Free iPad Books

Logos Free Book – Mikeal C. Parsons, Acts (Paideia)

TParsonshe Logos Bible Software “Free book of the Month” is Mikeal C. Parsons Acts commentary in the Paideia series from Baker. Mikeal Parsons is a top Acts scholar and the Paideia series pays close attention to the cultural and educational context from which it emerges. Parsons see Acts as a charter document explaining and legitimating Christian identity for a general audience of early Christians living in the ancient Mediterranean world

In addition to the free book, Logos is offering Charles Talbert’s Ephesians and Colossians volume in the Paideia series for only $1.99. I have always enjoyed reading Talbert’s work (especially his Reading Acts, which I still maintain I did not know about when I named this blog…)  As always, Logos is running a giveaway for the month, this time for the whole twelve volumes of the Paideia series. Head over to Logos and enter the contest as many times as you possibly can, these commentaries are all worth owning.

WestermanLogos is also running a “back to school sale” (which is not unusual since it is back to school time and Logos runs sales about every three hours). Each week they will be offering a new book, and this week it is Claus Westermann’s Continental Commentary Series: Genesis 1-11 (Fortress, 1994). This free book is not exactly free, you have to share the sale on twitter or Facebook to download the book. Spamming your friends is a small price to pay for this classic commentary on Genesis.

Check the “back to school” sale next week for another offer.

Lexham Bible Dictionary Is Complete

LBDLogos Bible Software has completed their Lexham Bible Dictionary. The LBD weighs in at over 4.5 million words in more than 7,000 articles. It took about five years for the 700 contributors from to complete the work. The Dictionary is completely integrated into the Logos system from the beginning. Some articles were written top-notch scholars, for example: Mark Goodacre, “Gospels;” Andreas J. Köstenberger, “New Testament Use Of The Old Testament, Survey;” Michael Bird, “Justification;” Nijay Gupta, “Ethics, New Testament,” “Law in the New Testament,” and “Paul, New Perspective on.”  The LBD used many other less-well-known scholars, but as far as I have seen they are all experts in their field. Some authors are borderline obscure: I have 19 very short articles in the LBD!

When this resource was originally announced several years ago, Logos did some promotion at a national ETS. I recall at the time liking the idea of an online Bible Dictionary, but I was skeptical the articles would be the same quality as the Anchor Bible Dictionary, for example. But as it turns out, the LBD is in fact a worthy competitor to the ABD, and has several advantages over any print dictionary. The Lexham Bible Dictionary was able to assign longer articles for topics a print Dictionary could not devote much space, a clear advantage of an online format. Another advantage is the ability to change and update articles on a regular basis. With a print dictionary, the only way to update is through a supplement volume. Another advantage for Logos users is the Lexham Bible Dictionary is already part of most base packages, making the cost to the average using negligible.

I look forward to seeing if the LBD can gain stature in the academic world. I expect there will be some resistance to citing the LBD, but most of the articles are on a par with the Anchor Bible Dictionary, the resource I would consider the standard reference work for biblical studies for the last 20 years. The Lexham Bible Dictionary represents a new way of presenting scholarly material outside of the confines of a physical book. To have a 6-volume, 7000 page resource on my iPad and with me where ever I happen to be is exciting! While I will always prefer a book to an electronic resource, the LBD is a worthy contribution to the study of the Bible.

Logos Free Book – Anthony Tomasino, Esther (EEC)

EstherLogos’s Free Book of the Month promotion is offering an excellent commentary once again for the month of June. Until the end of this month, Logos users can download Anthony Tomasino’s contribution on Esther in the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (EEC). If you are not familiar with the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary is a 44-volume commentary series published by Lexham Press, a division of FaithLife / Logos. The commentary incorporates the latest critical biblical scholarship” and “a distinctly evangelical perspective” and is in many ways similar to the Word Biblical Commentary or Baker Exegetical Commentary. The series was originally planned as a traditional print series but was dropped by the original publisher. Lexham picked it up a few years ago and has been publishing new volumes in the Logos system as they are released. (See this list of volumes, authors and publication dates.)

Anthony J. Tomasino (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is the Director of the Biblical Studies Program and associate professor of Bible, Old Testament and Hebrew studies at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana and is well-known for his Judaism before Jesus: The Events and Ideas that Shaped the New Testament World (IVP, 2003). He wrote the Esther commentary in the Zondervan Bible Background Commentary of the Old Testament.

CommentaryIn addition to the Free Book of the Month, Logos is also offering Gary Derickson’s 1, 2, & 3 John commentary in the EEC. Derickson has a Ph.D from Dallas Theological Seminary and is currently Professor of Biblical Studies and Greek and Chair of the Bible and Theology department at Corban University.

This is another great giveaway from Logos I can think of no better use of 99 cents than adding these two resources to your Logos library. In addition to the free and nearly free books, you can enter to win the entire Evangelical Exegetical Commentary Series (a $999.95 value). I think this is the most expensive giveaway Logos has had since the started the promotion.

Both of these books are excellent additions to your Logos library, so make sure to add them to your library before the end of the month.

Logos Free Book – Brevard Childs, Isaiah (OTL)

the-old-testament-library-series-isaiahJust when you though the Logos Free Book of the Month promotion could not get any better, they offer Brevard Childs’ commentary on Isaiah in the in OTL series for free through the month of April. This 576 page commentary on on Isaiah was published by Westminster John Knox Press in 2000. Childs is a one of the major voices in the development of what has become known as “canonical criticism” as early has his OTL Commentary on Exodus (1974) and his Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments. Canonical Criticism means the exegete attempts to read the final form of the text of Isaiah a whole in order to develop theological themes, often listening to how those theological themes resonate in later historical Christian and Jewish interpretations. While the commentary is often not as nuanced in lexical or syntactical issues as some reviewers would have liked, Childs is an excellent expositor of the text and has a broad understanding of Jewish and Christian interpretations of Isaiah. Childs has continued to write on Isaiah, his The Struggle to Understand Isaiah as Christian Scripture was published by Eerdmans in 2004.

the-old-testament-library-series-jeremiahIn addition to the Free Book of the Month, Logos is offering Leslie Allen’s 2008 Jeremiah commentary in the OTL series for only 99 cents. Allen contributed the Ezekiel (1990, 1994) and the Psalms 101-150 (2002)in the Word Biblical Commentary and a Minor Prophets commentary ( NICOT series from Eerdmans). This 656-page commentary replaced Robert Carroll’s OTL commentary in the series and was very well-received in the academic community.

This is perhaps the best giveaway from Logos to date and I can think of no better use of 99 cents than adding these two resources to your Logos library.

As always, you can enter to win a seven-volume collection of OTL commentaries in the Logos library. Both of these books are excellent additions to your Logos library, so make sure to add them to your library before the end of the month.

Logos Free Book – 1 Corinthians by Roy A. Harrisville

HarrisvilleLogos Bible Software is offering Roy Harrisville’s 1 Corinthians commentary in the Augsburg Commentary series for free, and Frederick Danker’s 2 Corinthians in the same series for only 99 cents. Harrisville is a long time professor of New Testament at Luther Theological Seminary. He was one of the editors on the Augsburg Commentary series, wrote the Romans commentary in the same series. He has contributed many articles on theological topics in Lutheran Quarterly and “Before Pistis Christou: The Objective Genitive As Good Greek.” Novum Testamentum 48.4 (2006): 353-358. This 294-page commentary was originally published in 1987, and the series is intended for laypeople, students, and pastors. The commentary is based on the Revised Standard Version and there is very little Greek in the text of the commentary. It is very readable and helpful for pastors and laymen.

Frederick Danker is best known as the D in BDAG. He was the editor and reviser of the third edition of Bauer’s A Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. This 221-pages commentary was published in 1989. Like Harrisville, Danker is primarily focused on the English text, although there is more drawn from the Greek in this commentary. Danker has an excellent section on the cultural context of 2 Corinthians (p. 20-25) and these sorts of insights are found throughout the book.

As always Logos is giving away a set of the Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament, a $229 value.

Both of these books are excellent additions to your Logos library, so make sure to add them to your library before the end of the month.