Concordia Electronic theological library

[BigNorsk]

I was given the gift of the Basic Theological Collection of the Concordia Electronic Theological Library for Christmas.

It was a little bit troublesome to get registered because the Logos version was so out of date that the Libronix people kept asking for a number I didn't have. But once we figured that out is was straigtforward, about a 30 minute download on DSL to get up to date and registered and off we go.

Anyway, it's been nice to have Mueller's "Christian" Dogmatics as well as Kolb's "The Christian Faith" and Koehler's "Summary of Christian Doctrine".

I found a bonus. I already have Pieper's "Christian Dogmatics" and though they are locked, all the books in the Library are included on the CD. Well, Libronix will search even locked resources. So I can search Pieper with the computer and it gives me the reference list with page numbers. Love it!

Too bad it's Tappert's Book of Concord in the collection, I don't have that one.

Anyone else use any computer programs for bible study? I use e-sword too.

Marv

[DaRev]

I have Bibleworks 4. I'd like to upgrade it but it would cost a couple hundred dollars to do so because there is no straight upgrade from version 4 anymore. I like it for doing Greek and Hebrew research. It doesn't have the ESV, though. The upgrades do.

[rockytrails]

i have " promise" Cd

[RadMan]

There is so much available online for reference or research. My favorite is "Lutheran Theological Website" compiled by an ELS pastor.

http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/djw/lutherantheology.html

[MarkRohfrietsch]

There is so much available online for reference or research. My favorite is "Lutheran Theological Website" compiled by an ELS pastor.

http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/djw/lutherantheology.html

Thanks Rad, I just bookmarked it!

Mark

[ByzantineDixie]

I have the Concordia book set you mention as well as Luther Works in the Logos software setting...and I splurged almost two years ago and added the Ancient Christian Commentaries (http://www.logos.com/products/details/2439)...which was very expensive and in the end, a little disappointing. The references were hand selected to support a specific theology and may have some contextual problems. But...sometimes it is helpful.

I have heard rave reviews from many re: the Logos software but frankly I find the search function to be a bit unwieldy, returning related words as well. Sometimes this can be a huge advantage when the number of hits is small...but, for me, more often than not, it results in too many hits to wade through.

Speaking of unwieldy...I had the exact same problem you did, Marv, regarding out of date software coming from Concordia and tech support taking quite a while to figure out what was wrong....and that was several years ago! Recently I upped my IE to v7.0 and that stopped the software from working completely! I had to mail $5 to get a CD to correct the problem because downloading even with DSL would have taken forever and apparently the company advised against downloading due to possible corruptions.

Actually my favorite means of research now is to have the all of the ECF files (http://www.ccel.org/fathers.html)on my computer and let Google Desktop do the searching. I can usually find what I need that way. And I have this reference (https://www.earlywritings.com/buy/ecwinfo.html)as well but I find I don't use it as much.

eSword is GREAT to have especially when one wants to compare translations side by side...which can be eye-opening at times. But Biblegateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/)is perfect for looking up that verse you can't quite quote exactly.

[Lupinus]

Nope I haven't splurged that much. I just wade through google :help:

[DaSeminarian]

I have the Concordia Electronic Library. I use it for School all the time, but I think for the average lay person it isn't worth the money to buy books that would just confuse the issues at some point for you. For potential clergy though it is a goldmine.

[ByzantineDixie]

I have the Concordia Electronic Library. I use it for School all the time, but I think for the average lay person it isn't worth the money to buy books that would just confuse the issues at some point for you. For potential clergy though it is a goldmine.

Scott, are you implying that the laity are unable to grasp complex theological things and that this is the purview of ordained or soon-to-be-ordained only?

[DaSeminarian]

Scott, are you implying that the laity are unable to grasp complex theological things and that this is the purview of ordained or soon-to-be-ordained only?


For some maybe, but I think for the most part it is a major investment that would probably scare most people away. I think that there are many laity like yourself who are able to grasp the complex theological ideals, but then there are just those who don't care. I don't think this is the purview of the ordained or the soon-to-be ordained. This is only my perspective. I don't doubt that I could be wrong about it.

Does that satisfy the anwers to your questions Dix?

[ByzantineDixie]

Does that satisfy the anwers to your questions Dix?

Yep...just wanted to clarify that you didn't think pastor's had special knowledge that the laity wouldn't be able to understand.

I think if a lay Lutheran has the cash it's a better spend than a night in Vegas...although I have always liked going to Vegas myself! :pink:

[DaSeminarian]

Yep...just wanted to clarify that you didn't think pastor's had special knowledge that the laity wouldn't be able to understand.

I think if a lay Lutheran has the cash it's a better spend than a night in Vegas...although I have always liked going to Vegas myself! :pink:


Not a special knowledge, but there is a truth to the clergy having more understanding than most laity. If a lay person really wants to invest their money in these tools I certainly wouldn't begrudge them their decision, but I would also hope that they could afford it.

Of course the Concordia Electronic library is not nearly as expensive as the Logos Digital Library System. Libronix is expensive and I had to use our tax refund in order to buy it with my new computer last year. I needed the computer to be able to handle the size of the software. I have 2 Gigs of Ram and 250 gigs of Hard drive memory.