Diversity Push Reaches Bible Software

[Jerome]

Christianity Today • Dec. 10, 2020

Logos Bible Software "based in Washington state, is predominantly white"

It has "established the Kerusso Collective so black Christian leaders could direct the inclusion of more voices of people of color."

"In addition to [Logos' Chauncey] Allmond, the collective includes:

Charlie Dates, pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago
Cynthia L. Hale, pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia
Esau McCaulley, assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College
Kenneth C. Ulmer, pastor of Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California
Joseph W. Walker III, bishop of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Nashville
Ralph Douglas West, pastor of Church Without Walls in Houston"

 

[rlvaughn]

Chauncey Allmond dreams of a day when white evangelical preachers will reference the work of African American Bible scholars without even thinking about it.

Interesting. I can already say that I don't think about the color or ethnicity of Bible scholars I reference. Nothing great on my part, I just don't think to check on something like that when I buy or read a book I want.

 

[Yeshua1]

Interesting. I can already say that I don't think about the color or ethnicity of Bible scholars I reference. Nothing great on my part, I just don't think to check on something like that when I buy or read a book I want.

Who cares the skin color or gender of an author, its what they write that really counts!

 

[Yeshua1]

Christianity Today • Dec. 10, 2020

Logos Bible Software "based in Washington state, is predominantly white"

It has "established the Kerusso Collective so black Christian leaders could direct the inclusion of more voices of people of color."

"In addition to [Logos' Chauncey] Allmond, the collective includes:

Charlie Dates, pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago
Cynthia L. Hale, pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia
Esau McCaulley, assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College
Kenneth C. Ulmer, pastor of Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California
Joseph W. Walker III, bishop of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Nashville
Ralph Douglas West, pastor of Church Without Walls in Houston"

Guess the Lord stated to them that cannot make any more bible resources unless woke up!

 

[SavedByGrace]

Cynthia L. Hale, pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia

women are not allowed to be "pastors"!

 

[Yeshua1]

women are not allowed to be "pastors"!

Guess not a Baptist church!

 

[SavedByGrace]

Guess not a Baptist church!

the Baptist Union in the UK allows women "pastors", and Pentecostals are going that way

 

[Yeshua1]

the Baptist Union in the UK allows women "pastors", and Pentecostals are going that way

Another sign of coming Apostasy!

 

[Jerome]

Logos Bible Software • The Kerusso Collective FAQs

Is there a denominational affiliation with the Kerusso Collective?
No. The Kerusso Collective hopes to include as much of the rich denominational diversity as possible.

How were the Kerusso Collective members selected?
We wanted to get a good cross-section in denomination, age, sex, and influence.

Are African Americans the primary target audience for the new product offerings?
No. We want to also expose non–African American Logos users to different perspectives that will positively impact their Bible study.

 

[church mouse guy]

Holy Cow!

 

[kathleenmariekg]

Interesting. I can already say that I don't think about the color or ethnicity of Bible scholars I reference. Nothing great on my part, I just don't think to check on something like that when I buy or read a book I want.

Exactly! We do not think about the color of the authors, and that is exactly why publishers as big and as influential as logos must think about it for us. Obviously diversity did not happen naturally and that tells us the a remedy is needed.

This forum had become predominantly male. The leadership expressed a desire for this to change.

I understand that there is stupidity with race happening right now, but if logos noticed that their authors are all white, they have a responsibility to those of us that are not thinking about the color of the authors that we read.

 

[rlvaughn]

Exactly! We do not think about the color of the authors, and that is exactly why publishers as big and as influential as logos must think about it for us.

So do you think we should not try to achieve what Chauncey Allmond dreams of, and that if we readers would think about it ourselves then publishers wouldn't have to do it for us? Thanks.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

So do you think we should not try to achieve what Chauncey Allmond dreams of, and that if we readers would think about it ourselves then publishers wouldn't have to do it for us? Thanks.

The church is more than white. It appears that logos realized they were not offering many non-white authors. People did not even have the choice to read non-white authors in logos, or the chance to stumble upon them. When reading in logos we were reading mostly white. I don't know what you are talking about and do not have time to research her/him, so I will just bow out of this. If I offended in any way, I am sorry. That was not my intent.

 

[rlvaughn]

The church is more than white. It appears that logos realized they were not offering many non-white authors. People did not even have the choice to read non-white authors in logos, or the chance to stumble upon them. When reading in logos we were reading mostly white. I don't know what you are talking about and do not have time to research her/him, so I will just bow out of this. If I offended in any way, I am sorry. That was not my intent.

Please understand that I am not offended in any way. It would be near impossible for you to offend me on this board with an explanation about what you think about anything, or discussion of any Bible topic. If I ever am offended, I will let that person know. There is nothing wrong in your post that bothered me. I was asking a question to try to understand where you are coming from and the point you were making. Don't bow out on my account.

Logos Bible Software under their parent company, now called Faithlife Corporation, is (as I understand it) a private company and as such can do whatever they wish as far as what they make available. (It is not something I use, so I am not familiar with it as far as actual experience.) Logos offering writings (or whatever they offer) from people of color is not of itself a bad thing. However, unless the color of the author is somehow specific to the reason I am choosing to read something, I do not consider what color the author is. To explain that, a couple of examples. I have several books related to the history of organizations of black Baptists written by black Baptists -- chosen because I thought they had inside understanding of the topic. On the other hand, if I am looking for a commentary on Isaiah, I will try to find the one I think is best, regardless of who wrote it. I wouldn't look for a commentary written by Jew just because Isaiah was a Jew, or that it is a book of the Old Testament. Hope that make sense. If the best author is black, yes, I want that to be available.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

Please understand that I am not offended in any way. Don't bow out on my account.
If the best author is black, yes, I want that to be available.

Thank you! There are very few discussions that I want to have enough to risk being offensive. Just because I feel passionate about something does not mean that I need to talk about it here.

Logos wields an unbelievable amount of power. I believe Logos is the most commonly used software by the church to not just study, but its companion Faithlife eBook reader that shares the same library is increasingly becoming the primary eBook reader of Christians. There are people that go days without venturing outside Faithlife's offerings.

We don't know what we don't know.

People are more isolated than ever, but also more busy that ever. When we are busy, we are least likely to think about how much we might be missing. If faithlife's offerings are not wide enough, in ANY area, that stunts the growth of the church. The boundaries of the Logos library increasingly bound what Christians know, and they don't know what they don't know.

Faithlife offers a facebook replacement and a movie subscription. Their influence on the church is profound. They need to keep thinking about what they don't know, and what their subscribers and customers might not know. They need to offer variety in what people stumble on. It needs to POSSIBLE that a customer MIGHT consume ideas that are common in Christiandom, but not their local neighborhood.

With power comes responsibility. Logos/Faithlife wields a LOT of power. They do need to take inventory of their stock, analyze it, and make sure it is diverse in every way possible, and that they are giving all members of the church an equal opportunity to join the conversation: production and consumption.

Access to information and inclusion are passions of mine. I need to be careful when discussing my passions, because I can get lost in the topic and forget who I am interacting with.

I believe the scriptures that all members are important. I also believe that all members need to be represented in the Logos/Faithlife library, now that it is has gotten this big and powerful.

 

[rlvaughn]

The boundaries of the Logos library increasingly bound what Christians know, and they don't know what they don't know.

Perhaps that is partly a laziness on our own part. IOW, it does not bode well for one entity to have such power or monopoly (or for us if we let them have).

 

[kathleenmariekg]

Perhaps that is partly a laziness on our own part. IOW, it does not bode well for one entity to have such power or monopoly (or for us if we let them have).

I agree. Logos/Faithlife has crossed a line that we need to recognize was crossed. They have a LOT of power.

 

[Deacon]

Different cultures have different perspectives.
This is not something new with Logos.
They have made the development of a variety of perspectives a priority for some time.

Surely we are comfortable in reading our cultural perspective but it is important to know what other see.

Rob

 

[Deacon]

A good first resource to begin learning the importance of reading outside our cultural worldview is a book called:

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible
[LOGOS LINK]
By E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien,
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012

READING THE BIBLE, READING OURSELVES
The core conviction that drives this book is that some of the habits that we readers from the West (the United States, Canada and Western Europe) bring to the Bible can blind us to interpretations that the original audience and readers in other cultures see quite naturally. This observation is not original with us. Admitting that the presuppositions we carry to the Bible influence the way we read it is commonplace in both academic and popular conversations about biblical interpretation. Unfortunately, books on biblical interpretation often do not offer readers an opportunity to identify and address our cultural blinders. This can leave us with a nagging sense that we may be reading a passage incorrectly and an attending hopelessness that we don’t know why or how to correct the problem. We hope that Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes will offer a positive corrective by suggesting that there is a discernible pattern by which Western readers read—and even misread—Scripture. Becoming aware of our cultural assumptions and how they influence our reading of Scripture are important first steps beyond the paralysis of self-doubt and toward a faithful reading and application of the Bible.
p. 15–16.
​

Eye opening and quite worthwhile!

Rob

 

[Yeshua1]

A good first resource to begin learning the importance of reading outside our cultural worldview is a book called:

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible
[LOGOS LINK]
By E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien,
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012

READING THE BIBLE, READING OURSELVES
The core conviction that drives this book is that some of the habits that we readers from the West (the United States, Canada and Western Europe) bring to the Bible can blind us to interpretations that the original audience and readers in other cultures see quite naturally. This observation is not original with us. Admitting that the presuppositions we carry to the Bible influence the way we read it is commonplace in both academic and popular conversations about biblical interpretation. Unfortunately, books on biblical interpretation often do not offer readers an opportunity to identify and address our cultural blinders. This can leave us with a nagging sense that we may be reading a passage incorrectly and an attending hopelessness that we don’t know why or how to correct the problem. We hope that Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes will offer a positive corrective by suggesting that there is a discernible pattern by which Western readers read—and even misread—Scripture. Becoming aware of our cultural assumptions and how they influence our reading of Scripture are important first steps beyond the paralysis of self-doubt and toward a faithful reading and application of the Bible.
p. 15–16.
​

Eye opening and quite worthwhile!

Rob

I also though see a kind of smack down against "privileged whites Christians " going on here to some extent!

 

[Deacon]

I also though see a kind of smack down against "privileged whites Christians " going on here to some extent!

Perhaps your are interpreting their motives through a bias.

FaithLife is a private company built to distribute resources and services to communities of faith.
They provide a wide variety of services and products that range from pop-fiction to scholarly research, from cartoons for the young to media by top professors.
Their products include focused selections offered to Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics, Jews, Seventh Day Adventists and many others groups.

It is to their advantage to try and include as diverse a customer range as possible; not to push you into accepting these other groups but to increase their customer base (although should anyone learn something from this diversity, all the better).

Rob