Review: 'Blue Letter Bible' versus 'Logos'

I was inspired by Jordan Brown’s round-up of Bible apps (see en article here) and wanted to make a further, more specific, contribution to the debate in terms of Logos and Blue Letter Bible.

As a middle-aged Christian, I have been using Bible software since the days of CD-ROMs! Bible software has helped me craft numerous Bible studies and sermons.

I also work as a lecturer at a local university and teach computer science to undergraduates. I am exposed to all manner of software at work and home, and I am always interested in using IT to improve our everyday experiences, even studying.

There is now an extensive range of software applications available to academics to track their reading and referencing, and believers are similarly being equipped with ever more advanced tools to study the Bible.

My question is this: Do we have to use highly advanced software to study the Bible, such as Logos, or can we leverage advantages from simpler tools like Blue Letter Bible (BLB)?

The rise of Logos

I have been a registered user of the Logos since 2011. I remember parting with a significant amount of money to buy one of the base packages (it was several weeks before I told my wife!). In fairness to Logos, this purchase has been valid for the last 14 years and I still have access to all books purchased in that transaction.

Since then, from time to time, I have added to my library with fresh purchases, although the bulk has come from Logos’ free "book of the month" scheme and other free (or very low cost) titles offered to me.

Building a large library doesn’t have to cost a fortune, although it is worth pointing out that several titles are out-of-copyright and can be found freely available elsewhere. With Logos, you are paying a price for having everything under a single umbrella.

The idea of being locked into Logos for all of your Christian books is problematic for me. Only tiny snippets of books can be pasted to the clipboard. (A useful Send-to-Kindle option was axed some years ago for copyright reasons.) This means that to read books on a mobile device, you will need to use the mobile version of Logos (or the Faithlife e-book reader). You are completely locked into the system - understandable from a business and copyright perspective, but not conducive to sharing insights.

A decade of change

During my time with Logos there have been some significant changes to the software.

One major change was the transition to becoming a web application used through a browser (although a desktop version is still available) and a subscription model of ownership (more on that later).

In 2011 I would have said that Logos was a broadly evangelical Bible application, but since that time, customised packages have been created at a denominational level, including a Roman Catholic version (Verbum). These tend to be based around certain libraries of books. I feel this is a rather strange trend for the package to be taking - although it is still a Trinitarian project; but I would point out that a study tool can be used for any purpose, so could there be a Jehovah’s Witness version one day?

Another significant change was in 2014 when the creators of Logos (Logos Bible Systems) became Faithlife, developing a broad range of media applications for the church, including software for church worship (Proclaim). I experimented with the Faithlife app (a sort of Christian Facebook) for a while during the pandemic, wondering if it might bring our church together under one umbrella, but ultimately found it difficult to use.

Faithlife’s latest product is a monthly subscription model, Faithlife Connect, which will bring Logos under one roof with the corporation’s other media packages, books and magazines - for a monthly fee. In business terms, subscription models bring substantial stability to software developers, but this trend amongst the majority of today’s IT companies is also freezing out those who don’t want to pay on a regular basis (myself included).

Is less more? The Logos library and the user interface

Building a substantial library of books can become an end in itself with Logos, and there are literally thousands upon thousands of titles available. All are searchable - which is a great feature - but I have found that building a big library (even with free books) does not necessarily equate with becoming a better teacher or preacher. In fact, I have looked at only around 5 per cent of the library I currently have.

And how many of us can say we don't fall back on our favourite books in our preparations?

To have such an overwhelming array of works to reference is not always an advantage, particularly when they could be from almost any branch of Christianity imaginable.

As a seasoned IT user, another ongoing gripe I have with Logos has been complexity. There is a vast and bewildering array of tools with which to study the Scriptures and your library.

As an example, I opened my Logos web application today (at the time of writing) and saw two Bible passages open, side by side, each with a toolbar of five options each (with six viewing options underneath). In addition, there was a side menu on the left with 17 options! The modern trend (think Apple) is for user interfaces to embrace whitespace, and clean simple interfaces - something that seems to have passed Logos by for at least a decade and a half.

Fig 1: Opening Logos web app into "Bible" view reveals a default of two books side-by-side, with myriad options for both, and the app’s main menu (left).

In terms of using the app, complexity is the norm, and you may not be surprised to hear that there is a whole industry (paid for, or on YouTube) of multi-part video series about how to use Logos from beginner to advanced user.

In my experience of software, steep learning curves of this kind are not conducive to app uptake.

Some online commentators have retorted that Logos is for experts, so of course it is complex, but surely if anything needed a low barrier to entry, it would be the study of God’s Word?

Back to basics: Blue Letter Bible

Jordan Brown’s article piqued my interest in exploring other Bible apps, and I have been using the Blue Letter Bible app since last January.

In this app, we have another long-standing project to bring God’s Word to Christians via computers, with its history stretching back to 1996.

The interface is rather dated (see figure two below) but I have been pleased with the varied Bible reading plans and the verse-by-verse simplicity of the study tools available.

Fig 2: Examining the meaning of verses in Isaiah 65:9 using Blue Letter Bible. This clean, tabbed, colour-coded set of menu options is arguably one of the app’s most powerful features.

Each Bible verse is separated out and has a tools menu next to it, bringing immediate insights into the verse with a single click. I was able to understand the salient points of these tools by reading a single help page in the app, unlike Logos. I have also been able to examine the Greek or Hebrew of a verse within a further couple of mouse clicks. For this simplicity alone, BLB is going to be on my go-to list of Bible study tools from now on.

However, it’s not all plain sailing with Blue Letter Bible. The dated interface isn’t the only gripe. Creating an account only appears to work on the web browser version of the app, and this can’t synchronise with your mobile version of the app. Multi-platform synchronisation of data has been the norm for at least a decade, and is a touchstone of every mobile application, so its omission from BLB is puzzling and needs rectifying quickly for this to be a truly cross-platform experience.

Impressively, BLB is funded by donations, so is effectively free, although there are slightly distracting adverts shown by default in the right sidebar. It also appears to have a very limited library of books compared to Logos but there are some classic references included, and several useful Bible translations, including the ESV.

In conclusion, Logos is an impressive piece of software and the impetus behind the entire Faithlife project remains fundamentally one of glorifying God. I will probably keep on using Logos sporadically, occasionally adding to my library with free books, and using the linked mobile app during services. However, as I hope my experience shows, there are some serious barriers to entry for ordinary Christians, and more simple apps like BLB which - although noticeably deficient in some important areas - can be more easily and affordably adopted into personal Bible study, planning and preparation.

I am sorry to say that the ever-widening goalposts of the Faithlife mission mean that – to coin a Bible phrase - Logos may decrease, while simpler apps such as BLB may increase!