Daily Gleanings: Free Books (25 November 2019)

Reading time: < 1 minutes

This week is the last opportunity to grab the Faithlife platforms’ free and deeply discounted volumes this month. In a rare trifecta, all three have resources of interest here.

The free resources include:

  • R. T. France’s commentary on Mark from the New International Greek Testament Commentary series.
  • Jason Fout’s Fully Alive: The Glory of God and the Human Creature in Karl Barth, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Theological Exegesis of Scripture in the T&T Clark Theology series.
  • Leland Ryken’s J. I. Packer: An Evangelical Life.

The companion discounted volumes are:

  • From the NIGTC: James Dunn’s volume on Colossians and Philemon and Anthony Thiselton’s on 1 Corinthians.
  • From von BalthasarA Short Primer for Unsettled LaymenLove Alone Is CredibleExplorations in Theology (vol. 1), and The Glory of the Lord (vol. 1).
  • Other biographies of C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Didaktikos 1

Reading time: 2 minutes

https://didaktikosjournal.com/Faithlife has launched a new journal specifically for faculty, Didaktikos, which focuses on issues related to theological education. The primary editor is Douglas Estes, and the editorial board includes Karen Jobes, Randolph Richards, Beth Stovell, and Douglas Sweeney. The inaugural issue includes authors and topics of broad interest:

• Mark Noll talks about teaching with expertise and empathy.
• Craig Evans, Jennifer Powell McNutt, and Fred Sanders write about recent trends in biblical archaeology, church history, and theology (respectively).
• Grant Osborne shares wisdom from his 40-year teaching career.
• Craig Keener writes about writing.
• Jan Verbruggen covers some fascinating research into the earliest alphabet (and it’s not Phoenician).
• Joanne Jung has written a helpful article on how to write effective prompts for online discussions.
• Darrell Bock discusses an overlooked area of NT studies.
• Stephen Witmer, an adjunct at Gordon-Conwell, shares solid insights about the synergy between teaching and pastoring.

Interested faculty can find more information and subscribe on the Didaktikos website or the journal’s announcement on the Logos Academic Blog.

Garland, “Mark”

Reading time: 2 minutes

The free book of the month from Logos Bible Software is David Garland’s commentary on Mark in the NIV Application Commentary series. The NIVAC series takes as its point of departure the observation that

most Bible commentaries take us on a one-way trip from the twentieth century to the first century. But they leave us there, assuming that we can somehow make the return journey on our own. In other words, they focus on the original meaning of the passage but don’t discuss its contemporary application. The information they offer is valuable — but the job is only half done! The NIV Application Commentary Series helps us with both halves of the interpretive task. This new and unique series shows readers how to bring an ancient message into a modern context. It explains not only what the Bible means but also how it can speak powerfully today.

Companion discounts include additional NIVAC volumes by John Walton (Job) and Scot McKnight (1 Peter). For additional information or to order, see the Logos website.

Free and Trial Biblical Studies Tools

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Mark Hoffman has updated his previous list of “free Bible software and trial versions” to include some of the more recent additions in the space, as well as a number of online resources.

For further discussion, see also Trial versions of Biblical Studies software, Logos 7 academic basic, and Logos 7 Basic for free.

Reviving closed tabs in Logos

Reading time: < 1 minutes

As of v. 7.8, Logos Bible Software supports reopening closed tabs both via panel menus and keyboard shortcuts (PC: Ctrl + Shift + T, Mac: Cmd + Shift + T). Conveniently at least for PC users—and I suspect also for Mac (?), the keyboard shortcut is the same one that will revive tabs in major browsers like Google Chrome.

For additional details and a walk through of how to access this feature through the panel menu see the LogosTalk blog.