Category: News

Scrivener iOS: Looking Great, Coming Soon

Scrivener Logo

 

I’m fortunate to be a Scrivener iOS beta tester. The iOS version of the app is coming soon, and it’s looking great. I just used it, in fact, as my primary writing app during a writing week I went away for. Not a crash in sight.

I’m sworn to secrecy, but I believe I can say that those of us using Markdown on iPad and iPhone because we had to will be able to move back into rich text on iOS full time.

I have also at long last completed the paperwork to become a Scrivener affiliate, which means that if you or a friend purchase the app through the below links, this blog gets a 20% commission (at no extra charge to you).

I write about Scrivener here and here, if you need convincing.

I can also say, since the developer publicly has, that Scrivener for iOS runs on iPads and iPhones, supports multi-tasking, and features Dropbox sync between iOS and OS X.

While you wait for the iOS app, here are the links for purchasing Scrivener

You can also try Scrivener free for 30 days if you want to see what you think.

 

Baylor University Press: 50% Off All Pre-2015 Titles

 

Baylor University Press Sale

 

Baylor University Press is currently offering 50% off all their backlist titles for grad students. (Though unlike previous sales, a .edu address is not required, so others can use the code, too). Two BUP titles I’ve reviewed at Words on the Word, that are both eligible for the sale, are Luke: A Handbook on the Greek Text and Malachi: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text (reviewed here and here). You might also consider Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus or †Rod Decker’s Greek Handbooks on Mark.

The sale is good from today through Sunday, June 12. If you use the discount code “BJUN” you can order at a 50% discount!

Baylor Press’s page for the sale is here.

Alfred 3 (for Would-Be Mac Power Users) Just Released

Alfred Logo

 

Alfred can be an intimidating Mac app, but its capabilities are pretty unparalleled when it comes to automating workflows. They’ve just announced the release of Alfred 3:

After months of intense development, polishing and testing, Alfred 3 is here and ready for you!

It’s been a thrill to add new features to Alfred, and improve existing ones. We already can’t live without these new features, which add so much to our workday productivity; Amazingly flexible workflows, snippet expansion, multimedia clipboard and more.

You can download Alfred 3 to get started right away.

We’ve highlighted a few of the new features below. We also published a post answering some of the commonly asked questions for Alfred 3; upgrading your Powerpack, migrating your preferences and more, so take a look for details.

The download of the app itself is free, and then you can pay for an upgrade to get the full set of features.

The snippet expansion is perhaps the most exciting feature to me. Much as I and others owe TextExpander a dept of gratitude, its new monthly subscription model suffered from a hasty (and probably overpriced) roll-out. Alfred, at any rate, can expand keyboard shortcuts and much more.

Find out more here.

New JPS Commentary Volumes, Now in Accordance

Jonah JPS CommentaryOne of the best biblical commentaries is the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) Bible Commentary. Previously at Words on the Word I’ve reviewed JPS Jonah, Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus.

Now Accordance Bible Software has announced the release of every JPS Bible Commentary volume that currently exists in print, including Michael Fishbane’s Song of Songs and Michael V. Fox’s Ecclesiastes.

(Fun aside: I was leading an Accordance Webinar on building Workspaces when I realized the “Michael Fox” in attendance was THAT Michael V. Fox.)

Accordance has a number of purchase and even upgrade options available, all of which are explained in detail here.

Download the New Radiohead Here

Moon Shaped Hole

 

The new Radiohead LP is out. It’s called Moon Shaped Pool. Here’s the track list:

01. Burn The Witch
02. Daydreaming
03. Decks Dark
04. Desert Island Disk
05. Ful Stop
06. Glass Eyes
07. Identikit
08. The Numbers
09. Present Tense
10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief
11. True Love Waits

“True Love Waits” is one of my all-time favorite Radiohead songs that has been floating around for 15-20 years. Can’t wait to hear how they arrange it.

You can get the album here (Amazon) or here (iTunes), both of which are affiliate links and help support the work of this and the other blog. Or you can visit the band’s own page here.

Birth Announcement!

WotG

 

It’s a blog!

I’m pleased to announce the birth of Words on the Goods:

Words on the Goods reviews high-quality, high-utility gear. Writers, audiophiles, tech lovers, and people who actually say EDC out loud will love it here. We bring you in-depth and practical write-ups with hi-res images of the best notebooks, pens, speakers, leather cases, apps, devices, and more.

We’re up and running, and actually have been for some time. Here are a few highlights of reviews from the first couple weeks of its life:

I’ll continue to post occasional product and app reviews here at Words on the Word, but will focus my posts here more on my own writing, sermons, tools for preachers, biblical studies, church life, and the like. If you were always here for the goods, you should go to Words on the Goods and subscribe (bottom left of any page). I’m the sole writer at the moment, but that’s fixin’ to change.

If you like giveaways, go here and enter for a chance to win a 3-pack of some sweet Word. Terrain notebooks.

New Bonhoeffer Title: Engaging Bonhoeffer

Engaging Bonhoeffer

 

I learned today of a new Bonhoeffer studies title releasing (in days!) from Fortress Press. It’s called Engaging Bonhoeffer: The Impact and Influence of Bonhoeffer’s Life and Thought. Here’s the blurb:

Engaging Bonhoeffer documents the extraordinary impact of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life and writing on later thought. Despite his lasting legacy, little substantial scholarship has been conducted in this area. In this magisterial collection, leading international scholars fill this striking gap and critically demonstrate the ways in which Bonhoeffer has been one of the most original, inspirational, and provocative writers of the twentieth century.

Bonhoeffer’s work has proved foundational for a wide variety of thinkers and movements across such areas as ecclesiology, Christology, spirituality, ethics, hermeneutics, phenomenology, epistemology, and systematic theology more generally. Whether one considers his writings to have been faithfully interpreted, critically adopted or justifiably rejected, Engaging Bonhoeffer describes those who have engaged with Bonhoeffer’s work, been inspired by his actions, and found a way to express and explain their own ideas through interacting with his life and thought. In addition to shedding light on the different theological trajectories that Bonhoeffer’s work may forge, this challenging volume offers a critical window through which to view and appreciate the ideas of many leading voices of modern theology.

There are 15 essays in all, the titles of which are all here. The ones I’m particularly interested in are:

1. A Tale of Two Bonhoeffers?—Keith W. Clements
2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Death of God Theologians—Eleanor McLaughlin
7. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Liberation Theologies—Geffrey B. Kelly and Matthew D. Kirkpatrick
14. On the Phenomenology of Creation—John Panteleimon Manoussakis
15. “Let your light so shine”—Medi Ann Volpe and Jennifer Moberly

Kudos to Fortress Press for keeping the Bonhoeffer goodness coming! Last fall they published reader’s editions of four classic Bonhoeffer titles. Kudos also to Fortress for publishing a Bonhoeffer book with a fresh photo of the man! Looks like a young Bonhoeffer, probably when he was a teenager getting ready to fire off a couple of dissertations.

If/as I learn more about Engaging Bonhoeffer, I’ll post again here. In the meantime, the publisher’s book page is here. It’s on Amazon here.

Coming Soon to iOS: Scrivener

Scrivener Logo

 

The full-featured writing app for Mac and Windows is at last on its way to iOS, soon to enter beta testing.

Here are some interesting details from the developer:

  • Scrivener for iOS will run on most iOS devices – the only requirement is that it can run iOS 9 and above.
  • It runs on iPhones as well as iPads (although certain features that require more space—such as the corkboard—are iPad-only).
  • It supports the multi-tasking features of the iPad Pro.
  • Scrivener for iOS will not support iCloud (at least for now) – syncing will be done via Dropbox. I’ll write a post explaining why soon. (You’ll be able to leave your desktop project open while you’re off using it on your mobile device, though.)

More details here.

New Story of God Bible Commentary Volumes: Genesis and Romans

SGBC GenesisScot McKnight set the bar high with his Sermon on the Mount volume in The Story of God Bible Commentary series.

Now there are two more volumes: Genesis, by Tremper Longman III, and Romans, by Michael F. Bird.

As Tremper Longman III describes in the video below, The Story of God Bible Commentary has three primary focuses:

  1. Listening to the Story
  2. Interpreting the Story
  3. Living the Story

 

 

You can read my review of McKnight’s Sermon on the Mount volume here. Also published so far have been Lynn H. Cohick’s Philippians and John Byron’s 1 and 2 Thessalonians. You can find the series landing page here.

Book Notice: Ruth (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the OT)

Ruth ZECOT

 

Just a short post today to alert you to a new commentary on the book of Ruth: Daniel I. Block’s volume in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament. Ruth is just the third published volume in the series, formerly called Hearing the Message of Scripture. Block is the General Editor of the series.

I reviewed Block’s Obadiah here. And Kevin J. Youngblood’s Jonah volume is probably the best commentary I’ve worked through on Jonah. (And there is no shortage of Jonah commentaries!)

You can learn more about the Ruth volume here. I’ll write about it again in due course.