First Look: NLT Study Bible for Accordance

UPDATE: The NLT Study Bible is now available to purchase and download.

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Tomorrow (May 20), OakTree Software will release The NLT Study Bible for Accordance. In addition to the NLTSB, this will also mark the release of the 2007 NLTse text and notes for Accordance. OakTree has given me permission to post a few screenshots.

Click on the images below for a closer view.

The Instant Details info displays the result of hovering over the key number (1249) in the cross references. An article from the NLT Study Bible The high-res maps in the back of the NLTSB are also included in addition to the many other images.Look for a full review on This Lamp in the coming days.

Comments

[Adam]

Rick,

I assume that the current NLT-SE module will be updated tomorrow as well? For free?

[R. Mansfield]

I don't know. I'll see if I can get someone from OakTree to respond.

[Rick Bennett]

Yes, both the NLT-SE and NLT-SE Notes updates will be a free download, accessible through Check for Updates, later today. An official announcement will be on our blog later this afternoon as well.

[Doug]

Nice. Of course it has been out on Logos (and even on Olive Tree) for ages.

[R. Mansfield]

Well, different publishers release titles at different times. For instance, the ESV Study Bible has been available for Accordance for quite a while—over a year, I think. But Logos still only has it in development.

[Doug]

Yes, it is a mystery why the ESV Study Bible is taking so long to develop at Logos. I would hazard that it has something to do with the wealth of graphical material, maps etc., in the ESV Study Bible, but I don't know the inside story.

[R. Mansfield]

Yes, but I don't know why that would be a challenge for them. The ESV Study Bible is available in multiple formats. It's available in Accordance, BibleReader, Wordsearch, Laridian, Kindle and possibly more. I think electronic publishers prioritize different titles for their own limited resources.

Incidentally, I've used the ESV Study Bible in Accordance many times as a source for images to use when teaching on Sunday. The graphics are very nice. That's where all these study Bibles, including the NLTSB, are most valuable to me. The ability to grab a very professionally created chart or image and drop it into a presentation saves so much time.

[Doug]

Yes, you are probably right -- even though Logos is overcommitted now (supporting four platforms: MacOS, iPhone/iPad, Logos 3 on Windows, and Logos 4 on Windows -- all them buggy) they should be able to handle the ESVSB. They must have it in electronic form, so what's the hold up, one wonders?

A possible theory (pure speculation without any actual supporting evidence): perhaps there has been some sort of tension between Logos and Crossway (maybe because of Crossway's launch of a web-based ESVSB -- or maybe because or royalties or other license issues.) Logos and Crossway used to be "best friends" -- ESV was clearly the favored in-house translation (both on a personal confessional basis to many Logos employees and as the base translation for many of Logos's products); on the other hand, most hardcover ESV Bibles contained free versions of Logos software with the ESV. But something has happened.

Consider -- Logos is pushing out its edition of the Gottingen Septuagint. That will be great, but it has to be a tiny market compared to the number of electronic ESVSB's Logos could sell. (In fact, Logos admits it does not yet have enough orders to break even on the Gottingen -- while the ESVSB had enough orders within one day of its being available for pre-order.

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I do know that at least one of the formats you mention -- the Kindle ESVSB -- was produced directly by Crossway (and except for the built-in Kindle dictionary, the ESVSB is the most sophisticated use of the Kindle e-book format to date.)

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Regarding visual aids -- are you familiar with http://www.biblemapper.com/" rel="nofollow">biblemapper? If not, take a look -- the ESVSB used it to generate almost all of its maps.

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A final note -- you know I'm not a fan of the ESV translation (which I think was a step backwards from the RSV) and I'm even less fond of the ESVSB notes and essays (which are hugely biased towards a conservative Calvinist view, are somewhat shallow, and contain errors.) On the other hand, the ESVSB has the best layout and production values of any major SB I've seen. The only thing I've seen that is even close is the NIV Archeological SB, and the ESVSB is much more attractive than the NIV-ASB (and even though the ESVSB has errors, the NIV-ASB has more!) Moreover, Crossway's willingness to support it in so many bindings and format, provide a free web-based version, and its brilliant marketing all show a level of customer commitment and business-savvy that is sadly lacking in most other Bible publishers. (I would say Tyndale and Nelson are perhaps second; then Cambridge [which really is a very different sort of publisher]; and then -- resting largely on its laurels -- comes Zondervan.)

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All the more mysterious that Logos is waiting so long to release its electronic ESVSB.