Software review: Logos 9 offers extensive updates for this seminary student

Matthew Harper Feb. 24, 2021

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

Editor's note:This review was written by Matthew Harper, an M.Div. student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., as a "thank you" for Faithlife's generous gift of the new software. Another thankful recipient of Logos 9 is Tom Harper, publisher of BiblicalLeadership.com (and proud dad), who has used it for some of his own teaching projects.

As a seminary student and a pastor in training, I've used Logos throughout my M.Div. It has become especially invaluable, however, during a time when access to other research options (including my own library) was often reduced in response to Covid-19 regulations.

An expansive update built on Faithlife's preexisting software, Logos 9 offers user-friendly features to accompany its extensive selection of books, lexicons, and commentaries, which I found especially helpful for my semester's final research papers and exam study times.

Preaching resources

In one of my classes on preaching, I was tasked with writing sermons on 1 Samuel 17 and 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Logos 9 provided a helpful platform for consolidating a mass of research into a manageable workload, and with the customizable tabs/windows options, I was able to organize commentaries, word studies, and lexicons into an interface optimized for my learning style.

Help with biblical languages

Logos again proved beneficial when writing a micro-theme paper on the grammatical/linguistic characteristics of a passage in Deuteronomy. Comparing different Hebrew verb forms and hovering over words for accurate parsings helped with on-the-go translation, as well as providing deeper nuance into understanding the language.

New and updated features

Some of the most eye-catching updates to Logos 9 that I enjoyed include the new Dark Mode and other interface changes, including templates, commentary guide sections, and document info panes.

Pastor-specific resources, such as the Sermon Manager, allow users to view and organize sermon manuscripts by date, passage, and topic, in addition to creating bulk sermon series templates and viewing preaching schedules alongside Faithlife church calendars. Sermon Builder has been updated to include a notes bar and additional features, and a new Preaching Mode for sermons allows pastors to open a Sermon Builder sermon without any other distractions. I also benefited from Logos 9's new Factbook, which can be used as a helpful introductory springboard before delving deeper into various topics.

Verdict

Logos 9 helped me finish my assignments more efficiently than I would have otherwise. This updated software provides the student, pastor, scholar, and lay learner with an extensive package of resources combined with a user-friendly interface and an intuitive tutorial.

Logos 9 is the perfect tool for learners of God's Word to dive even deeper into studying His truth.

Affiliate link for 10% off Logos 9

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

Matthew Harper is in the Seminary Track program at Boyce College, and is nearing completion of his M.Div. at Southern Seminary  He works at the campus writing center where he provides feedback and edits student papers. He interned in the editorial department at Networld Media Group for two years, and won a national award in a student short story competition. He attends and serves at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville and hopes to one day pursue ministry overseas. Learn More »

• 3 church website checks that will transform online presence (by Mark MacDonald)
• Is AI climbing the “peak of inflated expectations?" (by Bob Whitesel)
• Stop the scroll of doom (by Bob Russell)
• 12 church jobs that AI will replace in 2025 (and what you should do about it) (by Bob Whitesel)

Free eBook

Steps to Launching Your Personal Workplace Ministry

Have you ever felt the pull to full-time ministry work as a missionary or pastor? If not, you can still make a Kingdom impact without quitting your current job. In this eBook, you will learn the four essentials that can change your perspective of work, your workplace, and most importantly, your heart.

Download Now