For July 2018, Logos Bible Software is offering one of their Mobile Courses as their “Free Book of the Month.” Craig Evans, The Reliability of New Testament Manuscripts (Mobile Ed: NT308). If you have not used a Logos Mobile Course, this is your chance to sample a good one.For $9.99 you can add Mark Strauss, “Introducing Bible Translations” and for $19.99, you can add the three hour course by Craig Keener, “Critical Issues in the Synoptic Gospels.”

The courses are set up like college classes. There is a syllabus with course description, course outcomes and a final exam. The outcomes for The Reliability of New Testament Manuscripts are:

Upon successful completion you should be able to: • Detail the number of pre-Gutenberg NT manuscripts we have and describe their quality

• Explain how the NT manuscript record compares to that of other ancient works

• Describe practices of ancient scribes and scholars that contributed to the longevity and quality of NT manuscripts

• Describe the preservation of the NT in ancient translations and commentaries

• Discuss how the various forms of historical attestation demonstrate the reliability of the NT text

This free Mobile Course is considered a “one hour course” based on the content (about an hour of video content). This course has eleven segments. A segment will have a short video lecture from Evans as well as a transcript of that lecture. Following the transcript there are several links to “Suggested Reading” and other resources Logos offers. These are not bibliographies, but links to books you your Logos Library such as the Lexham Bible Dictionary. Naturally Logos would be glad to sell you these books if you do not already own them! One advantage reading the transcript is key terms are linked to definitions and Scripture references are tagged. Floating over P87 in a transcript, for example, will open a small window giving the basic info on the papyri drawn from Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2001).

Occasionally a lecture segment is a ScreenCast video demonstrating how to use Logos. For example, “Exploring Ancient Manuscripts and Resources” coaches the user on how to download and use the Perseus collection and the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri. “Accessing and Navigating the Textual Apparatus” demonstrates how users who own the UBS fourth edition in Logos can examine the textual apparatus. These are not narrated by Evans but are useful tutorials for using the potential of the Logos system (as well as advertisements for upgrading Logos to include more features and resources). This is a feature of all Logos Mobile courses and Logos intends to update courses to include additional resource “in the future for no extra charge.”

This month the Logos giveaway is a four-course bundle: Text of the Bible Bundle. In addition to Evans, the bundle includes Mark L. Strauss, Introducing Bible Translations (also available for $9.99 this month), Michael S. Heiser, How We Got the Old Testament and How We Got the New Testament (also by Heiser). This is another eleven hours of video content, so enter early and often to win this bundle. They are also running a 40% off sale on some huge Mobile Ed packages during July.

Be sure to get these resources before the end of July 2018 when the offer expires.