It’s pretty easy to add all the various modules and resources available in Bibleworks to your Zotero database. Follow this guide.
Mar 032009
Mar 022009
We have had many occasions to mention the variety of online resources available for reading and browsing biblical texts here on Nerdlets.org. There is a lot of data online, and the continuing digitilazation of texts means the wealth of data is growing every day.
- Image via Wikipedia
Here’s the problem: every website or resource database or web-app has a different way of representing that data and the information that describes it, and not all of them provide ways for external sites and apps to interact with that data. The bottom line here is that it is currently impossible, or at least very difficult, to seamlessly “mashup” information from various sources.
For example, say you want to compare the text of John 8 in a couple of ancient Greek manuscripts, all of which are available online, but from different institutions. Currently you would have to go to each site independently, use the disparate methods to extract the data you need, and then mash-them-up yourself using a Word Processor or other tool. Cumbersome, no?
The Open Scripture project has the ambitious goal of solving this dilemma. From their web site:
Open Scriptures seeks to be a comprehensive open-source Web repository for integrated scriptural data and a general application framework for building internationalized social applications of scripture. An abundance of scriptural resources are now available online—manuscripts, translations, and annotations are all being made available by students and scholars alike at an ever-increasing rate. These diverse scriptural resources, however, are isolated from each other and fragmented across the Internet. Thus mashing up the available data into new scriptural applications is not currently possible for the community at large because the resources’ interrelationships are not systematically documented. Open Scriptures aims to establish a scriptural database for interlinked textual resources such as merged manuscripts, the differences among them, and the links between their semantic units and the semantic units of their translations. With such a foundation in place, derived scriptural data like cross-references may be stored in a translation-neutral and internationalized manner so as to be accessible to the community no matter what language they speak or version they prefer.
It’s still in its infancy, but they have released their first application, the Manuscript Comparator:
This tool allows two or more Biblical (currently New Testament) manuscripts or manuscript editions to be easily compared in side-by-side and unified views (no original unedited MSS are yet incorporated). It demonstrates a fundamental concept in the Open Scriptures framework: semantic linking. All of the contributing manuscripts are merged together to produce a single unified manuscript containing every attested variant; additionally, while merging, a manuscript’s words are linked to their corresponding words in the unified manuscript.
A full review of this tool is coming to Nerdlets.org soon.
The Open Scripture project is open-source, licensed under the excellent GPL 3.0. The source code is available on Google Code.
The people behind Open Scriptures will be presenting at the BibleTech 2009 conference.
HT: Biblical Studies and Tech Tools
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From the Logos blog:
The Göttingen Septuagint (a.k.a. Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum. Auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis Editum) is the most important edition of the Greek translation of the Old Testament ever published. At present it spans 24 print volumes and nearly 7,000 pages, setting the bar high for text-critical studies.
For optimal use in Logos Bible Software, these 24 print volumes will be split into 65 digital resources. This means you’ll be able to view the Greek text right alongside of the apparatus, and in several cases multiple Greek translations with multiple apparatuses. By linking them all together, they will stay in sync as you scroll or jump from passage to passage.
Logos is making this resource available for $299.95 for a limited time. Get it here.
You can find a short but concise introduction to this edition of the LXX here. If you would like to learn more about the relevance of the Septuagint for Old and New Testament studies, Karen Jobes’s Invitation to the Septuagint is an excellent resource.
It is my privilege to announce a new journal: Ecclesia Reformada. Anybody with an interest in cutting-edge Reformed scholarship and its relvance to pastoral ministry should consider a subscription. From their site:
Ecclesia Reformanda is a new journal for pastors, theological students, and scholars, that seeks to serve the Church in its ongoing reformation according to God’s Word. The editorial board believes that historic Reformed theology offers the best expression of the theology of Scripture, and so the journal is confessionally Reformed. However, a genuinely Reformed theology is always looking for God to shed new light on his Church from his Word. It is therefore always reforming.
Ecclesia Reformanda is distinctively Reformed, with a contemporary cutting edge. It presents some of the best in British Reformed thinking and writing to serve the Church, her teachers, and her Lord.
The articles in the first edition look both interesting and timely:
The journal covers all of the theological subdisciplines, and early issues will include articles on intertextuality in Romans 2, poetry in James, the place of children in the new covenant according to Jeremiah 32, Jim Jordan’s hermeneutics, Herman Bavinck’s theological method, and John Owen’s doctrine of justification. Future editions will contain articles on ethics, public theology, and pastoral counselling.
I was particularly encouraged by the editorial, which emphasizes that the purpose of the journal is to serve God’s church—a welcome focus in the current scholarly climate:
All true theology is Church theology, conducted by the community of God’s people, to serve the community of God’s people, in the power of the Spirit, for the glory of God in Christ. This is not to despise academic theology, but simply to locate it properly in the service of the Church. Ecclesia Reformanda therefore exists to serve the Church, primarily by serving pastors, theological students, and those who train them. Although the journal will seek to advance theological knowledge, and so contribute to academic theology, the primary goal is to equip pastors and teachers in the Church to discharge their ministries more fruitfully and faithfully. Our intention is thus unashamedly pastoral.
My friend and colleague Ros Clarke is on the board of editors. Her work is extraordinary, and so I expect the journal will follow suite. You can check out her blog here or her site dedicated to academic work here.
As an addendum to my guide to setting up Bibleworks 7 and 8 in Linux, I should mention this encouraging statement from the Bibleworks Website:
BibleWorks comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you purchase BibleWorks directly from us but cannot get it to work with your Windows emulator, you may return BibleWorks for a refund (shipping not included).
Bibleworks 8 now runs in Linux through WINE.
I posted a guide awhile back walking Linux users through the steps required to get Bibleworks 7 up-and-running in Linux (using Wine). It has recently been confirmed that the steps used in that guide also work for Bibleworks 8. If you are interested in running Bibleworks in Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE) you can find the guide here.
Surprisingly, it appears that some problems that plagued Bibleworks 7 in Linux are no longer issues in Bibleworks 8. This is good news!
Jan 282009
New features at an already great site
I’ve mention Bible.Logos.com before. It’s a pretty handy and fluid online Bible. Today it gets an upgrade:
As you navigate through the Bible, we dynamically pull relevant content—both sermons and illustrations—from our Sermons site and display the top three hits with a link to all of the other contributions that deal with the passage of Scripture you’re in.
The coolest part is that no matter where you are in the Bible, the list is automatically updated so there are always related sermons and illustrations just a click away.
This is definitely worth checking out. Logos has put together one of the better web-based Bibles out there. In addition to a variety of English translations they have recently added a number of additional Greek texts, including novum testamentum graece (in Unicode). The site is intuitive and the searching features are robust enough to find what you need. Give it a try.
If you need better Greek searching and features, try Zhubert.
Jan 262009
Mounce fields a question I get a lot: how do you use your Greek in the pulpit? His answer is well worth a read. My favorite part:
It starts with your homework. The most important place to use biblical languages is behind the scenes in doing your research, whether it be sermon preparation or getting ready for a Bible study. The languages give you access to tools that are far beyond the reach of English.
In class I have sometimes used a cooking analogy to get this across. Imagine someone in cooking school. One day one they are taught how to make pancakes. The good chef does not respond, “Why should I have to learn how to make pancakes? Why not just use Aunt Jemima?” The master chef does not pull out Aunt Jemima. Aunt Jemima may be easy—the ingredients are already mixed up together, just add water!—but the master chef always starts from scratch. Why? Because he knows his ingredients and wants to use them effectively. In the same way the pastor should be a master exegete. He should not rely on the pre-packaged just-add-water translations available to him. Those translations have already made all the tough decisions! Rather, the pastor should struggle with the original, even if only in a limited way.
And here is another good rule, this time more on presentation:
But I imagine that you have noticed I have not yet used the word “Greek” or “Hebrew” publicly. This is my general rule. When I want to talk about the meaning of the Greek word, I say something like, “The word translated such-and-such has a range of meanings that includes.…”
Read the whole thing.
If you frequently search the Westminster Library then you may be interested in this post. I have created a command for Firefox‘s Ubiquity that allows you to search the Westminster Library Catalog without ever leaving your web page. You can even highlight text on any web page and automatically search the library catalog using that text.
The ubiquity notification bar appears on pages with Ubiquity commands
If you know all about Ubiquity, and already have it installed, then simply add the wtslibrary command by clicking “Subscribe” in the drop down notice on this page. Once you’ve subscribed to the command, activate Ubiquity and type in “wtslibrary”, then your search. To highlight and search, just select text on any web page (try it now on the word bavinck), activate ubiquity, and then type “wtslibrary” and return. So easy (and you may also be interested in this post)!
New to Ubiquity? I have a full introduction available, complete with instructions for installing my Westminster Bookstore Ubiquity command.
If you’re not ready to jump into the wonderful world of Ubiquity, try my simpler Firefox Search Plugin.
How does the wtslibrary command work?
You can subscribe to the “wtsbooks” command by browsing to this page with Ubiquity installed and clicking “Subscribe” when the notification window drops down.
To use the command, activate Ubiquity (your shortcut key) and start typing “wtslibrary”. Then type in your search and press “enter”. You can also select text on a web page (why not try it be selecting the following: bavinck), activate Ubiquity, type “wtslibrary,” and the text you selected will be automatically entered as your search.
Future prospects
For future updates to this command, bookmark this page or subscribe to my site. I hope to add more functionality in the future, like search previews (type “amazon” into Ubiquity to see what I mean) and other goodies. If you have suggestions or questions, please post them in the comments!
If you love the Westminster Bookstore, then you’re going to want to read this post. I have created a command for Firefox‘s Ubiquity that allows you to search the Westminster Bookstore without ever leaving your web page. You can even highlight text on any web page and automatically search WTS Books using that text.
The ubiquity notification bar appears on pages with Ubiquity commands
If you know all about Ubiquity, and already have it installed, then simply add the wtsbooks command by clicking “Subscribe” in the drop down notice on this page. Once you’ve subscribed to the command, activate Ubiquity and type in “wtsbooks”, then your search. To highlight and search, just select text on any web page (try it now on the word bavinck), activate ubiquity, and then type “wtsbooks” and return. So easy (and you may also be interested in this post)!
New to Ubiquity? Keep reading!
What is Ubiquity?
Ubiquity is a plugin for Firefox (an excellent web browser) that allows you to interact with the web in a whole new way. It is a way of talking to the internet, telling it what kind of information you want and what you want to do with it. Bottom line: it’s the future of interacting with the web because it lets you do things more naturally and with less effort.
All this may sound like a lot of fluff. Why not see Ubiquity in action? The video below is an amazing demonstration of Ubiquity’s power and promise.
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Want more information? Check out this description.
How do I get it? How do I use it?
Easy. If you are using Firefox just go here and click the “Download Latest Version Ubiquity” link (or alternatively, just click here). Restart Firefox. You should see a page that tells you how to use Ubiquity and offers you a few options.
Note the keyboard shortcut listed in the top left corner of the page. It’s set to <CTRL>+Space by default (for Windows). You will use this shortcut to invoke Ubiquity and type your commands. Try it out now. Press the shortcut key, then type in “weather”. Wait for it…. Pretty cool, huh?
You may want to customize your shortcut key (especially if it doesn’t work, which is probably because that key combination is mapped to some other command on your system). I have mine set to WINDOWS+U.
How do I install more Ubiquity commands?
Ubiquity just provides the interface—the language by which your browser can communicate with you. For Ubiquity to be useful, you need to install commands. Ubiquity comes with a whole set of default commands, and installing new ones couldn’t be easier.
The ubiquity notification bar appears on pages with Ubiquity commands
If you go to a web page (like this one!) that contains a Ubiquity command, a little drop-down notice will appear asking if you want to subscribe. If you do, click “Subscribe” and follow the instructions on the next page. That page will look unnecessarily scary. It’s asking you if you trust the source. If you do, scroll down to the bottom and click “I know what I’m doing”. You might also want to check the “auto-update the feed” box, which means that anytime the author of the command makes a change, you will automatically have the latest version.
Why not get started by following my guide on setting up Ubiquity to browse and listen to the ESV Bible? It’s really easy! C’mon, give it a whirl!
How does the wtsbooks command work?
You can subscribe to the “wtsbooks” command by browsing to this page with Ubiquity installed and clicking “Subscribe” when the notification window drops down.
To use the command, activate Ubiquity (your shortcut key) and start typing “wtsbooks”. Then type in your search and press “enter”. You can also select text on a web page, activate Ubiquity, type “wtsbooks,” and the text you selected will be automatically entered as your search.
Future prospects
For future updates to this command, bookmark this page or subscribe to my site. I hope to add more functionality in the future, like search previews (type “amazon” into Ubiquity to see what I mean) and other goodies. If you have suggestions or questions, please post them in the comments!
