iPad

Free NIV Bible for the Faithlife Study Bible

FSBLogos is giving away the NIV Translation with the Faithlife Study Bible until April 8. The Faithlife Study Bible is an online Study Bible with a running commentary and Bible Dictionary, similar to in-print study Bibles such as the ESV Study Bible.  The app is available for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire.  I thought that there was a desktop computer app as well, but it is not on this promotional page. I reviewed the Faithlife Study Bible app last June.

The App features include:

  • 400 photos, videos, infographics, and maps
  • Free built-in Bible dictionary
  • Custom highlights and 
  • note-taking
  • Articles from trusted Bible scholars, preachers, and leaders

Faithlife Screen ShotI have used the Logos app on my iPad since it was released and find it to be the best all-around tool for Bible Reading and study of the original languages.  I think that reading books in my Logos Library is a better experience that with the Kindle app, and the fact that Logos includes real page numbers makes the Logos App my first choice for iPad readers.  The Logos app has greatly improved the note-taking feature and syncs with notes made on your desktop version of Logos.

The Faithlife Study Bible is a slimmed down version of Logos which defaults to a dual-pane reader. the Bible is on top, running commentary along the bottom.  The size of the windows is easy to adjust.  In the commentary, links to the Bible Dictionary appear.  The Lexham Bible Dictionary is quite impressive, often competitive with the Anchor Bible Dictionary in quality and depth.  Within the Dictionary there are links to other articles and all scripture is linked to the Bible.  Touch the scripture link and a small, floating window will appear with just the verse and an option to go directly to the context in the Bible pane.  This Dictionary alone is worth using the Faithlife Study Bible!

Touching the illustrations in the commentaries opens a image viewer.  The illustrations are usually “infographic” style.  While they are not as nice as the illustrations in the ESVSB, they are good enough to illustrate the dictionary article.  On the iPad you can zoom in on the picture by pinching (the standard iPad gestures).

Since this is a Free App, there is little downside to the Faithlife Study Bible.  The Free NIV promotion goes away on April 8, but Study Bible itself works with other (free) translations.  Of course, Logos would be glad to sell you hundreds of other useful books for their study system, but the Faithlife system is a great way to get started.  If you are interested in Biblical Languages, you will need to get the full Logos App, but for most people the Faithlife Study Bible will be an excellent companion to reading the Bible.

Accordance 1.6 for iPad (Updated)

A new update to Accordance for iOS came out this week.  Some of the updates are cosmetic, the reading experience is improved with a new theme, using “subtle earth tones, new icons and buttons.”  A nine minute video was posted to YouTube highlighting the new features. The video indicates that more people use the iOS version than the desktop version.

Accordance iOSAccordance for iOS now allows you to sync notes, highlights, and User Tools using Dropbox.  This allows you to use sync these items between platforms (desktop version and iOS version, both iPad and iPhone, etc.)  By using Dropbox you can sync your notes without owning the desktop version.  I really like the split screen mode, it works much better than the Logos iOS app.  There is a button with auto-splits the screen.  Another handy button is the “back” arrow, something that was missing in the earlier version. I still prefer to change pages with a right-left swipe, like a book and available in most readers (Kindle, Logos, Vyrso, Google Books, etc.)

The Free version has an ESVi Bible (for iOS), tagged with Strong’s numbers.  Highlight an English word and the  Hebrew or Greek word will appear in a floating window.  You can “amplify” the word, which opens any Bible dictionary tools you have.  The free version opens Easton’s Bible Dictionary.  Selecting a word also allows you to highlight a text with a variety of colors or do a basic search for the word throughout the Bible.  The free version also includes demos of  Hebrew and Greek Bibles.  Highlighting a Greek word opens a floating window with parsing information and lexical form, with a gloss from Mounce’s Greek Dictionary.  The Hebrew works similarly, although it did not identify all the parts of a word (prefixed prepositions, definite articles, etc.)  Only the root is identified and parsed, along with a gloss from the Kohlenberger-Mounce lexicon. One frustration, the floating window goes away after a a short time.  Several times it automatically closed before I was finished.

If you are looking for a free Bible App for your iPad, be sure to check out Accordance.

Using the iPad for Scholarship

JHS Article in Kindle

I have been using my iPad for a little over a year now and it has become an indispensable tool for reading and research. About a year ago I wrote “Top Bible Apps for the iPad” on Reading Acts, and it remains a good starting place for people looking to use their iPad for Biblical Studies. The Bible Apps I review then have all been upgraded over the last year, but the functionality is about the same.

In the last year I find myself using my iPad to read not only books but also journal articles from databases as well as proofing things I have written. Although my experience is on the iPad, these tips will work for an Android device as well. Since much of what I say here concerns the Kindle App on the iPad it is all applicable toa real Kindle device.

The first tool you need to get is the Kindle app from the iTunes store. This is a free download, Amazon gives away the reader to tempt you into buying books. This strategy certainly worked on me since Amazon usually has a “deal of the day.”  I have picked up a remarkable number of good books free (or cheap) for reading with the Kindle App. When you register your Kindle app, Amazon will assign you a Kindle email address. You should make a note of this address and authorize your own personal email under the “Manage your Devices” tab in the Kindle store.

The second tool you need is the Send to Kindle app from Amazon (Windows and Mac versions are available). Once you install this app, you can right-click on a file and send it to your Kindle email address. You can send a number of different formats, including PDF and DOC. Assuming that you have authorized your own email, the file will appear on your Kindle, or iPad Kindle App, as a book which can be read as any other Kindle book. If you send a DOC file you can highlight and annotate, but PDF’s cannot be highlighted or annotated at this time.

Reading Acts in Kindle

Another handy tool for reading on a Kindle is a Chrome extension, Send to Kindle. This little extension works in the Chrome browser and will send a web page to your Kindle for reading later. I use this for longer web-pages or to archive a biblioblog that I think I may need later. These HTML pages are converted to a PDF format and can be highlighted or annotated with the Kindle.

I use my iPad for most often for reading journal articles. Using the ATLA database through our library, I find an article of interest and send the PDF to my email. I can either copy it to my DropBox or send it to my Kindle as described above. Prior to buying an iPad, I either read the article online, or printed it for future reference. Anyone who has written a dissertation knows that you end up with a small forest of printed papers when researching, by reading on my iPad I save some time and money by not printing out articles. I sometimes send several articles on a topic to my Kindle app and head off to a coffee shop. Naturally this method will work with any online database that allows students to save files for offline reading.

There are other readers available, including Google Books, CloudReader, Bluefire Reader, Stanza and (of course) iBooks, but my preference at this point is the Kindle reader. All of these readers are really front-ends for online book stores and they all have nearly the same functionality. If you want to transfer PDF files to one of these other readers, I recommend using DropBox. Copy the PDF to your DropBox folder, then select it on your device, and choose a program from the “open with” menu. Alternatively, you can copy the files using iTunes.

I should mention that the Bluefire Reader allows you to read DRM-protected Adobe Digital documents. This is necessary for reading galley proofs from publishers from services like NetGalley. If you have an Adobe ID, you can authorize Bluefire to read your secure books.

Kostenberger in Logos, with Notes

I use the Logos Bible App daily. It is the best app for reading books, although the books must be purchased through the Logos or Vyrso store. There is no import function for Kindle books or other e-reader formats at this time. While this seems like a negative, the Logos Library is rich in material for biblical studies. If a book is available in Logos and Kindle, I will always choose Logos version. This is primarily because Logos books have real page numbers (not “locations”) and the footnotes appear at the bottom of the page you are currently reading. Logos has an excellent note-taking system with a wide variety of highlighting features. Notes I make on my iPad are automatically saved online, and they are immediately available on my desktop version of Logos.  I have several notes files for various topics (Gospel of John, for example), and as I read I add highlights and annotations.  I can cut  and paste these notes into my word processor when I am reading to write.

These tools will get you reading on your iPad, in the next installment, I will comment on a few note-taking programs for the iPad.