27 November 2011

eBook Readers for Bible Study

I miss e-Sword on the Android platform.

I have tried other Biblical Software programs, but the trial/gratis versions don't meet my needs. If the gratis version is a fail, why should I expect the non-gratis version to not fail?

One of the Biblical blogs I follow suggested using an ebook reader for the material that is not available in a format usable by the Biblical software one uses. On the face of it, that is a sound suggestion. As a practical matter it fails. Maybe I tried the wrong ebook reader software, but none that I tried offered the ability to search by Subject, Dewey Decimal Number, Cutter Number, Library of Congress Catalog Number, or any other standard method of organizing large book collections.

Case in point. For today's Bible Study I wanted to check a reference in The Didache. I have four ebooks that contain it. I don't remember the names of those books. With e-Sword, a search for "Didache" in the Reference Library component brings up the ten copies I have in e-Sword refx format.

One of the organizations that creates Biblical Software for mobile devices claims that people won't carry their theological library in their mobile device. Two years ago I would have agreed with them. Today, I disagree. The more one uses one's theological library in one's usual Bible study, the more difficult it becomes to study the Bible without it being present.

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