) box rather than on a shelf. For the modern digital reader who has eschewed the bound volume (a tragic case, but still a mad possibility) then something like Logos is simply one of the best ways forward, if not the best way. Of course, by making such significant investments, you are essentially relying on Logos to be there for you, at least for the balance of your lifetime.

Another obvious possibility would be someone entering or graduating from seminary or Bible college. To be honest, I would still buy such a fellow a well-bound set of some spiritual father of proven worth, and bid him take up and read. But I would not be averse to giving him what I hope would be a pretty permanent head start on his library by a wise investment in a Logos package. Of course, you are looking for such a man to develop the capacity - both of attitude and ability - to use the gift so given. Nevertheless, a sponsoring church or a generous individual could very readily give this as a toolbox on entry or a gift on graduation.

What about that brother who is heading into some distant or difficult place to preach the Word of God? Missionaries needing to travel lightly or discreetly might find these resources a wonderful boon, enabling them to take with them in fairly readily accessible form (presuming such things as a reasonable supply of electricity) the sort of library that in days past was the sole preserve of a fairly well-endowed theological college.

Then, again, what of the pastor who - in addition to his labours in his home church - has the opportunity to preach and teach as he travels? I do a scrap of this from time to time, and there have been occasions when either I have needed or just wished for access to my library while on the road. Perhaps there has been a need to produce something new or develop something old at the drop of a slow-falling hat. Or, some question or issue has arisen and - in addition to the tools immediately to hand and the functions of the memory, all with the help of the Holy Spirit - I have wished that I could just flip open a certain volume to refresh my memory as to what some giant of the past had to say on the subject. With a healthy bundle of Logos resources on laptop, tablet or phone, a good number of those resources are a good deal closer than they used to be. In addition to that, I can search those resources more readily and effectively than before. And yes, I could easily turn this into a jeremiad for an age in which we do not train the memory adequately, but the fact is that we do not, and here is one means to make up something of the deficit.

So, will I be throwing away my library? Of course not! As I explain to my wife whenever the need arises, books are instruction, decoration and insulation all in one, the perfect way to adorn a wall. Indeed, it is fascinating that even the Logos advertising videos often show people hunched over their computers . . . while sitting in libraries or studies surrounded by 'proper' books. To be honest, that is my ideal. There is never a substitute for knowing your Bible, and then knowing your own books. Where Logos is an aid to that, it is a wonderful aid. But the excellence of the tools can never be an excuse for poor preparation and endeavour on the part of the workman.

So, that is why Logos gets good press. It is an outstanding resource, or compendium of resources, intelligently and intuitively put together, offering the relatively well-heeled or wise investor a great wealth of material from which to select. Indeed, judicious selection and diligent employment are essential for healthy and fruitful output. If genius is indeed one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, then Logos will provide a shortcut to no-one. What it will do is to give matter to perspire over, but arranged, ordered and offered up in such a way as to maximise your perspiration. For that, I warmly commend it.