Earlier today BibleWorks posted an update to their Apostolic Fathers versions. The update consists of corrections made to the Apostolic Fathers databases (APF, APE, APL and APM) and the addition of duplicate copies of those databases with an alternate versification scheme for the book Shepherd of Hermas (APFH, APEH, APLH, APMH). Rather than dividing Shepherd into many different books according to the Vision, Mandate, Similitude divisions, it uses a continuous chapter numbering scheme and puts it all in one book. This alternate scheme is most famously known through the latest updates of the Apostolic Fathers by Michael Holmes, but is also found in other resources.
These Apostolic Fathers versions were originally developed by BibleWorks users and BibleWorks subsequently added the morphology version and first packaged them with BibleWorks 8 (or was that 7?). This made the Apostolic Fathers available in the *base* package of BibleWorks without any additional module fees or add-ons. But due to the nature of how the database was first created, there were still a lot of errors in it. So I went through and tried to clean up some of those errors, but I was limited by the nature of the text. The problem was that APF wasn’t identical to any of the Lightfoot editions that were published. Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn’t. So in the end, I didn’t know what the errors were and what was a good reading, even if it came from a different source. So rather than trying to figure all of that out l came up with a different solution. If you get the update of the Apostolic Fathers, you’ll note what the new solution was.
Rather than trying to make the eclectic APF actually fit Lightfoot (an old text from the 19th century), I decided to go a different path and change APF to fit Kirsopp Lake’s edition of the Apostolic Fathers (Loeb Library). This way, BibleWorks would not only have a better text of the Apostolic Fathers, it would have a database that actually was tied to a print version. So with this, you not only have the original Apostolic Fathers databases, you will now also receive the LAKE-E (English version), LAKE-G (Greek text), LAKE-L (Latin text) and LAKE-M (Greek morphology) all free of charge when you buy BibleWorks 9 (or run the updater, if you already have it). Last time I price checked these databases with other Bible programs, they had an additional cost associated with them. But here you can get them at no additional cost because BibleWorks is just that awesome.
Finally, there’s one other small database that you’ll also be getting in today’s update. Although this is not of much value to me, I put it together because I know some people like to have as many texts as possible at their fingertips. This new piece is a database that includes the English translation from Lightfoot (LAF-E). This translation is rather archaic sounding and not one I would use a lot, but, nevertheless, some of you may appreciate it when you’re practicing your KJV-ese.
So, now when you go to download the latest update in BibleWorks, you’ll know what special surprises are waiting for you.
Summary:
#1. Corrections made to APF databases
#2. Addition of alternate Shepherd of Hermas versification
#3. Kirsopp Lake Apostolic Fathers texts
#4. Lightfoot’s English translation
(I assume the update is only available in BibleWorks 9, but I can’t say that for sure).