Free Books

Classic Commentaries on Mark from Logos Bible Software

Logos Bible Software has a great deal on 24 “classic commentaries” on Mark. The current community price bid is $30 for all 24 volumes, so a lilttle more that a dollar a book.  Logos has produced a good number of these “classic” sets, providing a good value on resources that are not readily available. By getting in on the community price bid, you can get the books for far less than they will cost later.

By classic, they mean old (published between 1860–1954). Some of these are not particularly valuable; I am not sure I would purchase Arthur Ritchie’s Spiritual Studies in St. Mark’s Gospel even at a dollar a volume. (Ritchie was the rector at St. Ignatius’ Church in New York at the end of the 19th century and wrote several multi-volume “spiritual studies” sets.)  There are commentaries from Lyman Abbott and William Kelley; both were of interest when they were published but are quite dated. Some of the commentaries are of historical interest, however. Leicester Ambrose Sawyer’s First Gospel, Being the Gospel according to Mark (1864) is an interesting insight in to the state of Mark and Q studies int he mid-19th century.  Benjamin Bacon’s Is Mark a Roman Gospel? (Harvard University Press, 1919) is well worth a browse as well.

Marie-Joseph Lagrange

Marie-Joseph Lagrange

An added value for some scholars will be several foreign language commentaries. In French, the collection includes Marie-Joseph Lagrange (Évangile selon Saint Marc, 1935). Lagrange was the founder of the École Biblique in Jerusalem as well as the journal Revue Biblique in 1892.

There are three German commentaries as well. Reading these in the Logos format will be much easier since older German books were printed in the older letters (Fraktur). There are three German commentaries in the collection, including Julius Wellhausen’s Das Evangelium Marci übersetzt und erklärt,originally published in 1903. While Wellhausen is better known for his OT studies, this commentary on Mark is a significant contribution since he argues the priority of Mark against the hypothetical “Q” document. Another name associated with OT studies is included August Klostermann (Das Markusevangelium nach seinem Quellenwerthe für die evangelische Geschichte, 1867). Finally, the collection has a commentary by Bernard Weiss (Die Geschichtlichkeit des Markusevangelium, 1905).

Is the set worth $30? I think that it is, since I might have paid that for Lagrange and Wellhausen alone if I ran across them in a used book store. Head over to Logos, browse the list and decide for yourself.

Logos Free Book of the Month for May

300 QuotesLogos Bible Software has offered a free book each month for quite some time. Usually these were out-of-copyright classics that were widely available on the internet for free. But the last few months have been very good indeed. This month, Logos is giving away 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans, by Bible Study Magazine contributor Elliot Ritzema. Ritzema served as an Old Testament editor for the Lexham English Bible and is a contributor to the Faithlife Study Bible. These 300 Quotations for Preachers are drawn from more than 70 authors including Anselm of Canterbury, Augustine of Hippo, Richard Baxter, Bernard of Clairvaux, John Calvin, G. K. Chesterton, John Chrysostom, Irenaeus of Lyons, Thomas à Kempis, Martin Luther, and more. The quotes appear with some scripture and the book includes a PowerPoint style slide for each quote suitable for church use (or spamming your facebook friends with Richard Baxter quotes).

In addition to this free book, Logos is also offering an “almost free” book, Study, Apply, Share: James (Lexham Press 2012). This is part of Logos’ own Pastorum Series and is written by Jeffrey E. Miller. This series is intended as a “sermon prep” jump starter,” including 5-7 questions with corresponding links to Logos resources two application ideas and two memorable worship service ideas as well as professionally designed slides with graphs and charts. The book is only 99 cents for a limited time. You can enter to win the full Pastorum Collection (Two Quotes for Preachers volumes and the Study, Apply, Share volumes on Mark, Luke, Philippians Hebrews and James, a $187 value).

 

(Almost) Free Book from Logos – Richard Burridge, Four Gospels

BurridgeLogos Bible Software is has a great deal on Richard A. Burridge, Four Gospels, One Jesus? A Symbolic Reading, 2nd ed. (London: SPCK, 2005). Until the end of April 2014, you can buy this book for 99 cents for the Logos Library. The book is available for your desktop or mobile versions of Logos and all your personal notes/highlighting will sync between the platforms.

Burridge begins this book with a discussion of the origin of the four gospels. Along with the normal sorts of things you would expect in an introductory chapter (source and redaction criticism, literary approaches), Burridge includes the symbolism associated with each Gospel writer in the early church, including the four creatures of Revelation 4. He has an interesting discussion of how that imagery was used by Jerome and (later) the Book of Kells to “illuminate” the Gospels.  Burridge takes these symbols as a kind of “hermenutical key” (33). Since each symbol was recognized by the early church as the way the Gospel writer presented Jesus, Burridge attempts to take that “reception” seriously as he unpacks the main themes of each Gospel. 

The book was first published in 1994 and is often called a “classic” book for Gospels studies. Eerdmans published the second edition in in America in 2005. In the preface to the revised edition, Burridge says that the new edition takes into account growing interest in “reception history” and makes used of the Revised Common Lectionary. In addition, he makes reference to the The Lord of the Rings films. A new third edition is due in August from Eerdmans. This will include a new introduction by Burridge but retains the second edition’s text and page numbering.

The price of 99 cents will not last long, so get on over to Logos and pick up this book soon.

 

 

Steve Moyise, Jesus and Scripture – Logos Free Book

jesusandscriptureLogos Bible Software is offering another excellent book for their “Free Book of the Month” Promotion. Last year these were all out-of-copyright classics widely available on the internet for free. Last month they offered one of the Armchair Theologian series from Westminster John Knox Press, this month Steve Moyise’s Jesus and Scripture (SPCK, 2010), and printed in the US by Baker Academic in 2011. Moyise is a professor of biblical studies at the University of Chichester and has written a number of books on the use of scripture in Revelation and Paul.  This 140-page book is an excellent introduction to how Jesus used scripture, beginning in Mark, then Matthew and Luke, and finally John. There are a few text-boxes throughout the book that offer brief definitions / expansions on some technical/scholarly issues (What is Q? The Criteria of Authenticity, etc.)  While there is nothing ground-breaking in this little book, it is a very nice introduction to some of the problems of Historical Jesus studies, and Moyise is able to explain some difficult problems clearly and concisely.

After surveying the data in the Gospels, Moyise offers three chapters on various approaches to this material. The  minimalist approach to Jesus’ use of Scripture (represented by Geza Vermes, John Dominic Crossan, and Marcus Borg). These scholars tend to reject much of the Jesus tradition, beginning with the apocalyptic material (Son of Man sayings, etc). Crossan and Borg are well known for reducing the number of sayings of Jesus to a bare minimum (hence, “minimalists”). It is not that these writers seek to marginalize Jesus, but as Moyise says, “they believe that the Gospel writers diminished Jesus by making him the mouthpiece for their own egocentric claim that they are now the people that God will rescue from the imminent collapse of the universe” (91).

SteveMoyiseThe moderate approach (represented by James Dunn and Tom Wright) accepts far more of the sayings of Jesus as authentic, although there is an acceptance of the fact that some of the sayings have been “embellished” by later Gospel writers.There is also more acceptance of Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet of some sort, so Jesus’ own self understanding is based on texts like Dan. 7 , Zech. 9–14, Ps. 22 and Isa. 40–55. Not to give away the conclusion, but Moyise places himself on the side of the moderates (120-1).

The maximalist approach (represented by Charles Kimball and R. T. France) assumes that the Gospels represent a reliable account of what Jesus said and did, and that Jesus’ use of Scripture was analogous to other Jewish teachers of his day. Kimball especially focuses on Hillel’s seven rules as a way to describe Jesus’ teaching.

As a bonus, Logos is giving away a very nice six book collection of “Jesus Studies” published by SPCK (Baker or Westminster in the US). Each book in that collection is worth reading. Head on over to Logos Bible Software, get the free Logos book, and enter to win the whole collection.

Logos Free Book of the Month for March

bonhoeffer-for-armchair-theologiansLogos Bible Software has offered a free book each month for quite some time. Usually these were out-of-copyright classics that were widely available on the internet for free. This month, however, they are offering one of the Armchair Theologian series from Westminster John Knox Press: Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians by Stephen R. Haynes and Lori Brandt Hale. Haynes is no stranger to Bonhoeffer studies, having written The Bonhoeffer Phenomenon: Portraits of a Protestant Saint and The Bonhoeffer Legacy: Post-Holocaust Perspectives. He is currently Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College in Memphis and Theologian-in-Residence at Idlewild Presbyterian Church. Lori Hale is Associate Professor of Religion and Director of General Education at Augsburg College in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Her University of Virginia dissertation was entitled “Love Your Enemies? Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Question of the Other” and she has contributed numerous articles on Bonhoeffer.

BonhoeferThe Armchair Theologian series is intended to give a brief overview of the ideas and contributions particular theologian. WJKP has thirteen volumes in the Logos Library format, and like other Free Books of the Month Logos is running a contest to win the set. The set includes volumes on Aquinas, Calvin, Augustine, Luther, Wesley, Barth, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther King Jr., Bonhoeffer, John Knox as well as three movements The Reformation, Heretics, Liberation Theology. (It does not appear that the latest int he series on the The Niebuhr Brothers is in the Logos format yet). These little books are quick and easy overviews that will help you understand the basics before wading into more detailed analysis.  There are a number of illustrations by Ron Hill that add to the experience of reading these books. As always, all of the features of the Logos Library are available for reading this book, including real page numbers, highlighting, and the added benefit reading on both the desktop and iOS versions of Logos.

So head on over to Logos Bible Software, get the free Logos book, and enter to win the whole collection.