I have been using Logos Bible Software for lo, these many moons. I don’t remember when I first started, but I think that my first one was 4.0. This was, in Bible software years, pre-Cambrian, and so I think that I may speak in the words of a grizzled old-timer. But whether or not I have that right, I will do so anyhow.
I must admit that I was concerned when I heard the announcement that Logos was moving from a “package” basis to a “subscription” basis, but I needn’t have worried about that. All the books that I had purchased under the old regime are still there, and are still mine. Anything I purchase going forward would also be mine. What the subscription model affects is all the features going forward. Instead of waiting for all the improvements to be bundled up and rolled out in the next “numeral point whatever” edition, upgrades and features can be released as they are developed. To plunder some fool’s gold from the Egyptians, this is a slow evolutionary process as opposed to punctuated equilibria. You know.
So that you know this is a fair-minded review, there is a feature here that does give me the fantods. The power of this software is fantastic, utilizing AI of course, which means that there is a narrow path here that runs alongside an abyss. For certain aspects of this kind of Bible study, this software is an amazing gift from God. AI is the ultimate research flunky that can hunt down resources and commentaries in seconds, and have them open to just the right spot as you examine the text. Various commentaries and Factbook resources can be synced to the text you are studying, and they stay synced as you go. This kind of thing is just eye-popping good. And fast.
But Logos has a feature called Sermon Assistant that promises to help a minister put a sermon outline together, and they do emphasize that word help. But anybody can see that for two cents a harried and somewhat shady pastor could easily have Sermon Assistant do all the work of sermon prep for him—and unfortunately, Logos does not yet have a feature that can cast demons out of that kind of guy. You know, like an AI exorcist.
However, this is an issue that can only be addressed through personal pastoral integrity—it is not really a problem with the software. Big names in the Christian world have always been able to use and abuse their research assistants for centuries now, and so in principle this is nothing new. It is not as though AI made ghost writing suddenly possible. The difference is that now the research beetle is not going to grow restive with all that ghost writing. The AI is resigned to it. So stay away from that.
AI makes that kind of problem a real possibility, sure, but it also opens up numerous other genuinely helpful features—reasons why God wanted us to develop AI in the first place. The issues are not subtle ones, actually. It is the difference between using the AI of GPS to navigate in a strange city, and using AI to chat with your wife for you while you are navigating.
All in all, this new iteration of Logos is beyond worth it. All you need do is ignore any features you don’t find helpful, which is generally how I roll anyway. Usually any software I use has multiple features that I never find out about. If software were mansions, I buy them, and then live in three rooms. But that is not the realtor’s problem.
But one more thing . . . to conclude with a feature I do know about. Original language study can happen any number of ways. You can create a layout that has open commentaries and lexicons linked to whatever passage you are studying, and you can open a lexicon entry just by clicking on the word you are pursuing—and there it is, whammo, open in another window.
And you just sit there wondering how prolific John Owen would have been with this sort of tool chest.