Software Review: Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible, SESB 2.0
Christof Hardmeier, Eep Talsta, Alan Groves (eds.),
Stuttgart/Haarlem: German Bible Society/Dutch Bible Society, 2006.
Cost. US: Logos Bible Software $325, Europe: German Bible Society €240 (also available as a simplified version, without most of the modern Bible versions €99).
Para leer esta reseña en español clic aquí.
Those who pastor or preach live in privileged times. Important documents for the ministry are available which were not easily accessible to previous generations. These include the Bible in its original languages with details of textual variants, along with lexical and grammatical aids which make the Greek or Hebrew easy to understand and follow.
It is difficult to imagine what else ministers could require in terms of resources. Augustine, Luther and Wesley did not have available what preachers have today.
This software is part of such privileged days. It offers original language Bible texts and details of textual variations, with the significant advantage of the analysis and speed of computerization. Only in the last decade have electronic versions of such texts become available. Ones already published include: an online critical apparatus of the New Testament available at the Italian Bible website La Parola. There is a program produced for Mac computers with critical apparati for both Old and New Testaments by Accordance software entitled the Stuttgart Original Language Collection. For PC machines, last year BibleWorks 7.0 was published and included Tischendorf’s Greek NT with Critical Apparatus and Metzger’s Textual Commentary on the Greek NT. Logos Bible Software has also published Tischendorf and Metzger individually. Metzger´s commentary provides the reasons why a particular textual variant was decided upon amongst the different possibilities.
But now Logos, in partnership with the Dutch and German Bible Societies has published the first electronic PC edition of the best Greek and Hebrew texts with critical apparati and this has caused considerable interest amongst reviewers. Detailed analyses have been written by David Instone-Brewer (Tyndale House, Cambridge ), Jan Krans ( Vrije University , Amsterdam ) and Rúben Gómez (Bible Software Review).
The reason for such interest is that this publication has brought together the standard scholarly editions of the Greek and Hebrew Bibles. That is, the Greek New Testaments in the 27th version of Nestle-Aland (NA27), and the 4th edition of the United Bible Societies/German Bible Society (GNT4), and the Hebrew Stuttgartensia Old Testament (BHS) and the first few books of its newer version, Quinta (BHQ), along with Rahlfs version of the Septuagint (LXX). These resources are embedded in Logos Bible software which is the most prominent Bible software program in Spanish.
Now students can connect Bible text, critical apparatus and Metzger’s commentary on the same screen. It is possible to quickly understand why, for instance the text of the Reina Valera, is different from that of the Nueva Versión Internacional in Mark 16:9-20 or in John 7:53-8:11. Pastors can be confident that their sermons are based upon the most reliable of texts.
For Spanish speakers the arrival of this program raises two questions: if I am looking for academic Bible software is this a suitable package to start with or would I be better with Biblioteca Académica Bilingüe (BAB)? And, if I already own BAB should I add this product to my library?
Is this good software to start with?
For students or pastors starting off in the world of Bible software and wanting an original languages package, this product must be considered. Not only does it contain the standard texts with criticial apparati of NA27, GNT4, BHS and BHQ, and the LXX (without its critical apparatus). There are basic dictionaries of NT Greek, OT Hebrew, a Greek-English lexicon of the LXX and Metzger’s A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. In addition there are the Latin Vulgate and various modern translations of the Bible in English, German and other, mainly, north European languages.
The NA27 , BHS, LXX are morphologically tagged, which means instant grammatical information is available about each word simply by moving the mouse over it.
The interface is the standard Logos one which can be set to the Spanish language, although the library resources are mainly in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, English and German. All the powerful search facilities of Logos are available pus its ability to link texts together, take notes, highlight texts, and set up parallel passages and harmonies of texts. In addition SESB provides a database of the BHS which allows for Hebrew clause and phrase searches, and has its own fast search engine of the original languages.
This description indicates that new users must be knowledgeable in Greek and/or Hebrew to make use of the texts. There are no Spanish Bibles provided and so these must be purchased additionally, for instance the La Biblia de las Americas costs $10.
Comparing SESB with BAB indicates the following: