A new era of Logos Bible Software has begun. I have used (and reviewed in the Denver Journal) virtually every upgrade of Logos from the beginning up until Version 10. Logos is a powerful Bible study and sermon prep platform that empowers users to study Scripture and consult commentaries, devotionals, Bible dictionaries, and more—all from their computer, tablet, or phone. The platform is designed for Bible study leaders, ministers, or academics, and users add individual resources or even entire theological libraries curated to fit their study. That’s been its appeal for years. Formerly, every couple of years or so, Logos issued a new version, and owners had to decide whether to fork over the cash for the major upgrade and its enhanced features and resources. I always did since the program is so powerful! But, no more, for Logos has moved to a subscription model in which improvements and additions will occur automatically for subscribers. Users can subscribe at different levels according to their needs.

The obvious question: what prompted this move?

First, Logos realized that consumers don’t want to wait two years to get new and improved features that would help them now. Quicker is better since students, pastors, scholars, and other users want the best options now not later. With a subscription, you get new features and improvements as soon as they’re ready—no more waiting for two years. Logos promises to respond to your needs faster, turning good features into great ones and releasing new capabilities created to meet specific needs. Plus, they will include advanced AI- and cloud-backed features that require ongoing support. They will help make Logos easier to use and more powerful so that you can focus on understanding and communicating Scripture.  New subscribers will enjoy valuable perks and lower upfront costs, making it easier to try Logos without a big commitment. A slimmed-down free version of Logos will remain available.

Several new features stand out to me as I began using the latest upgrade. AI-assisted Summarize helps you determine which resources are worth reading in their entirety and which you can skip for the time-being. The Search feature has undergone a huge overhaul and can now scour your owned books (even those in print on your shelves—if it’s part of the Logos library) to help you find answer and resources. It’s as easy as using Google and more trustworthy since it pulls answers from respected resources (not like the web).  Updates to the Factbook let you type in a passage to instantly see relevant commentaries and details on all the people, places, and things involved, pulling from Scripture and Logos Edition resources. The Insights feature reveals resources on the topic or passage you are studying. No need to go to guides or start a new search. For preachers, Sermon Assistant inside Sermon Builder gives you a leg up on sermon work by generating outlines, illustrations, discussion questions, and application points based on your sermon transcript. Synopsis gives you an overview of top search results so you can find answers quickly, and it includes footnotes to Logos resources, so you can easily dig deeper.

If you’re not already suitably impressed, the latest iteration of Logos includes Auto Translation that allows users to translate a section of text in a few clicks. The feature works for over 100 modern languages as well as Latin and biblical Hebrew. Church History Tools includes over 40 themes tracing historical movements. Sermon Import transfers a user’s sermon or teaching outlines and manuscripts from Microsoft Word directly into Logos to create a centralized, searchable archive for all sermons and lessons. Popular Quotes can find more than a million powerful quotes from respected Bible teachers and scholars that can be dropped into slides and sermons. Curated Theological Libraries includes new books by respected scholars, carefully formulated to work with the Bible study tools in Logos. Workflows presents study models from popular Bible teachers. Finally, Advanced Timeline navigates and filters options that allow readers to explore historical contexts for the topics they are researching.

Veteran uses of Logos will delight at these additions or enhancements that will fit naturally into the patterns they have developed over the years. Though all this can be overwhelming to new users, investing the time to learn how to navigate one’s way through Logos will be handsomely rewarded both with the time they will save in the research process and the enlarged range of resources they will be able to consult. Fortunately, Logos provides users with an extended library of tutorials and videos that explain virtually every feature. See this hashtag for more comprehensive information on the upgrades and pricing: #futureoflogos.

It’s important to underscore that existing usings of Logos will continue to own the books they have already purchased whether or not they decide to embrace the new subscription model. Logos will work as it has always worked. And people can cancel or pause their subscription at any time.

William W. Klein, PhD
Professor Emeritus of New Testament Interpretation
Denver Seminary
November 2024