Today’s guest post is by Dr. Sam Simmons. Dr. Simmons is co-founder and vice president for learning design at Rockbridge Seminary. ©Copyright 2010. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Bob rubbed his tired eyes. For three hours he had been staring at seminary Web sites trying to decide where to apply. He was particularly interested in three seminaries but felt like he needed to probe a little deeper before making his final decision.

Returning to the three Web sites, Bob wrote down the phone numbers, and then pulled out his cell phone to make the calls. While dialing the first number, he slowly closed his phone, realizing he needed time to think more carefully about what questions to ask.

I have listened to questions from prospective seminary applicants like Bob for 25 years. In almost every instance, the most important questions were never asked – questions relating to learning design. A seminary’s learning design is how a seminary intends for you to change as a result of completing an academic program – change in knowledge, understanding, attitudes, and skills.

If I could catch Bob before he makes that first call, here are three questions I would suggest he ask before he settles on where to attend seminary.

How will your seminary help me understand and fulfill God’s call?
A generation ago, students entered seminary with a calling to one of a handful of ministry
multiple ministry roles. Seminary courses were developed accordingly.

Today, seminary students are more likely to view God’s call in terms of Kingdom, journey, and relationship. Rather than entering seminary with a calling to a specific ministry role, they are more likely to be committed to a journey of obedience that could include multiple ministry roles.

Seminaries are beginning to adapt to this new kind of student. Some provide an entry course that helps incoming students clarify God’s call and process how they are designed and shaped uniquely for Kingdom influence. With the average age of incoming seminary students approaching 40 years old, help is often provided so an older student can understand how life experience and secular work skills relate to God’s call.

Without some perspective of calling, a student can be overwhelmed with the vast assortment of programs and courses from which to choose. Charting a course of study is easier when a student has a clearer perspective of God’s call and a sharper focus of where ministry development is needed.

How will your seminary help me be more effective in ministry?

The root of the word “seminary” is “semen” or “seed.” The original idea was that seminary would be a season of planting seed into a young minister’s life – seed that would start bearing fruit after the student left the protective care of seminary life and assumed his first ministry position in the real world. Traditional seminary education was built on the assumption that a student would complete seminary before assuming full-time ministry responsibilities.

Students entering seminary today are more likely to be serving already in a full-time ministry position. Instead of enrolling in seminary for credentialing in order to find a ministry position, they enroll in seminary because they need help in being more effective as a minister.

Increasingly, seminaries are seeking to make theological education more directly relevant to local church ministry. Some are responding by designing curriculum that is competency- guided. Others are building assignments in a way that use a student’s ministry position as the primary platform for learning.

When I graduate, how will I know if your seminary has helped me?
Seminary is more than passing courses and receiving a diploma. It is a learning journey of growth and development. The entrance into seminary represents one point in your journey.

Graduation represents another. In between, seminary study has influenced you. After three or more years of study, you have a right to ask how.

Did seminary study help you grow? Are you better prepared to minister? Did the seminary program influence you in the way it was intended? These questions will be difficult to answer unless a seminary has embedded these evaluation tools into the learning process from start to finish.

• At the front end, a seminary should help you construct learning objectives based on God’s call and your ministry development requirements.
• As you take courses, a seminary should help you capture learning snapshots that track your progress.
• As you near completion of your academic program, a seminary should help youevaluate the degree to which your learning objectives were met .

Perhaps you are considering seminary education. If so, gather and study information on your prospective seminaries prayerfully. And as you do, be sure you ask the most important questions.

(art: "Saint Jerome" by Caravaggio)

[This article is based on parts of the manuscript for a message I gave on "Beauty" at Epiphany Fellowship. On my personal blog and the webzine I run you can find the audio, manuscript, and full blog series inspired by the message.]

We all know, as I’ve mentioned before, that there is a potential risk of seminary becoming too intellectual an enterprise. This is nothing new. It’s nothing we haven’t heard before. In light of Advent, which began last week, I’d like to send out this call to all the seminarians out there in the midst of papers and final exams. In this article, I’m not seeking to give you anything new, but rather to stir your affections for the study of the revelation of this Beautiful God. I want to talk about what makes theology beautiful, and what makes theology grotesque. “Theology” is the contemplation of the Beauty of God; and as the study of this God, it is also the study of Beauty Itself; it is the contemplation of the various complexities and revelations of God in order to better enjoy Him. John Calvin talks about this in his Institutes of the Christian Religion. He says that if your quote-on-quote “theological study” isn’t leading you to greater praise and enjoyment in God, then you’re not really studying theology! At that point it’s just studying literature – getting a better idea of this “character” named God in this “novel” called “The Bible”.

This is one of the reasons why I had to leave seminary. I was in the midst of such beauty and I was numb to it! I was too immature. I didn’t have the spiritual infrastructure to see it for how beautiful it was! This infinite complexity being placed in front of me day in and day out was not leading me to enjoy Him. How many of us live our lives surrounded by the objective beauty of Christ and it does nothing to us? This contemplation of the Beauty of God can help us. Charles Spurgeon once said, “There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. No subject of contemplation will tend to more humble the mind, than thoughts of God.”

If the end goal of theology is enjoyment in God, then, how do we know whether or not we’re actually enjoying him? What does this process of enjoyment look like? Let me offer a potential model: First, does your theological education lead you to praise God? By “praise”, I do not mean anything that has to do with your words, actions, or even your thoughts. Praise is the process of turning one’s deepest affections towards the object of one’s contemplation. It is a devotion that is pulled out of your heart and not just decided by your will. It’s acknowledging beauty at the deepest part of who you are. But praising is not enough. Seeing something beautiful and calling it such does not complete the purpose for which that beauty exists.

The Beauty of anything has an attractive quality. It draws you toward it at a very deep level. The next step, after acknowledging this beauty is to allow it to suck you in. I call this participating with the Beauty of that thing or person. All other forms of beauty can only draw you near to themselves. God, in theology, can and does actually draw you into Himself, Himself in you, and then uses his world to communicate Himself even further to you. Let your theology cultivate in you a view of this God as One whose grace can be experienced in everything. Every good-tasting piece of food, every sunset, every cool breeze, every joyful moment all then become moments where God communicates Himself and His grace to you so you might participate and be joined to Him in His Beauty. John Owen, my favorite Puritan, says “O to behold the glory of Christ…Herein would I live; herein would I die; herein would I dwell in my thoughts and affections…until all things below become unto me a dead and deformed thing, no way suitable for affectionate embraces.” Oh that we longed for God like that! In Theology, there is a participation in the Glory, Beauty, Majesty, Goodness, and Love of God that is at hand for those who believe and far for those who don’t.

But even this does not complete the process of enjoying God in theology. Next, we proclaim the beauty we have seen in this revelation of God. The Beauty of anything longs to be known and spread – almost like a virus. It wants to inspire you to tell others about it, so that those people might participate in it as well. This process in response to God’s Beauty in Theology is typically referred to as preaching (and not just behind the safety of a pulpit). Speaking of this God should be the natural response to someone who has praised and participated in the Beauty of God. It is out of the overflow of this in someone’s heart that they speak; not out of begrudging compulsion or sheer white-knuckled obedience. We tell others about the things we find most beautiful. Should this not also apply to the highest of all beautiful persons – God?

This brings us to our last part in the process of responding to the Beauty of God in theology. God, in His love for us, calls us to respond to beauty not only by proclaiming beauty in word, but also producing beauty in deed. This is shown in two ways. First, this shows itself in holiness. Seeing the Beauty of God should inspire us to holy living and loving of others. It should drive us to serving those around us in order to replicate the Beauty of God that we have seen. If your seminary education is not leading you to increased practical holiness, you are an affront to the purpose for which you are supposedly there. Repent or drop out. The second way we produce beauty in response to God’s revelation in theology is by, well, producing beautiful things. We are built in the Image of a God who doesn’t just desire, delight in, and display Beauty, but a God who also makes Beauty. The longer I live, the more I am convinced that everyone has some creative ability in them. Of course this will look different in all of us, but we all have it. Find it. Do it well. Do it often. And do it as a response to the Beauty that is around you in both God and Creation. Seminary should not terminate on itself. It should spur you to create! You are built in the image of a Creator God! You have not only the ability but — I fully believe — the responsibility as well to bring forth more beauty in this world and further participate in God’s “re-knitting” of the broken strands of this universe.

May I challenge all of us, in this season of Advent and reflection, to press in and seek the complexities of Who this God is and how He has revealed Himself? Understanding the Beauty of God in theology is of the utmost importance to the Christian, because His Beauty is completely pointless. It can’t be manipulated, used, or abused. It can only be enjoyed. Something I’ve learned over time: whenever spirituality of any kind goes awry and goes off track, the Beauty of God is one of the first things to go. The inability to accept the mysterious complexities of God is the beginning of all heresy. You can’t have a right enjoyment of the Beauty of God and be a legalist, libertine (someone who abuses grace), or a hypocrite. Seeking to enjoy the Beauty of God is a guard against all these things.

In my reading on this topic, my favorite resource I found was from a Catholic theologian named John Navone. He says in his book Toward a Theology of Beauty that Christian theologians (which I would argue should be all of us) are people given the task of articulating and putting into words how everything in life is given to us by God. Navone calls this the “givenness” of life and selfhood. This means that all of life is grace – unmerited favor; and that even things that are usually seen as secular (types of visual art, media, culture, jobs, and types of “non-Christian” music) are actually things that “mediate the mystery of the dawn of Christ’s Kingdom, as epiphanies or manifestations of grace. We as theologians are charged with the task of ushering in and articulating the mysteries of beauty which we will rest in forever.” That’s amazing. “Theology” is the study of these “mysteries of beauty” that we then articulate to the world around us. He goes on to say that “Theologians are engaged in a dialogue, not only with their public, but with the object of their contemplation.”  In this time that the Church has historically set aside to reflect upon the incarnated living Word of God, may I plead with all of us to spend some time, even in the midst of intense cramming, to reflect upon the study of the inspired written Word of God.

Contemplate this God. Contemplate His revelation. Enjoy this revelation. Enjoy this God. Repeat.  Happy Advent.

We’ve heard hundreds of horror stories of students losing their paper. Whether it is computer theft or a hard drive crashing, we are all vulnerable to loss of intellectual property. Days, even months of work can disappear in an instant. Each term we exhort students to back up their data frequently, but faculty members are just as guilty of not taking the necessary precautions to preserve data.

Thankfully, there are some free or inexpensive solutions to this problem. You can rest easy at night knowing that your documents, email, contact, calendar, and all other data are safely backed up; not just once, but four different ways.

Items to keep in mind regarding Backups.

The first thing you must remember when selecting a backup system is that it must be a “Set it and forget it” system. Anything that relies on a human to start the backup each time will never work. We get distracted and forget. The second thing to remember about backing up is to have more than one system in place in case one has a hiccup. Lastly, have at least one back up in the same location as your machine, and at least one in a completely different geographical location as the machine you are backing up.

The Hardware & Software of backing up

In the old days we used to use tapes to back up and we would rotate them out to a safe deposit box once a week. Was that ever a pain? Working for a digital seminary like Rockbridge brought new challenges since all our staff work in separate locations. We have used MozyPro for about three years and it has worked well. It’s Mac and Windows compatible and centrally managed through their website. It also fulfills our need for an offsite backup.

Alongside Mozy, we each use Drop Box to store all our documents. Drop box not only stores your documents, but also automatically syncs them across any computer you wish. It also allows you to share files with family, friends, or coworkers. Let’s say you are traveling without your personal computer, but you need to access a document. If you can borrow the use of a computer get on the Internet, you can access your account containing all of your documents. Any changes to the document will be sync with all of the computers that are storing your data. You can use the free version of Drop Box (2 gigs) or purchase additional space (50 gigs costs about $10 a month).

You may also want to use NAS (network attached storage) device to back up all the computers in your house. This device is simply an enclosure that has both wireless and wired network access and houses a hard drive. Mine has two hard drives that mirror, or automatically copy each other, in case one of them decides to stop working. However, if you are just concerned with one computer, a USB connected external hard drive? works just as well. Nearly all of these come with backup software. Apple provides Time Machine for Macs that creates automatic backups and works wonderfully.

Archiving the most important files

If you have files that need archived and are critical must haves, such as tax filings or a movie of baby’s first steps, it’s always a good idea to burn a CD or DVD and label it with as many descriptors as you can. In a year when you are flipping through the disk on your desk and can’t remember what’s on a specific disk, you’ll thank yourself for being so detailed. There is also some new technology that we have yet to try, but it’s on our to do list. DVDs that can be burned by personal computers last around 5 years before becoming corrupt so don’t count on them to work in 10 years. Cranberry 1,000 year DVDs are for the documents, images, or database files that must be safe.

What do you use for backing up? What have you used? What didn’t you like, or worse, didn’t work when it needed to? Sing praises or vent in the comments.

Cyber Monday, or everyday: The good folks over at Logos Bible Software are offering the GtS readers 25% off the latest Logos software. Either click here or use coupon code GTS1 when checking out.

iPhone users should check out their recently launched iPhone app.

How many of us will come out of seminary, just to relate to our friends “out there” “in the world” in this way?

Don’t.

Thanks to my friends at Patrol Magazine for originally posting this video.

May I confess something before we get started? I assume this is a safe place. I am terrible at time management. There, I said it. I am not an expert at it in the slightest. This is borderline embarrassing, but I was given the “ok,” to write this article back in February! It is now November and I am just now getting to it. I didn’t even make time to write an article on managing time! Notice that I said, “make” time, as oppose to “have” time. I had the time. We all have the time to do whatever it is we need to do; we just simply don’t do it at times. My wife, Natalie, says, “We make time for the things we want to do.” So when I try to use the excuse of, “I didn’t have time to go run.” She replies, “No, you didn’t make time, because it wasn’t important to you.” Stings, but it’s true. Why don’t we do _________ ? It’s not because we didn’t have the time, it’s because we didn’t give it time. So whether it was an assignment, a ministry deadline, or time at the gym, it comes down to giving not having.

Instead of using words like, “making,” “balancing,” or “management,” let’s use the word “delegation.” We all have 24 hours in a single day. Our fruitfulness hinges on how well we delegate our time between our different activities and roles.

Was not writing this article back in February a bad thing? Was it a bad delegation of time, or was it a proper use of my time? This is precisely what we need to explore and apply to our lives. “How do we use our time in accordance with the responsibilities God gives us?” Our roles and priorities answer this question. We must strive to organize our lives in such a way that our various roles receive the appropriate amount of love and attention needed to glorify God and love others.

Whether you are only one semester into your journey at seminary or you’ve been attending for several years, balancing your studies with other responsibilities is of utmost importance. God-glorifying time management is a task we will pursue for the rest of our lives.

Here is reality. With every new season or life stage, life only gets more loaded with roles and responsibilities. Those of you who are married know exactly what I am talking about. And if you have children you know what I am talking about even more! Being married with children is a busy and wonderful life! Then add ministry into the recipe and we are cooking up some busy schedules.

Let me give you a quick snapshot into my life and see where you can relate.

• Married for only two and half years
• One year-old baby girl
• One of the Pastors at a church planted less than two years ago
• Preach roughly 15-20 Sundays a year
• In the process of appointing elders
• Setting up membership
• Attending to discipline issues
• Leading a college ministry
• Discipling multiple groups of guys
• Leading a ministry team
• Seminary (5-6 hours a semester)

That’s just to name a few things I’m involved in! Consider your involvements.

Honestly, we are all busy. And we ought to be. Our lives or not our own, they belong to Jesus (1 Cor. 6:19-20). We’re to work like an ant (Proverbs 6:6-11), ox (1 Timothy 5:17-18), a good soldier, an Olympic athlete, and a fruitful farmer (2 Timothy 2:4-6). However, it seems that busyness has almost become a badge of honor. In response to, “How are ya?” people often say, “Great! Really busy.” This begs the question, “With what?” Are we busy with: Facebook, Twitter, blogging, reading blogs etc…? We must not confuse being a busy with being fruitful. We need to aim at being faithful with our time and lives for Gospel work, not just active. (Acts 20:24).

Church history provides amazing examples of hard workers, oxen-like persons, who impressively delegated their time. In a biographical sermon on George Whitefield, John Piper said Whitefield would sometimes preach forty hours a week! That’s forty hours of actual preaching, not preparation, but preaching! Steve Lawson, in his wonderful book on the preaching of John Calvin, shared how Calvin felt like one month he had hardly done anything. Calvin felt ashamed and useless. What’s amazing about this is that Calvin had preached twenty sermons and delivered twelve lectures that month! (Steve Lawson, The Expository Genius of John Calvin, Reformation Trust, FL. 2007, 45.)

How busy are we? We’re probably not as busy as Calvin or Whitefield. But this begs another question. Was it right for them to be that busy?

At a recent Acts29 boot camp, Matt Carter, lead pastor at Austin Stone Community Church, preached a message on the lives and ministries of Wesley, Whitefield, and Edwards.
In that message he shared how Whitefield’s wife, lamented how much her husband labored. She said she loved George, but felt like a widow. Should he have been that busy?

If we give great chunks of time to our studies, books, and ministry but neglect our family, we are not honoring God. God is gracious and still does amazing things, but I don’t want my wife to feel like a widow or my daughter to feel like an orphan. We need to be very careful. Here we find our lifelong tension. How do we do everything we need to accomplish, do it well, and remain faithful to other areas of our lives?

This is where we get really practical. We need to think about prayer, priorities, and roles. In the next installment, we will discuss practical tips for managing our time.

Guest Writer: Jeff Medders is in his first year of studies at Dallas Theological seminary, and has hopes to transfer to Reformed Theological Seminary in 2010. He has been married to Natalie since, March 3, 2007. Between being the college pastor and a member of the preaching team at Redeemer Bible Church, a new church plant in Tomball, TX; he loves playing with his little girl, Ivy, born on November 21, 2008. Check out Jeff’s blog: EatBible.org

Big news in Bible software today: Logos Bible Software has announced the release of the newest version of Logos Bible Software, Logos 4. I’ve had my hands on the Beta version for several months and, let me just say, it is amazing. With far too many upgrades, features, and resources to cover in a single post, you can visit www.logos.com/4 to see what Logos 4 can do for you. If you’re already a Logos users, be sure to check out the amazing crossgrade and upgrade options available for you. All the base packages have new books added to them and there are even some new levels that offer AMAZING resources at an incredible discount… check out Platinum!

We were fortunate enough to get a Google Wave invite yesterday. And, we have so few friends that were interested in Wave we didn’t give all our “nominations” (read invites) away yet.

If you would like to get nominated for a Google Wave account post your crazy idea for how it could be used in ministry. Then be sure to vote on the ideas you like the best by replying to that person’s comment. The winner will be nominated for a Wave account.

If you’re asking what Wave is:

I am assuming that if you were given any advice upon entering seminary, this phrase may have come out: “guard your devotional time with the Lord!” I am not writing to suggest that this is poor advice by any means. It is great advice! Yet, I am wondering whether or not our notion of “devotional time” is too narrow? Are we not constantly communing with the Lord when we open up His Word?  He is now speaking to us through His Word and through His people when rightly handling the word of truth. Are we aware of Him? Am I?

Before starting seminary, I interpreted that advice as a call to guard my quiet times by reading the Scriptures apart from my “academic study” of them. Now, less than two months into my studies, I have been on several occasions, including this morning, questioned by my professors, “Why can’t our academic study be devotional?” In raising this question, they are challenging a false distinction that locates worship of the Lord in our private, quiet, reflection on the Scriptures and not in the public academic reflection of Scripture–namely, corporately assigned reading and lecturing. When we are presented with exhortations, such as 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Colossians 3:17, showing that all of life is for the glory of God, why would we not approach our classes and assignments as opportunities to worship as well?

One of my Covenant Theology professors suggested a possible reason for this common separation between “academic” and “devotional” reading of Scripture. He noted that we often view the Scriptures as a collection of truth statements for the purpose of doctrine. And while there are certainly propositional truths in Scripture, the Bible is primarily a story. While there may be a time and place for systematic theology, we must be aware that all of these “truth statements” fall within the context of narrative. In separating doctrine from narrative, we also begin to make distinctions in our reading of Scripture.

Often our “devotional reading” becomes focused on the narrative portions of Scripture, while doctrine falls in the realm of “academic inquiry.” In the words of my professor, “We should always bring our whole self whenever we open up Scripture!” In Proper Confidence, Lesslie Newbigin writes, “The revelation of which we speak in the Christian tradition is more than the communication of information; it is the giving of an invitation” (p.65). That invitation is not relegated to our “quiet times.”

Let us bring our whole self when we come to Scripture, whether in public or private, whether at home or in the classroom, whether the reading is assigned or not! As the author of Hebrews writes, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (4:12). This sword is not placed into a sheath in the classroom. The Lord is constantly engaging our hearts, I pray that we would be more aware of this!

NIC on the Old and New Testament

My first real introduction to the New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (NIC)  was in Dr. Kistamaker’s class on the Epistle to the Hebrews. The assigned reading for the class was, compared to my others, quite light. We were to read Hebrews, FF Bruce’s Epistle to the Hebrews from the NIC, and one other commentary. I thoroughly enjoyed Bruce’s commentary as it was very approachable, yet technical when it needed to be. Over the course of my seminary days I added a few more NIC volumes to my library, and was always happy with the addition.

The NIC Goes Digital

Bible software users have long awaited the day when the NIC would be made available digitally. A few months ago Logos Bible Software announced that they were bringing NIC to the Logos format. The production process has been completed and the set is scheduled to ship on 10/15/09 (note – If you place your order before the 15th, you can lock in the pre-pub rate, which is more than $800 off retail).

I managed to get my hands on an advance copy and wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts with you.

NIC Overview

If you’ve been around Going to Seminary for any length of time, you know that I went to Reformed Theological Seminary. The main reason I went to RTS was that I wanted to go to a seminary where, for the most part, I could simply trust my professors. Sure, there are some people who go to seminaries outside their tradition and belief structure in order to challenge themselves… I wasn’t one of those people. I’m the kind of guy who just wants to sit down and not have to worry too much about “should I believe what my professor is saying?”

The same is true for commentaries. Sure, I like to have commentaries in my library that I might not necessarily agree with, but I also like to have commentaries that I know I can generally trust. As a conservative,  protestant, evangelical, the NIC is just that kind of commentary. With authors like Fee, Bruce, Moo, Longman, Waltke, and others, the NIC sets me at ease before I even crack open a book.  Backing this up is the mass of support behind the series. Reading the recommendations on Logos’ product page reassures me that, indeed, this is a series that is right up my ally. Along with this it is good to note that 29 of the 40 commentaries from the NIC are listed on the BestCommentaries.com “best” list.

The books of the NIC all include an introductory section that pay excellent attention to the authorship, date, purpose, structure, and theology of each book. After this, each book of the NIC will offer a verse-by-verse commentary. Now, this last point might seem like a “duh” kind of thing… but how often have you opened a commentary to a difficult verse, only to find no entry? What kind of help is that? Not with the NIC, every verse is dealt with.

If there was one critique I’d offer of the NIC, it is the decision to transliterate the Greek and Hebrew. The fact of the matter is that you either know the languages, or you don’t. Transliteration isn’t much of a help for people who don’t know the original language, because even if you can pronounce it, you still don’t know what it is. And if you do know the languages, then odds are you’re not a fan of transliteration. Also, with regards to the digital version, while Logos often can understand the transliteration and, when you double click a transliterated word it will open a lexicon, occasionally I found that Logos had trouble with the transliterated version. Thankfully I have Greek and Hebrew Bibles in my library, so when really needed to get to the original language, I was able to via the Bible text.

40 books in your backpack

One thing I noticed about my print edition of Bruce’s commentary was its size. It wasn’t the biggest book I’ve ever had, but with my laptop, ESV, Bruce, and my lunch in my bag for class, my bag was heavy to say the least. Not to mention I had no room for anything else! That’s what I love about having the NIC in Logos. Now I can carry all 23,832 pages with me all the time with no added weight.

Think about it. Just carrying two or three of these commentaries would fill a bag. Granted, how often do you need to have an entire commentary set with you? Not too often. But isn’t it nice to know it is there if you want it? No matter if you’re sitting in class or at the coffee shop, it is always nice to know that you can instantly look up a verse or reference in a high quality commentary.

Links, Languages, and Library

Links
Having the NIC in Logos is so much better than having it in print. Granted, from time to time I like the feel of a book in my hand, but when it comes to studying God’s word, there is a lot to be said about the efficiency Bible software provides.

To begin with, the NIC is linked to a number of other resources within your Logos library. In particular, the Bible. When I’m studying a passage I can have both the text and the commentary open. As I move through the scripture, the commentary tracks with me. Not only that, but every scripture reverence in the NIC is tagged and, when I hover over it with my mouse, the text will be revealed. This feature alone is worth the price of admission!

Think about it–how often do you actually take the time to look of the scripture references that an author puts into his book? I said be honest! Me, I’d say occasionally at best. But the author put them there for a reason, right? With the NIC in Logos, to see the reference, all you have to do is mouse over the verse and there it is.

Language
Along with interacting with the Scripture, the NIC also delves into the original language. As I mentioned previously, the NIC’s decision to transliterate leaves me a little wanting. While reading the transliteration is easy enough, in order to really interact with the original language that the commentary addresses, I find myself going to my original language text to be the base for my searches and study. If there was one thing I’d change about NIC, this would be it.

Library
One of the many beauties of having the NIC for Logos is that I literally have a library at my fingertips. While you can buy the NIC as a stand alone product, the great thing about Logos is that you can actually have an entire theological library with you as well. This is extremely helpful when you want to explore outside the NIC. With just a click of the mouse you can open theological dictionaries, lexicons, and hundreds of other resources to study and passage or subject addressed by the NIC.

Finally footnotes

One of the things I really like about NIC is the footnotes. The first reason I like them is because I despise end notes. I hate having to flip to the back of a book to find out this hidden knowledge that wasn’t quite right for inclusion in the text itself. Footnotes make it much easier to engage when I looking for the deeper nugget of information.  The second reason I really like the NIC footnotes gets back to something I mentioned earlier. The NIC is a very approachable commentary that gets technical when it has to. This often occurs in the footnotes.

The NIC in Logos increases my love of footnotes by providing them as I’m reading with a very simple mouseover. Simply hovering over the footnote gives me a pop-up window with the entire footnote right there. This is so wonderful as it allows me to stay right on track with my reading. No need to look down at the bottom of the page, only to have to then try and find my place back in the text after I’m finished with the footnote. Now I can mouseover, read the footnote, and keep on trucking!

Conclusion

The NIC is an amazing scholarly, protestant, evangelical, commentary series. It gives verse-by-verse commentary on almost every book of the Bible, including immensely helpful introductory information. The only thing better than the commentary series itself is being able to have the entire thing with you, on you laptop, wherever you go. The NIC for Logos is a great resource that every seminarian should consider.

NOTE: If you’ve followed my life on this blog, you know that I now work for Logos. That in no way changes the fact that the NIC in Logos is sweet and that you could totally consider buying it!