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If I had Accordance..


Scott Brickert

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Hello Forum,

If I had Accordance (budget of $150, but if I was convinced another $150 would dramatically improve the options available, I could go to $300), how would I answer these questions?

 

[i like graphics, visuals, displays, maps, timelines etc, so that's a priority for myself as well as presenting to the guys on Friday mornings. I'm not a pastor, just a word lover who wants to dig deeper. I'd also like to begin scratching the surface of Greek and Hebrew. My and our working version is NIV.]

 

 

re Kedar, as mentioned in Ps 120.5 and SoS 1.5 and elsewhere. Where is Kedar, what is it, what are the connotations of its reference to the author?

 

re Jeremiah... 25.1 and 26.1 as examples. How much time has passed between these? Is there a way to tie the kings to a BC years timeline? How can I better grasp the kings and timeframes depicted in Jeremiah? Also, is there a resource depicting Jeremiah's life/events timeline?

 

 

What are your thoughts?

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What an interesting challenge! I'm just an Accordance user, not an Accordance staff member, but I'll give you my take, and they can correct me. ;)

 

Given your strong interest in visuals, I don't know a way to combine the resources you want for $150 or less. But working with a maxium $300 budget, I can suggest two options:

 

Option A: ($288, plus shipping)

Library 8 Introductory Level, choosing the NIV as your free Bible unlock, $99
Graphics Bundle (Atlas, Timeline, Photoguide), $189

Option B: ($258, plus shipping)

Zondervan Essential Bible Study Suite for Macintosh, $69
Graphics Bundle (Atlas, Timeline, Photoguide), $189

Option B (with Zondervan's Essential Bible Study Suite) is there because it is the cheapest way to include the NIV-G/K. You can get the "plain" NIV with option A, but option B gives you a "keyed" NIV text that lets you see the underlying Greek and Hebrew. You can get the same results with a little more work with option A, but it means using the KJVS in a parallel pane to the NIV and using the KJVS (S for Strong's numbers) to see the underlying Greek and Hebrew. Generally speaking, though, option A gives you a greater number of resources and several other useful modern translations.

 

On to your sample research questions:

 

Kedar

  • for location, click on Kedar in the text and then click on the Atlas button to see it on the map
    Kedar doesn't show up (in my version of) the Photo Guide or the Place Names modules, but many other sites would)
    If you choose opt. A, you could also consult the following resources (the most helpful in this case):
    • -Holman Bible Dictionary (accessed through the icon of a book with an A on it)
      -The NET notes (accessed through the icon of a book with a 1:1 on it; includes a discussion its meaning in the context of the verse)
      -Life Application Study Bible (accessed through the icon of a book with a 1:1 on it; includes a discussion its meaning in the context of the verse)

If you choose opt B, you could consult the following resources:

  • -NIV Place Names (accessed through the icon of a book with an A on it)
    -New NIV Study Bible (accessed through the icon of a book with a 1:1 on it)
    -Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary (accessed through the icon of a book with a 1:1 on it)

I don't have the Zondervan resource, so I don't know what if anything those modules say about Kedar.

In terms of Jeremiah, the timeline does show all the kings and Jeremiah. Here's a screen shot:

http://homepage.mac.com/hoovmoss/.Public/JeremiahTimeline.png

 

I don't know of resource in the packages I mentioned that date the events of Jeremiah's life, but if you could find something that did, you could add those events to the timeline.

 

I hope that gives you some ideas....Feel free to ask questions if what I've said is as clear as mud.

 

I'm sure others will have other suggestions, too.

 

Lorinda

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I did figure out a bare bones combination that would get you an Atlas and a Timeline for under $150:

 

Library 8 Entry Level- $59 (mostly for the KJVS, to access Greek and Hebrew, although I find the Parallels modules invaluable)

Atlas Sampler - $20

Timeline - $39

NIV - $30

 

That's a total of $148, plus shipping. You don't get any modern commentaries, study Bible Notes, or dictionaries that way. (In other words, none of the resources I listed under options A and B in the Kedar example) And the Atlas Sampler is pretty basic. But it does get in under the $150 mark.

 

If you think you'll want the Photo Guide eventually, it's cheaper to get the Graphics bundle rather than buy them each separately over time.

 

The $20 for the Atlas sampler is credited toward the purchase of the full ($89) Atlas.

 

Oh, and I have presumed that you have Mac OS X and a DVD drive. If you don't, the bundles work a little differently, as many of them are now on DVD. If you don't, you can still get the resources, but in a slightly different combination; I'm not clear on those details, but the staff at OakTree (Accordance) are.

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Hey Lorinda,

cool, many thanks. That helps.

 

I do have Leopard and a Superdrive.

 

I was curious about the Photoguide vs the 1300 photos from Biblical Archeological Review. I guess the latter is a standalone resource, not linked to Accordance work...? I wish I could get a better feel for how comprehensive the PhotoGuide is...how often will I hope for a snapshot and come up empty? Are the photos of archeological holes in the ground and 10 cut stones standing in a corner shape, or do they carry some visual impact and connotation? For example, are there any snapshots or renderings of an Asherah pole? What's your experience?

 

re using Timeline:

so I can add external info and titles, icons, timebars etc?

What references, if any, are tied to the length bars ie can I click on a time bar--the line under the name, like Daniel or Hezekiah in the screenshot, and find references as the basis for why the designers believe that person had that duration?

Any idea if the Timeline can be exported to Keynote or Timeline3D?

 

I wonder if I could apply the $30 bible unlock credit toward the Zondervan Essential Suite instead of the straight NIV....

 

thanks again

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The BAR images are simply their slide sets, more focused on archaeology and with excellent documentation. The PhotoGuide can be linked to the Atlas to provide an illustrated Biblical history of each major site (and many not so major ones), as well as some articles on topics like the Inscriptions, Tabernacle, or Wildlife. The images are chosen to illustrate the place or some other Biblical information.

 

I don't think anyone has a photo of an asherah!

 

You can customize the appearance of the Timeline (colors, fonts, which items and periods appear) but not in all the ways you mention. You can add your own items to the database. There is no link to the documentation for the dates (which are offered in both Conservative and Critical schemes) but each item links back to your selected Dictionary, so if you get a good dictionary in the mix you should have some information on that.

 

No, sorry, we cannot give credit towards the Zondervan Essential as we have to buy those from Zondervan for resale.

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I must confess that I haven't used the PhotoGuide a lot. That's not the Photo Guide's fault; I'm not in a situation where I'm teaching at the moment, and it's easy for me to get tunnel vision about the resources I use for sermon prep.

 

But in response to your question I explored it some more. I searched for all scripture references to Jeremiah in the Photo Guide. There were 108 hits. Now I should say sometimes there was more than one hit in an article (i.e. more than one verse or passage in Jeremiah was mentioned). And not every article has pictures related to it. But most articles have more than one photo. (the Jerusalem article has over 100 photos)

 

As I checked the various Jeremiah references, I found a wide variety of kinds of photos.

There are many photos of ruins, be only one or two that I would describe as "archaeological holes in the ground." Many had standing pillars, in others, extensive walls a two feet or more high remained. In others the ruins were even more extensive. (There was one photo of two people standing deep in a well) In a few cases, it looked to me as though local authorities had rebuilt part of an ancient site shown, but I didn't find any reconstructions in the sense of artists' reconstructions.

 

Some photos were of buildings not from the Biblical period. For example, modern cities in the location of an city from the Biblical period, or monasteries or synagogues located on traditional sites of some Biblical event.

 

Some photos were of the landscape, giving a good feeling for a location. One of the first photos I found was of thickets of the Jordan Valley (Jeremiah 12:5; 49:19; 50:44; Zechariah 11:3). They were quite striking.

 

There were also photos of artifacts (or replicas of artifacts). Including Hammurabi's Law Code stele, a potsherd, statues, etc.

 

I can't compare it to the BAR resource as I don't have that. I didn't include it in the options above because of the budget restrictions and the need to include other modules.

 

If you are interested in reconstructions, you might want to add the $20 Holman Book of Biblical Charts, Maps, & Reconstructions to your list. I don't have it (yet), but it's a good candidate for my wishlist.

 

Lorinda

 

Edit: David Lang has a helpful Blog post on the graphic components of the Holman Bible Dictionary, the NET Notes, Bible Art and the Holman Book of Biblical Charts, Maps & Reconstructions. I had forgotten that there is a fair amount of duplication in the reconstructions between the two Holman resources. The first three modules are part of the Introductory level of Library 8 (part of the Option A combo I suggested above).

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