Tech Tools For Religious Studies

One issue that usually comes up at some point for those who write and work in theology is which computer tools to use. Here are some tools that I use with links to their sites.

I started with WordPerfect for Dos (in a past century), then moved on to Word for Windows. Given the limits of Word I started using Adobe Framemaker, which I used to write my Greek Course and my book on Romans, which is a revision of my Ph. D. dissertation. Framemaker is expensive (but has an educational price) but is, in my opinion, the best commercial writing tool on Windows.

For various reasons I became a "switcher" in 2006, i.e. I switched to a Mac and have not looked back since then. I installed Windows and Framemaker on my MacBook in order to be able to open my old Framemaker files. For small documents I simply write text files in TextMate or Textedit. For everyday writing and for accumulating textual information I used Mellel until the end of 2009. I am now switching to Nisus Writer Pro. Both Mellel and Nisus integrate well with Bookends, my bibliography management software.

To write longer documents, articles, or work on books I do a first version in Scrivener. Then, if necessary, I transfer the file to Word since many publishing houses or journals still prefer Word files.

More and more I simply use L^aT_eX, sometimes after having transferred the file from Scrivener. For fancier documents I use Adobe InDesign (I am still on CS4).

For bibliography management on L^aT_eX I use BibDesk (see also Jabref on Windows) or more and more simply Bookends. For information management I use DevonThink constantly. Finally for exegetical research I use Accordance and the Thesaurus Linguæ Græcæ (I subscribe to the web access).

As to backing up my files (which you sould always do), I use the free version of Dropbox for the files I am currently working on. I also use a portable drive with Time Machine and I also synchronize my files between my macbook, my Imac and my portable drive using Chronosync as an extra precaution. I also have a copy of my files at another physical location than my home.