I’ve never used Logos, and I’m not sure I know many who do, but it’s nice to see how many clergy are also Mac power users!
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But if you convert, you get to grow your beard out and you get a cool hat. 
If the AI is worth it to you, I’d consider subscribing. If you just want to support Logos as an organization, I’d strongly consider buying books to build your library. Particularly the old, “dead copyright” stuff where they’re more likely to be making good money.
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Yes, I listed all titles with, Revelation, Eschatology, End times and took a screen shot. I then fed this to Claude.
It’s a good investment 
:
“Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” — Ecclesiastes 11:2 (NIV)
(with AI the disaster may be sooner than later, so spend your money now )
I used to use a lot of free; as in public domain; resources to study. Matthew Henry and the like. I then realised over time that a lot of good work has been done by scholars in the last hundred years, and they have better access to tools and archeology. As a Pastor it would not be good stewardship to ignore this. Plus more modern writers address issues relevant to our time.
The advantage with Logos is that you have an interconnected library of resources than can all be accessed by one query. The same work with printed books would take you a lot lot lot longer.
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I actually agree. Some of the classic stuff is almost laughably out of date.
But for somebody who doesn’t have, say, a copy of Calvin’s commentaries, or the complete Spurgeon collection, shelling out the money for the good old books [1] in Logos seems like a viable way to support the company without having to buy in to the subscription. They’re already digitized, and Logos isn’t paying Calvin’s estate royalties. 
And of course if you want modern commentaries and resources, grab those too. It’s just that Logos is likely to be paying significant back-end royalties to publishers.
[1] I realize that “good old books” is subject to one’s theological tradition. I picked books that @Bmosbacker would likely find valuable
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I’m afraid my beard would be less than robust! 
As to “I’d strongly consider buying books to build your library,” I already have a near seminary’s worth of books in Logos. As I said, I believe I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 sources. Years ago I purchased a large Gold/Platinum: whatever it was called at the time).
I also have Owen, many of the Church Fathers, Luther, Edwards, and many others too numerous to list.I also have a lot of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin text, lexicons, etc. I happen to be in a study of Proverbs at the moment.
Well, I did it. I purchased a two year subscription to the Pro version. I’ll work with this for two years then decide if I want to keep it. Why two years? I have my reasons, to be revealed at a later date. 
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@Bmosbacker where do you make your notes? Do use Logos’s notes facility. I often feel I should make better use of it.
I often write notes in Logos, but I seldom refer back to my notes, except incidentally, as I am reading a scripture that has a note attached to it. Most of what I ultimately want to keep, I end up putting in DEVONthink. No doubt this is because I still have not mastered Logos. I have had a tendency to use it too casually. I need to update my game.
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I also need to do that. Perhaps we can compare notes as we learn.
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I intended to say “up my game,” not update my game.
I have been using Logos since it was Libronix as well. Over the years I have accumulated many resources since I began using it I think back in 2013? Since then looking over the account, I have spent close to $10k (not in one shot) 
just of adding resources when needed. I do have a subscription to Logos Max. I got a discount when it first started, and just kept it on auto-renewal. I look at it as supporting development and continuation of the software. At one point, as mentioned earlier, I thought they would go under because Apple support was always lacking in the early years. I am still learning how to properly use the AI, realistically I would like to ask a question and tell it ‘pull only from resource A’ – I think the function is there, but you need to select the books in advance. I just want to ‘say it’ for lack of a better word.
I haven’t used any other features likes notes or anything, because I do all my writing in Obsidian. But it is nice to have multiple sources open at the same time versus a pile of books when I am on the go. But at home, it’s nice to open a book, make notes, I miss that and I feel like I remember more when I pull a physical book.
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To Subscribe or Not To Subscribe…that is the question!
Now, in retirement, I avoid subscriptions, but I don’t rule them out altogether. After all, I pay for iCloud, cellular service, fiber Internet, etc. We may not call them subscriptions, but if I miss a month, they’re difficult to use! That said, something has to be really, really important to me if I’m going to subscribe.
Additionally, I’ve always been an Accordance guy since the dark years of Mac history when Lo gos wasn’t really interested in us. They’ve developed since then, and so have I. Still, I have purchased most of what I’m ever likely to use in Accordance. If only I could run it cleanly in a VM in Linux…
I’ve got Accordance friends, and Logos friends, and honestly can’t tell the difference!
Perhaps a good look at all the recurring fees of this sort, and a ranking, and a clear expression of what the subscription fee brings you that an equivalent amount of money elsewhere might seem more productive. Or maybe Logos wins. But if so, you’d feel better about it for having tried to analyze it in the context of your other monthly fees.
Good luck.
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At the risk of taking this thread completely off-topic, I’m curious to learn more about how you fine folks, and especially @Bmosbacker, use Logos for devotional-type reading. I, too, started back in the Libronix days—I ran it in Virtual PC on my Mac, it was painful—but have struggled to use it well for non-study, more casual reading and reflection.
My devotions consist of my print Bible, Audible Bible and reporters notebook. I tend not to use other devotional resources. Logos does not figure in my devotions.
As devotions are practiced differently, perhaps if you shared, what you do, it may help in suggesting how Logos might help.
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I keep it simple for my devotional time. I have two approaches.
My primary approach is reading the Bible one book at a time. Generally, I read through the New or Old Testaments. However, because I also develop devotional series that I share with staff during the year, I will also read books of the Bible or selected passages based on the biblical school theme I have selected for the year. For instance, this year’s theme is “Fear God,” taken from the book of Proverbs, so I am reading through Proverbs several times. As I read, I have a commentary open, usually Matthew Henry’s, and I read a passage and then read the commentary. I will add notes to the biblical passage from the commentary, or I will add biblical reference citations for passages that address the same theological concept or application (my own cross-reference). I will also copy and paste biblical passages and/or material from the commentary to DEVONthink so that I have a robust research repository of theological content. In short, I read through the Bible with a commentary open and make notes as I read.
Less frequently, I will read through a devotional book. Examples are 365 Days with Calvin, 365 Days with Wilberforce, and An All-Around Ministry: Addresses to Ministers and Students by Spurgeon. I will also add notes and/or copy content to DEVONthink.
I hope this is helpful. Please let me know if you have other questions or need clarification.
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This is SUPER helpful. Believe it or not, I forgot that my resource library includes a handful of devotional (or pastoral) commentaries, such as Henry’s. I’m going to try the devotional layout you screenshotted on my iPad.
I’m wondering, though, do you take notes in Logos directly? Or in a different app altogether? It sounds like you may be using DEVONthink exclusively for this use case. I haven’t used Logos’ notes or highlights features much, but incorporating Logos on iPad into my daily devotional practice may encourage me to use them more.
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@jacobio, yes, I take notes directly in Logos. But I will also copy a biblical passage, and/or an excerpt from a commentary, and/or my notes, and paste them to DEVONthink for future reference. I failed to mention that I use my 11” iPad Pro for my devotionals.
That’s helpful, @Bmosbacker. I’m going to give Logos’ Pro subscription a whirl and use my 13” iPad for daily devotionals and note taking. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks for sharing your workflow and insights.
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