Andrew Jones
Logos Bible Software 5 is here! Logos 5 has been years in the making and it’s full of powerful new tools and exciting features. But we have even more reason to be excited because Logos 5 has a Catholic version –Verbum—with all the functionality of Logos 5 and designed with Catholics in mind.
One year ago Logos released its first Catholic base packages. Those packages have been a huge success and over the course of the past twelve months, the Catholic team here at Logos has been working on getting more books, more resources, and customizing the software. Verbum is the result of these efforts!
Verbum is jam-packed with new features and datasets. For example, the clause search lets you do amazing things like find every sentence in the Bible that Jesus is the subject and Peter is the indirect object, even if pronouns are used.
The Universal Timeline turns dates into links, allowing you to see in a instant what happened in a given year throughout world history.
There is a new Verbum homepage, with the day’s lectionary readings, devotionals, and posts from the Verbum blog.
We’ve added default collections so you can limit your searches easily, and a new passage guide designed for Catholic study.
The new Verbum packages include many important new resources, from the sermons of St. Thomas Aquinas, to the exhortations of Blessed John Paul II, to a reverse interlinear for the RSV Catholic Edition.
We’ve also introduced a whole new pricing system, where everyone gets a custom price based on the Logos resources they already own. If you own a Logos 4 Catholic base package, we will credit almost its entire price toward a Verbum package, plus you will get credit for pre-pubs and add-ons you’ve purchased–you only pay for what’s new to you! When these discounts are added to our introductory discount of 15% (use coupon code Logos5Verbum), you won’t believe how affordable it is to upgrade to Verbum. Everyone gets a special deal just for them, so click here to see yours, or call 877-542-7664.
There are some important things to know about upgrading:
1) You do not have to re-purchase books. All the books that you have purchased for Logos 4 will work perfectly in Logos 5. Logos 5 is a new application for accessing those books, but the books themselves will not go away and do not need to be re-purchased.
2) You will not lose your files, notes, collections, personal books and other customizations of Logos 4. Because the software is cloud networked, your personalization of Logos 4 will automatically cross over into Logos 5.
3) If you have recently purchased a Logos 4 library, you might feel like you’ve been left behind right as you got started. But, that isn’t the case. Catholic base package owners get what they have already purchased applied to a Verbum package. We take the weighted value of the resources you own and subtract this from the price of the Verbum packages. What this means is that you can expect most, if not all, of what you spent on a Logos 4 package to be credited toward a Verbum package. Visit the website to see your custom price.
4) You don’t need to worry about learning new software with the switch from 4 to 5. Logos 5 and the Verbum versions have a lot of new features and new data sets, but you will recognize the software and you will learn your way around the new application without difficulty.
Please visit the Verbum pages at Logos.com/catholic; see what’s new and find your custom upgrade price! Thanks for all your support. Verbum is great step forward for Catholic Bible study with Logos and it’s just going to keep getting better!
Verbum
Thanks for all the great work. I bought Logos mainly to have a quick way to rifle through von Balthasar, but it’s turned out to be an amazing tool.
One question: I just bought Verbum on Mac, but my start page lacks the option to include the Catechism on the left side-bar that I see on your screen capture above. Is that a Mac vs. PC thing?
Those are reading plans. If you create or join a reading plan it will appear there regardless of your OS. Have you seen our Year of Faith Reading Plan?
+PAX
Greetings! I have no idea if this is being asked in the correct place. I’ve been waiting for a while for the Catholic Practicum Pre-pub. It’s great to see that it’s under development. HOWEVER, now that Logos 5-Verbum is out… what does that mean for this tutorial? Is it going to be geared towards Verbum? The info on the description is confusing. It says that it deals with Logos4, but Verbum basic is the minimum requirement. It’d be great to have some clarification, if at all possible!
Many thanks! God Bless!
Practicum will now be directed at our Logos 5 users. However, for those that have not upgraded, many of the features still function similarly. We encourage you to upgrade, of course, to get the most out of your software and the practicum. Hope that helps!
+PAX
Thanks Alex. It most certainly does help!
I have the Verbum basic package. Do I have the universal timeline? If so, how do I access it? If not, how can I get it?
You do not have the Timeline. It is only in Foundations and above. It can be found under the Tools Menu > Timeline.
I wish this had been better advertised. Only yesterday I upgraded from Logos 4 Platinum to 5 Portfolio. If I had known about Verbum I would have got a more appropriate product for less money…
Emilio,
Thank you for your interest in a Verbum package. I personally apologize because I am responsible for the Catholic advertising, and am always striving to reach more people. (Please tell your friends.)
I encourage you to call our Catholic sales rep., David Day. He will help you figure out the best way to get Verbum. His number is 877-542-7664. Have a great day!
Alex, how are people going to find out about the Catholic packages when there is nothing on the ‘normal’ base package page that indicates that there are other base packages as well?
And if they do manage to find them, how are they going to find out about the additional discounted products, when the ‘Customize’ button (which ought to be called something more descriptive) can only be found on the ‘Protestant’ page?
Not everyone who is more or less Catholic come to Logos via some conference or ad or blog or whatever which takes them directly to Verbum. Many, and especially international customers, come to logos.com. And figuring out from there that there is something called ‘Verbum’ is ALMOST as hard as figuring out that it is possible to buy Swedish Bibles in Logos format (try that one!).
(Can we have a Preview function for these posts, please, and at least bold and italic.)
A legitimate concern, but one that we can’t do anything about at the current time. The website will be updated in the near future, and a search for “Catholic” features our Verbum packages as the first result.
As for preview, bold, and italic, I will inquire with the web team.)
Emilio,
I upgraded to 5 three days before finding out about Verbum. They gladly discounted what I’d paid for 5 from the purchase price of Verbum.
Does anyone know when there will be a “new: calendars for the saints of the day on the Verbum homepage? This was one of the shortcomings of the previous versions–it only had the saints per the “old” calendar.
Also, is there a different iPad app for Verbum vs. Logos? I noticed my library is ported to Logos on iPad, but the video shows a Verbum app.
Lastly, thanks for fixing the family tree where Jesus is no longer shown as one of many “sons” of Our Mother….
Jack,
There is a resource available for pre-order with the new calendar of the saints here: https://www.logos.com/product/16557/saints-and-feasts-of-the-liturgical-year-rev-ed
There will be a separate iPad/iPhone app soon. Well spotted! We will be sure to make it very apparent when that app becomes available.
Finally, regarding the family tree, we were as happy about the fix as you are.
Hope that helps!
Sure does help, Alex. Thanks!
jwh
+PAX
This is a huge advancement. WOW, and thank you Logos.
A couple questions though,
I read somewhere else that the Latin capabilities of the software are being expanded, but it’s a work-in-progress. Buying a package now, does that mean later when the Nova Vulgate, for example, goes Interlinear, and/or reverse Interlinear, it’ll be necessary to make ANOTHER purchase?
I just begged my superiors and family to make my Logos Catholic shortly after Christmas. Now this fantastic event has transpired. The capstone is marvelous, and so much better than even the Master in that it includes all the exhortations and some other documents. But the capstone is sooo expensive, especially considering all that I’ve already spent with Logos. Any way to make it more affordable? Religious discount perhaps?
Br. David,
Concerning Latin, if we produce new resources, like a Vulgate interlinear, they will be available for purchase separately and at modest prices. New functions or tools in the software itself, however, would be updates that would be free. As for the price of Capstone, with our new dynamic pricing system, you will receive credit for everything you already own. I encourage you to go to Logos.com/catholic, sign in, and then look at your custom prices. Considering what you already own, and using coupon code Logos5Verbum (15% off), I think you might be surprised at how affordable the Verbum packages will be.
+PAX
Thank you for your reply Dr. Jones!
Concerning pricing, I sent you an e-mail. I hope that is ok.
If I may, I do have another question, or perhaps just a clarification. It stems from a post you made on the Logos forum, Catholic Library = Verbum. You said, “We agree about Latin. The Verbum libraries do have the Dictionary of Latin Forms, which is very helpful. Nevertheless, more Latin functionality is a priority moving forward.”
Could you possibly be a little more specific? I ask because you say that developing a Vulgate interlinear would require an additional purchase. Is there perhaps more Latin functionality that would be included in a simple version update? It’s important to know, to help judge about upgrading. Thank you!
Our highest Latin priority is a tagged Vulgate. This would probably be an update to the existing Vulgate. Whether or not the update would be automatic or require a purchase, has not been worked out. We are in the early stages of the project.
Hello Andrew. I’ve been a long time user of Logos and when the Catholic Pakage came out I rejoiced. I recently upgraded to L5 Platinum but later, I decided to switch to the Verbum Master package. I’ve found some of the distinctiveness of the Catholic package but I don’t see how unique is the “Passage Guide designed for Catholic study” you mentioned above with regard to the Protestant counterpart. Any help?
Peace!
Never mind! I found the answer. Thanks.
Please share. What is the difference?
Richard,
The difference is that when you run the Passage Guide it only opens the Collections section displaying all information found about your biblical text in your preloaded Catechism, Church Documents, and Church Fathers collections. This doesn’t happen with the Protestant versión.
Peace!
In Verbum there are three automatic collections: Catechism, Church Fathers, and Church Documents. We have gone through the libraries and tagged the appropriate resources to populate these collections. These automatic collections show up wherever collections can be used. So, for example, you can quickly search in just the Church Fathers texts that you own without having to actually make a Church Fathers collection. They work in the Cited by Tool as well. In the default Passage Guide template we have removed some sections and have added the Lectionary and the three automatic collections. All the sections that are in the Protestant Passage Guide can be added to the Verbum one if you want them by creating a custom template.
Thank you, Andrew!
Andrew:
I do not see the Catechism, Church Fathers, and Church Documents collections you mention in Verbum Basic–I only see my previous collections. Are the Catechism, Church Fathers, and Church Documents collections “hidden” or am I missing something?
Kind Regards,
jwh
Jack,
Those new “collections” will not appear under your collections menu. They are, however, available throughout the software where one would normally access collections: Searching, cited by, etc. I hope that helps!
If you are still having trouble finding or accessing them, please email me at alex.renn@logos.com and provide lots of detail. This will enable both of us to include screenshots, and write as much as necessary. Thanks for asking, I look forward to clearing this up!
I upgraded to Logos 5 Verbum Basic and it was straight forward. Paid only $29 from my Catholic Basic product. It was worth it for Dom Bernard Orchard’s Catholic Commentary alone. (I just sold my copy of the hardcopy version for $65).
But use the comparison chart, because not every new feature is present in the Basic package. They are all resources after all. So the Syntax and Clause search are not in the Basic, nor the Universal Timeline. Does anyone know if they will be available separately or do you need to upgrade to a higher base product?
There will be a minimal cross-grade available at some point that will give you the features and their corresponding data sets, but base packages are certainly the better deal.
Being new to Logos, how does syntax and clause search plus universal timeline help? Would I miss them? Right now I mainly use the Lectionary and commentary resources to help me prepare homilies.
Deacon Jimmy,
To answer your specific question, the syntax search doesn’t sound like anything you would use. The clause search could be nice for finding similar situations in the Gospels or uncovering new insights for your homilies. Universal timeline would also give you context that could deepen your homilies.
However, to answer the unspoken question, I think upgrading would be worth your while. Our new libraries have many more resources, and the Catholic presets will make homily prep easier. Searching within Church Documents or Church Fathers collections provide additional “commentaries” on the Gospel. The Topic Guide provides definitions and cross-references for the various topics you might choose to preach on. And our new pricing system means your upgrade will be discounted according to what you already own.
I hope that answers your question(s). Have a wonderful day!
Capstone rocks!
Just upgraded to Capstone! I’m so excited!!!!!
Would have been good to have had these details a little earlier especially the code. Like all good software companies the release is on a Friday and complete chaos over the weekend!