Technological Servant or Tool of Technopoly? LOGOS Takes a Leap

John offers a review of Logos Bible Software's new subscription model, designed to enhance accessibility and maintain revenue. Mixed user feedback highlights concerns about costs versus value and the introduction of AI features into the software. 

John Koessler's latest book, On Things Above: The Earthly Importance of Heavenly Reality, is now available. You can get it from Amazon. 

Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Practical Theology column for Today in the Word and a monthly column on prayer for Mature Living. He is the author of 16 books. His latest book , When God is Silent, is published by Lexham Press. You can learn more about John at https://www.johnkoessler.com.

Transcript

I was a young Jesus freak when I purchased my first “Christian” book. It was a paperback entitled Manners and Customs of the Bible, and it changed my life. Up until then, my approach to Scripture had been somewhat haphazard. I dropped into various books of the Bible like a visitor on a day trip, interested but ignorant about much of what I found there. The Bible seemed mysterious and peculiar, especially the Old Testament. Now, I had something to help me make sense of it. It transformed me from being a biblical tourist into a student, and I’d like to think, eventually, a scholar. I kept that book on my shelf long after it was useful, more for sentimental reasons than anything else. I also began to buy books about the Bible the way a mechanic buys tools. Books were an item in my monthly budget, like the electric bill or groceries. 

A little more than a decade after I purchased that first reference book, I bought a personal computer. At the time, I viewed it mostly as a souped-up typewriter. I was thrilled that I no longer needed to spend my Friday turning my handwritten notes for my sermon into typed pages. I just put paper in the printer and pushed a button. I had no idea how much I would come to depend upon the computer for my research, writing, and sermon preparation. Or how much money I would eventually spend on new equipment and software. The computer did not exactly make my physical library obsolete, but in time, it did make many of them superfluous. With my Bible software and the information I found on the Internet, I found myself going to my old books less often. But that didn’t mean I was ready to ditch them. 

I eventually came to feel just as strongly about my computer as I did my physical library, but for different reasons. The way I felt about my computer was more pragmatic than sentimental, prompted mainly by its functionality and its cost. Both have increased exponentially, along with the anxiety I feel when it’s not working right, or the technology has advanced to the point where my machine has become obsolete. As Neil Postman observed:  “Every technology is both a burden and a blessing; not either or, but this-and-that.”[1] 

The books on my shelf don’t change. Computers and the software that runs on them are a different matter. The users of Logos Bible Software got a fresh reminder of this with its latest release, which its makers are describing as the “next era  of Logos.”[2] The biggest changes in this version are economic and technological. First, like many other software companies, the makers of Logos have moved from an ownership to a subscription model. “Logos is moving to subscription, that’s for our software”  Bill McCarthy, CEO of Logos explains. “It doesn’t change the relationship or the dynamics of how our content is acquired.” 

According to McCarthy, the benefit of moving to a subscription model is reciprocal. On the one hand, it means that Logos software will be accessible to more people than ever because it is now offered at a more affordable price. “It’s a huge unlock for us,” McCarthy notes. “It extends our reach to millions and millions of more folks.” On the other hand, changing the payment mode also benefits the company by providing a steady stream of resources to fuel future development. It’s part of a larger strategy whose goal is to reach a billion users. McCarthy explains, “We can’t do that without a model that allows for it from a cost standpoint.”

This may be a watershed moment for Logos but not for the software industry as a whole. Companies like Adobe and Microsoft have employed a subscription model for a while now. It’s a model that guarantees that subscribers are always on the cutting edge of the latest developments. The downside for the consumer is that the cumulative cost can be significant over time. However, the three price points that Logos is currently offering seem fairly accessible, especially when compared to the buy-in price of their older packages. Every subscription level provides access to a library of resources. If users cancel their subscription, access to those base libraries goes away, along with the new features that are tied to the subscription. The books that users purchase during their subscription period remain theirs to keep, along with any they may have bought under the old model.

Logos offers three subscription tiers, each one aimed at a specific audience. As might be expected, the more you pay, the more you get. The distinction between them isn’t just in the volume of material you can access. The nature of the content also differs. The lowest tier is geared toward small group leaders and teachers who want a basic library of study tools that will help them understand the Bible, prepare lessons, and formulate study questions. The highest tier is for scholars who are doing in-depth research in the area of biblical languages, writing papers for academic journals, or preparing sermons. Between these two, the middle tier is designed for those who prepare sermons while engaging in the busy life of the church. 

Feedback from current users about this new economic model seems mixed. Some have expressed excitement about the lower buy-in cost. Other users who have already invested a significant amount of money in building their library, some running in the tens of thousands of dollars, are less happy about the prospect of paying more through a monthly subscription. A former colleague of mine whose seminary students are required to purchase Logos for his classes observed, “Personally, I just don’t like the idea of subscriptions.” Still, he says that he understands why Logos would want to have a consistent revenue system and notes that it makes the software more affordable to students. He told me that his school is currently reevaluating what their relationship with Logos will look like moving forward.

The company will continue to offer a simplified, free version of the software. However, it won’t be the same as the subscription version. The free version comes with a limited library. It combines books in the public domain, free versions of titles that publishers have granted Logos permission to include, and titles from Lexham Press, which is the publishing imprint of the company that produces the software. Sean Metcalf, a Logos representative, explained to me, “Subscription is our way of delivering the newest, upcoming features of Logos, which will be coming out in the next year.” Subscription is what separates the advanced tools in the new software from the library bundles that those who have Logos 10 or above already own. Anyone who has already purchased bundles will still be able to use them, but the advanced features of the new version will only be available to subscribers. Logos will continue to offer “add-on” libraries for purchase, which will be owned by the user in perpetuity regardless of whether or not they stay subscribed.

The new features in Logos that are tied to subscriptions reflect a substantial investment in the use of artificial intelligence. AI enables Logos to search across its extensive library and summarize the results. It also creates prompts that help Bible study leaders formulate discussion questions, and preachers construct sermon outlines. Artificial intelligence is an anxiety trigger for many today due more to popular mythology than anything else. The mere mention of it brings to mind visions of popular movie franchises like The Matrix and The Terminator, which imagine a world to come where intelligent machines are out to get us. Like all technologies, it is certainly possible for artificial intelligence to be used unethically. Its role in the creation of deepfake images, videos, and audio is a good example. 

AI technology has made it easier to plagiarize and cannibalize the intellectual property of others and repurpose it without attribution. Some have also questioned whether this technology marginalizes the Holy Spirit’s role in the study of God’s word. However, these threats spring chiefly from the human heart, not the software. The lazy will still be lazy, and the unscrupulous will be unscrupulous no matter what software they use. I’m sure that someone could use results of an AI-powered search in Logos to cobble together a sermon based on the work of others. But this was already possible with the old version, just as it has been for many years now by more traditional means and through a number of Internet sites.

No technology is neutral. As Neil Postman observed in his book Technopoly, “. . . embedded in every tool is an ideological bias, a predisposition to construct the world as one thing rather than another, to amplify one sense or skill or attitude more loudly than another.”[3] In this case, as with most computer technology, the controlling ethos for the user is the advantage gained by speed. This was the first benefit I ever reaped from owning a personal computer. The implied promise of AI-powered searching is that it enables users to get results more easily and quickly. 

The practical value of this is obvious. But we might also reasonably question whether faster is always better in a contemplative discipline like the study of God’s word. The other ethos embedded in the new direction Logos has taken is the one that led to the change in their economic model. The company’s CEO has explained it in missional terms. The move to subscriptions is designed to get more people to study God’s word. If it works, it also happens to be good business. A billion subscribers translates into billions of dollars.

There is certainly nothing wrong with Logos wanting to gain a billion subscribers. Yet it is unlikely that those who have purchased an earlier version of their software will be compelled by that vision alone to opt for a subscription. Their participation will depend on whether they feel the new features add enough value to warrant the additional cost. After all, Logos isn’t only a tool. Fundamentally, it’s a product. And we all know the first rule when it comes to selling a product. The customer is always right.

[1] Neil Postman, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, (New York: Vintage, 1992), 5.
[2] https://www.logos.com/future-of-logos
[3] Neil Postman, Technopoly, p. 13,