INFORMATION ON BIBLE SOFTWARE (Last Updated: 10/7/96) (If you know about other programs, please let us know.) Note: The Latin Vulgate (St. Jerome) and the Douay-Rheims English translation of the Bible are both available in the SCRIPTURE library. The Gutenberg Bible (King James Version) is available for download as a .ZIP file from the SCRIPTURE library (GBIBLE.ZIP). CRNET has not tested the following offerings. Prices are not necessarily up to date. For further information, contact the publishers. *********************************************************************** CATHOLIC ANSWERS COLLECTION: TOP RECOMMENDATION OF EWTN ONLINE SERVICES *********************************************************************** Karl Keating of Catholic Answers has worked with Logos Research Systems to put together a Catholic CD-ROM Bible package ideal for study and apologetics. The Catholic Answers Collection includes: Revised Standard Version (widely-regarded as the most accurate English translation) New American Bible (the translation you hear most often in Church in the U.S.) Latin Vulgate (the most influential Bible translation ever done) Nestle-Aland/UBS Greek with Gramcord Morphology Full-Color Bible Maps You can add other texts from the Logos collection (see entries later in this file). Includes all the usual searching capabilities, etc. For Windows 3.1 or Windows 95, $197.95 postpaid. The Catholic Answers Collection Catholic Answers PO Box 17490 San Diego, CA 92177 619-541-1131 *********************************************************** CATHOLIC CD-ROM BIBLE COLLECTION FROM FAITH ALIVE RESOURCES *********************************************************** We believe this collection is also built around the Logos Research Systems product. Includes: New American Bible with Revised New Testament New Jerusalem Bible Vulgate Jerome Biblical Commentary Augustine's Confessions For Windows or Windows 95, $129.00 postpaid. Faith Alive Resources PO Box 2803 Peachtree City, GA 30269 770-486-9624 ******************************************* COMPUTER VERSIONS OF THE DOUAY-RHEIMS BIBLE ******************************************* The Douay-Rheims bible in available in its entirety from Catholic Software for DOS, Windows and Windows 95 for $85.00. The New Testament is available separately for $35.00. Text and footnotes from the 1899 version. Includes concordance, topical index and maps. Unlimited cut and paste and searches. Includes music and color photography, but these multi-media features can be suppressed if your computer doesn't support them. Order from: Catholic Software P.O. Box 1914 Murray, KY 42071 502-753-8198 ******************************************* COMPUTER VERSIONS OF THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE ******************************************* DELUXE BIBLE FOR WINDOWS, NEW AMERICAN BIBLE VERSION (Rocky Mountain Laboratories; available through Our Sunday Visitor 1-800-348-2440; osvsales@aol.com). $39.95. CD-ROM and diskette editions of the New America Bible with text search, timelines, event index, background documents and footnotes. THE BIBLE ON DISK FOR CATHOLICS (DOS and Windows versions available). From Ligouri Faithware, One Ligouri Drive, Ligouri, MO 63057 (1-800-325- 9521). Includes an excellent search mechanism. New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version (Catholic Edition), and Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, $69.95 each; add-on Greek and Hebrew library is $14.95. Barclay's Bible COmmentary, $49.95. See review at the end of this file. WORDsearch: NavPress, a company the publishes primarily Protestant Bibles, has now brought out the NAB for use with its highly-regarded WORDsearch software. WORDsearch for DOS is currently available, and WORDsearch for Windows is due out later this Fall (1993). The Windows version will ship with over 200 high resolution color maps. Many Bible aids (again, non-Catholic) are also available. In US call NavPress at 800-888-9898; outside the US, call the technical support number 1-719-260-0404. Or Fax 1-719-598-0749. Or contact NavPress via CompuServe Mail at 70242,3616. THE FIND-IT BIBLE includes an NAB version for DOS, and is available from Franciscan University Press, Franciscan Way, Steubenville, OH 43952. Call 1-614-283-6357. ANNO DOMINI advertises the NAB for both PC and Mac ($64.95 and $89.95, respectively). Revised NT, revised Psalter, footnotes and cross references Anno Domini, Dept. 2, Box 3105, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 (1-313-769-7377) Logos (below) also now offers the NAB. ====================== LOGOS BIBLE STUDY AIDS ====================== The Protestant world is lightyears ahead of us Catholics in Bible software. The company with the most to offer is perhaps Logos Research Systems. Some Protestant companies, including Logos, are branching out into Catholic editions, usually the New American Bible. Logos Research Systems 2117 200th Ave. W. Oak Harbor, WA 98277-4049 1-206-679-6575 1-206-675-8169 FAX 800-875-6467 US Order line (24 hrs.) LOGOS BIBLE STUDY SOFTWARE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE (CATHOLIC) EDITION The NAB should be available by the time you read this file. Complete details were unavailable when we put this information together. LOGOS BIBLE STUDY SOFTWARE 1.5 KJV $129.00 Windows; can add notes to any verse; add cross references; search on Strong's numbers; complete boolean, and, or, andnot, and xor searches, plus fuzzy search. Multiple note files and multiple topic indexes. Greek, Hebrew & other multi-language support. Exports in RTF; prints. Font control. DDE. MDE. Strong's emjamced Greek-Hebrew lexicon. Version: KJV OTHER LOGOS PRODUCTS ON DISKETTE AND CD-ROM Logos Bible Study Software 1.5 w/ KJV, RSV, Strong's numbers, enhanced dictionary, Treasury of Scripture Knowledge $149.00 CD-ROM WORDLIBRARY (upgrade for Windows 3.1 due Winter 92) $595.00, includes: Greek Texts: Nestle-Aland Greek NT w/ diacritics; Rahifs LXX with Tage-Wurttembergische, Bibelanstalt 1935; Septuagint linked to English English Texts: KJV, NIV, NASB (New American Standard Bible), RSV Dictionaries: New Bible Dictionary, rev. ed. 1980; Harper's Bible Dictionary, 1985 Greek Lexicons: Bauer Lexicon (BAGD), Intermediate Liddell and Scott (Classical Greek), One Volume Theological Dictionary of New Testament Commentaries: Harper's Bible Commentary, Bible Knowledge Commentary, Jerome Biblical Commentary; Plus grammatical information on Greek words GREEK (Logos) Byzantine/Majority Textform with scalable accented Greek font. $59.00 Nestle-Aland 26th with same font. $59.00 Textus Receptus with same font. $59.00 Scrivener's 1891 with same font $39.00 Greek 4-Pack includes preceding 4 for $119.00 HEBREW (Logos) Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia with scalable Hebrew font. $59 Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Morphological Hebrew text, with same font. $99 VERSIONS (Logos) New International Version (NIV) $59.00 New King James Version (NKJV) $49.00 Revised Standard Version (RSV) $29.00 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV with Apocrypha) $49.00 American Standard Version (ASV, 1901) $29.00 Nave's Topical Bible $49.00 ======================== ELLIS CD-ROM BIBLE STUDY ======================== Ellis Enterprises has THE NEW BIBLE LIBRARY ($495) on CD-ROM. Includes 14 Bibles, 5 word studies, 3 Bible commentaries, and 17 dictionaries on 1 CD-ROM. Again, these are non-Catholic materials. US order number 800-729-9500; international 1-405-749-0273. ============================================= HERMENEUTIKA COMPUTER BIBLE RESEARCH SOFTWARE ============================================= Hermeneutica plans to add the New American and the New Jerusalem Bibles in the near future. As of August 1994, only Protestant versions were available. Hermeneutica offers the BIBLE WORKS program for DOS or WINDOWS. This program comes in two possible "bundles". The "English Budget Bundle" includes the American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, and King James Version, plus various lexicons and cross-reference treasuries, discounted to $99. The "Research Bundle" includes the budget bundle plus the Greek and Hebrew text of the Bible in several versions, and Greek and Hebrew PostScript fonts, discounted to $299. You can start with the English Bundle and add the Greek and/or Hebrew materials later. Hermeneutica also offers the On-Line Bible for the MAC or the PC, which is like the "English Budget Bundle" except it includes the Darby Literal Version of 1890 and Young's Literal Translation of 1898 instead of the ASV and RSV. These are all Protestant materials. Hermeneutica Computer Bible Research Software Dept. BWW-0493 PO Box 98563 Seattle, WA 98198-0563 USA Order number: 1-206-824-9673; Fax 1-206-824-7160. ============================================================================= Software Review: The Bible on Disk for Catholics - Windows Version Published by Ligouri Faithware Review by George A Bonina This review covers the Ligouri Faithware "The Bible on Disk for Catholics," Windows version. There are also DOS and Macintosh versions that are not covered in this review. The computer used for this review is an IBM compatible 486/33 with 8 MB RAM, DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1. Summary The Bible on Disk for Catholics is a worthwhile investment and fills a need for a computerized version of a Catholic Bible. It's strongest features are a friendly interface, the ability to do complex searches and export selected verses to a file, a reasonable price, and the ability to handle multiple translations in different windows. It's weakest feature is the current availability of only the New American Bible (NAB) translation, with no definite plans for the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE). Translation Currently only the NAB is included with the program, but the program has provisions for multiple translations. The product manager said that the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) will be available in the Spring of 1995. They are considering making the RSVCE available if there is enough interest. System Requirements The software requires Windows 3.1, a minimum of 2 MB RAM and 4.5 MB free disk space. User Interface The user interface is friendly and consistent with standard Windows software. There is a tool bar that has the most commonly used functions (e.g., search, go to a verse). The tool bar cannot be customized by the user. You can open multiple bible windows that contain either the same translation or, when available, a different translation. There is an option to display the NAB footnotes in a split screen at the bottom of the window. When the cursor is on a verse for which there is a footnote, that footnote is displayed. The software allows you to attach your own notes to a verse. As with footnotes, there is an option to display user notes in a split screen at the bottom of the window. Some people may find the note feature useful for either personal reflections or keeping research notes. Search Capabilities The Bible on Disk has extensive search capabilities. You can go directly to a specific verse or search for any word (except common words such as "for" and "the"). You can combine words with boolean operators AND, OR and ANDNOT, and use parentheses to create complex searches. The search for multiple words looks for words in the same verse. You can also search for a specific phrase. The search can be limited to any range of verses spanning multiple books. The search is very fast, less than one second for a single word and no more than a few seconds for all but the most complex searches. Once the search is completed a window appears showing the list of verses selected. This is called the index. At the bottom of the index window is a split screen showing the text of the verse on which the cursor is located. The words used in the search are highlighted. Double-clicking on a verse reference in the index opens another window showing the verse in context. You can easily delete irrelevant verses from the index and save the index for future use. It would be useful if the publisher included the capability to manually add verses to the index so that a complete set of references to a specific topic could be maintained. Text Export Capabilities Any text can be highlighted either by dragging the cursor or holding down the shift key and using the arrow keys. There are three options to export highlighted text: copy to clipboard, print and export to a file. The ability to export text to a file is one of the program's strongest features. The created file is in ASCII format. You can either create a new file or add the text to an existing file. The ability to add to an existing file is especially useful. It allows you to build a file of verses which can easily be imported into a word processor or other program. Another useful feature is the ability to directly import a range of verses into any Windows program. When the Bible on Disk is running, it adds to the edit menu of other Windows programs a selection to import verses. It takes only a few seconds for the selected verses to appear at the cursor location. Other Features You can set up the program for different users. If this preference is selected, the program will ask for the user name when the program is started. Each user can maintain his own preferences and set of notes. The program has an optional add-on library of Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries. Looking up a Greek or Hebrew word opens a window containing one or more English transliterations (not Greek or Hebrew symbols) of the word, the Strong's number, and the definitions. One deficiency is that the Greek or Hebrew words shown are not the actual words used in the text. Rather, they are possible choices for the words. Installation and Stability The program comes on eight 3 « inch diskettes. Installation was simple and flawless. A Ligouri program group is automatically created. On rare occasions the program will generate a Windows application error. Although you can exit the program, some care is necessary when running the program with other Windows programs. For example, if you have a word processor running in another window, it would be wise to frequently save your word processing files. Documentation and User Support Documentation is a small booklet that adequately explains installation and basic operations. Ligouri provides a toll-free 800 number for user support. Calls were answered promptly but the technical support representatives did not seem to be especially knowledgeable about the program. On one occasion the representative said he would call back with an answer, but he never did. The product manager is very willing to talk to users and welcomes comment. Cost and Availability The list price of the Bible on Disk is $69.95. The add-on Greek and Hebrew library is $14.95. Both can be purchased directly from Ligouri Publications, One Ligouri Drive, Ligouri, MO 63057 (1-800 325-9521). In the Northern Virginia area the Bible on Disk is available from the following sources (there may be others): St. Paul Book and Media Center, 1025 King St., Alexandria, VA 22314 (703-549-3806); and The Catholic Shop, 5061 Westfields Blvd., Centerville, VA 22020 (703-222-0096).