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iPad Roundup: Religious Studies

Nick Santilli — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:00:31 +0000

If Apple Computer, Inc. isn’t enough of a religion for you, there are plenty of apps out there for the iPad that should cover most other religions to which you may subscribe. The iPad’s versatility — coupled with developer ingenuity — means there are many different ways to engage with that religion, too.

Some of the religious apps are audio-based, while others provide brief moments (“thought of the day” style) of inspiration. There are the standard works for reading, as well as full-on study aids to really dig in deep. There are even some religious-themed comic books, if that’s more to your taste. Of course, these various options are used at the whim of individual developers, so not all features and delivery methods are available in every religion.

Audio

Covering both hymns and music, as well as readings of the texts and talks, there are some good choices for those who want to use the iPad speakers (or headphones):

Quick Inspiration

Days are busy, but if you want a quick bit of inspiration before you start your day, these apps should deliver:

Standard Books

If you’re just looking to read the Good Word on your iPad, these apps are probably a good place to start:

Hebrew Bible (+ $6.99)
The Quran (+ $.99)
Russian Bible HD ($4.99)
KJV Bible (+ $5.99)
LDS Scriptures Library ($14.99)

Serious Study
With lots of great features, these iPad apps should get you kick-started for some serious religious study:

Logos (FREE)
Gospel Library for iPad (FREE)

There are likely other great apps for serious study for other religions, but as they lie outside my own personal purview. I decided it’s best left to devotees of those faiths to suggest their own in the comments.

Obviously there are many, many more app choices out there. Using the iPad as a platform for religious study means more than just reading the printed (or in this case, digital) word. Many offer online syncing of bookmarks, additional resource downloads, highlighting/note taking, audio passages, and even group study tools. So take your time in perusing the many options to find out which app’s features best suit your needs.

As an interesting aside, I’m seeing more and more iPads appearing at my own worship services on Sundays. The portability and flexibility of the device obviously allows for ease of planning, administration, study, and note taking: all of which fit the bill for many attending church services. I’ve even seen the iPad being used for Sunday School lessons and presentations. The versatility of Apple’s latest device is certainly finding a home in nearly every facet of people’s’ lives.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Analyzing The Social E-book

Is Apple a Cult, a Religion or a Brand?

Charles Moore — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:00:28 +0000

A university professor friend and recent platform-switcher jestingly refers to Apple and its users as “the Church of the Mac.” He’s become an enthusiastic Mac evangelist, and since has perceived some loose parallels between his technology conversion to Apple and his religious conversion to Catholicism.

My learned friend is far from unique in drawing analogies between computer platform affinities and religion. Back in 1994, Italian novelist Umberto Eco (writer of “Foucault’s Pendulum” and “The Name of The Rose”) published a now-legendary, whimsical piece in the Italian news weekly Espresso, contending that the Microsoft/Apple rivalry is “a religious war.” Eco was “firmly of the opinion” that the Macintosh is Catholic; “It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory, it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach — if not the kingdom of heaven — the moment in which their document is printed.” He pointed out that with a Mac you deal with simple formulae and sumptuous icons, and “everyone has a right to salvation.”

On the other hand, Eco contended, the (then mostly DOS-based) PC was Protestant, “or even Calvinistic,” demanding difficult decisions and interpretations, taking “for granted the idea that not all can reach salvation.” The PC user “is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.” When the Windows graphical user interface was added to previously command line-only DOS, there came a superficial resemblance to the Macintosh’s “counter-reformist tolerance.” “Sort of like Anglicanism,” said Eco, with “big ceremonies in the cathedral,” but “always the possibility of a return to DOS to change things in accordance with bizarre decisions: When it comes down to it, you can decide to ordain women and gays if you want to.”

Eco’s tongue-in-cheek theological analysis of the computer wars stands up well and is still entertaining 16 years later.

Scholarly Investigations

Recently there’s another flurry of “Apple as religion” in the blogosphere. The Huffington Post’s Skye Jethani writes of “the power of consumer brands to supplant traditional religions in people’s lives,” noting that “new research has shown that Apple has achieved the same impact on the human brain as religion.”

TheAtlantic.com.’s Alexis Madrigal posted a riff noting that scholars seriously study Apple fans as “religious devotees,” one even outlining a framework for assessing Apple’s mystical mythology, contending that the company is founded on at least quasi-religious myths.

A four-myth construct compiled by Texas A&M University media professor Heidi Campbell in her paper “How the iPhone became divine” posits:

A creation myth highlighting the counter-cultural origin and emergence of the Mac as a transformative moment;
A hero myth presenting the Mac and its founder Steve Jobs as saving users from the corporate domination of the PC world;
A satanic myth presenting Bill Gates as the enemy of Mac loyalists;
A resurrection myth of Jobs returning to save the failing company.

Madrigal observes that these narratives aren’t myths in the sense of being untrue, but are archetypal illustrations that help people make sense of their relationship with the world (or at least Apple). He suggests the only element of core Apple fans’ belief system compromised by “Antennagate” is the hero myth, since Jobs didn’t initially live up to his Teflon reputation. However, he thinks the Antennagate press conference followed by robust iPhone sales in Apple’s quarterly financial report not only restored Jobs’ hero status, but refreshed the resurrection myth, citing Campbell observing that “Apple weathered the storm because there is such brand loyalty through the religious narrative.”

“Implicit Religion”

Fox News’s John R. Quain weighs in on Apple as a “new religion,” likewise referencing Texas A&M’s Campbell, who told him “Implicit religion can happen when the use of, say, technology becomes a substitute for belief and behaviours once attached to religion and religious practice,….The religious-like behaviour and language surrounding Apple devotion/fandom is an example of ‘implicit religion’.”

Campbell has cut to the nub of the issue. As a Catholic traditionalist, I have clearly-defined concepts of what I think constitutes bona fide religion, and notwithstanding that I’m a consummate Mac fanboy, I find it impossible to take “Apple as religion” seriously, as more than parody or satire, or more darkly–cultishness.

Apple Products and Traditional Religion

Not that Apple products aren’t having peripheral impact on real, traditional religion. In June, Fr. Paolo Padrini, a consultant with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications, launched a free expanded iPad version of his iBreviary app, a daily prayer book for iPhone. iBreviary’s iPad variant, iBreviaryPro, contains the complete Roman missal — all that is said and sung at Mass throughout the liturgical year, plus commentaries, suggestions for homilies, and musical accompaniment, allowing priests to celebrate mass without hard copy Bibles and liturgical missals.

What sets iBreviary apart from other religious apps in the App Store is that it’s the first app with approval of the Vatican. Fr. Padrini has reported some 200,000 downloads of the iPhone version, and expects priests who travel a lot to find the application most useful.

Cult of Mac’s Nicole Martinelli reports that at least one Catholic priest switched to an iPad for officiating at outdoor masses in place of heavy books, commenting to The Apple Lounge (in Italian) that device is really easy to use.

That’s the sort of technology complimenting religion that even religious traditionalists can get behind.

Logos Software Takes a Leap of Faith to the Mac

Weldon Dodd — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:00:19 +0000

Logos Bible Software shipped the first version of its Bible study software 18 years ago in December 1991 for the, at that time, brand new Windows operating system. Last year, Logos finally released version 1.0 of its software for the Mac and its story provides a great example of the growth of the Mac market and the strength of the platform.

Just recently, Logos introduced an alpha release of version 4 which introduces feature parity with all 100+ new features in the Windows version. Along with a new iPhone app, Logos is making a big commitment to the Mac platform and it appears to be paying off.

The exciting bit here is not so much another software release on the Mac, but the story of how one company made the move from Windows only to embrace the Mac and the iPhone.

A Massive Digital Library, on your PC, on your Mac, on your iPhone

Logos started out as a very simple piece of software meant to quickly search the text of the Bible. It has evolved into a complete digital library solution for studying everything from the Bible itself in the original languages and in numerous translations to commentaries, exegetical analysis, family trees of people in the Bible, maps and pictures of locations in the Bible and more. The library of books that are available to study and read in the Logos system is massive — over 10,000 titles. There are several different packages to choose from that include various collections of titles at different price points.

The Logos 4 software runs on your Windows PC, on your Mac, and there is a companion iPhone app available as well. All of these versions will stay in sync with each other so you can pull up the titles you have purchased and see your favorites and personal notes wherever you happen to be studying. You can get a great overview of version 4 and how it works in a video introduction produced by Logos.

The Journey to the Mac

The effort to bring Logos to the Mac goes back several years, but the first abortive attempt was never finished. A renewed push came about four years ago. Dan Pritchett tells us that Logos approached the project with some trepidation about how Mac customers would receive a product from the Windows world.

We decided that we wanted to put out the best Mac product that we could. The Mac market is sophisticated and sharp and very particular about their software. We couldn’t disappoint.

Logos chose to build the application for the Mac from the ground up and make it a great native experience rather than do a simple port of the Windows app. In order to find the expertise to build great Macintosh software, Logos went straight to the source — Cupertino. Apple worked with Logos to help it find a partner with the right experience and the Logos for Mac project was launched.

Was Moving to the Mac the Right Choice?

It was challenging to work with an outside group on the Mac version while development on the Windows version continued internally. The end result was not too shabby, even if it did not have all of the extensive features of the Windows version.

We’re ecstatic with the way the market has responded. The Mac world is hard to please. We were preparing for the worst: “You don’t get us, don’t understand us.” But the response has been really positive. The time we put into doing it right was well worth building it from the ground up. Our sales for the first quarter after the initial release were 122% above plan.

That early success was enough to convince Logos to make a stronger commitment to the Mac. Since that first release, a Mac development team has been created in house and one of the Mac-enthusiasts on the Windows team has even switched over. One other benefit of the Mac?

Our software worked way faster on the Mac. It not only works great, but it’s faster.

What Does the Future Hold?

The latest version, Logos 4, is being released quickly behind the Windows version with a goal of complete feature parity. The commitment to dual-platform releases means that installers for both Windows and Mac ship on the same CD. But the importance of the Mac does not stop at being included in the box. Dan told me that some of the design ideas from the Mac version were influencing the Windows version. Logos felt like they learned a lot about designing good software from the Mac effort, something that should come as no surprise to those of us that are used to excellent UI design on the Mac.

One of the cool new features in Logos 4 is that the app will update in the background and pull in new features that are planned to be released over the next several months. While the Mac version is lagging behind Windows development, the gap is closing and this auto-updating feature will mean that Mac users will catch up.

What Does this Mean for the Mac Market?

I think there are two big lessons to be gleaned from Logos’ experience with the Mac. The first is that the Mac market is big enough to support even niche players that cater to a very particular group of customers. Logos took its Bible study software and made it work beautifully on the Mac by partnering with Apple directly and finding a partner that could help them make great Mac software. Once the concept was proven and the market response was measured, Logos quickly moved to bring Mac development in house and increased its commitment to the platform.

The second important lesson here is that the cloud is having a profound influence on software development across platforms. The fancy syncing features of Logos 4 and the iPhone app that lets you access your entire catalog on the go are only possible with the advance of cloud computing, broadband, and mobile Internet. It is now possible to use the cloud as an easy way to move user data from an application on Windows to another application on the Mac that can share information. Switching platforms is facilitated by the cloud which makes it even easier for people to join the Mac crowd.

Both of these trends bode well for the future of the Mac. We have a large sustainable market for software that can entice even niche players and new cloud computing technologies are helping reduce the dependence on proprietary Windows software.

Other Logos Resources

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iPhone Roundup: 10 Jewish Apps for the New Year

Dave Greenbaum — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:00:39 +0000

For some readers, it’s the start of the year 5770. The High Holidays are over and meeting your spiritual goals is fresh on your mind. There is an extensive amount of Jewish-themed iPhone apps available. Even if you aren’t Jewish, these apps highlight some of the great features of the iPhone 3.x software and the GPS and compass functions. Religions such as Judaism have rituals based on time, location and direction, and even if you aren’t Jewish, you might find some of these apps interesting for their ability to take advantage of all the iPhone has to offer, as well as providing a glimpse into another culture.

Kosher ($4.99)

Apps like Yelp help you find the best restaurants nearby via your GPS, but if you keep kosher, you want slightly different information about a restaurant. First, obviously, is if they are kosher, but the Kosher App also includes reviews from users of the website Shamash.org as well as the certification authority used to determine if the place was kosher (some authorities are accepted more widely than others). The application can also work without an internet connection since the database is downloaded during setup. The app also contains the blessings for the meal, although the average user of Kosher probably already knows them.

Kosher Cookbook ($4.99)

There are lots of recipe apps out there, but the average app doesn’t consider the restrictions on types and combinations of food kosher cooking requires. Similar to other applications, Kosher Cookbook has a large database of recipes and allows you to create custom shopping lists and meal plans. I liked the organization of the recipes in such a way that the kosher home would approach it: dairy, meat and parve. Additionally the virtual “shelf” of cookbooks contains the secular categories as well, such as appetizers, breakfast and dessert. For anyone who keeps a kosher kitchen, or wants to cook for kosher guests, this cookbook will steer you clear of ingredients and combinations that would be inappropriate.

KosherMe ($6.99)

Originally this started out including just the blessing over food (hence the KosherMe title). Unique to most of the Jewish applications is the fact that prayers and information are also in Hebrew and until recently the iPhone didn’t support Hebrew. Most other applications simply render the Hebrew as an image. KosherMe actually renders it like text and allows you to choose Hebrew, English, or transliterated Hebrew (Hebrew words “sounded out” for those that read English but not Hebrew). The newest version expanded to practically all common Jewish prayers and I use it to enhance my spirituality. See a beautiful rainbow and don’t know a prayer for it? There’s an app for that.

iBlessing (99 cents)

If you just want the blessings over food and not sure which one to say, or how to say it, iBlessing is for you. For only 99 cents, it tells you all the proper blessings for food as well as washing hands and grace after meals. Instead of showing you the text, it says the blessing for you in Hebrew and in English and gives you time to repeat each word. If you can’t read Hebrew at all, this is great. Bonus prayers include the Shema and Modeh Ani. Unfortunately, even with iPhone sound turned off, it plays introduction music which can be disconcerting if you only want the blessing.

Siddur ($9.99), Siddur Lite (99 cents)

In sharp contrast to KosherMe is Siddur. Siddur is, pardon my cross-cultural reference, the whole enchilada. Not only does it contain practically every common prayer and blessing a Jew would need, but it subdivides those prayers into the various cultural backgrounds such as Ashkenazik and Sephardic. The folks at Rusty Brick really went all out to make this program the center of your iPhone Jewish life. On the basic level, Siddur includes the morning and evening services as well as most major blessings in all the Nusuch. Unlike KosherMe, there is no English transliteration or transliterated Hebrew. You have to know what you’re saying. Siddur Lite stops there. The non-lite version includes a Zmanim which uses the GPS to tell you the proper prayer times for your current location (push notifications coming?!), a Luach to tell you the current Hebrew date and upcoming Hebrew events, and a public misheberach prayer list.

Synagogues (99 cents)

So you only go to synagogue twice a year and aren’t sure how to get there? Synagogue uses your GPS coordinates to find the closest synagogue. Maps is ineffective for this search because it pulls up day schools and other places affiliated with synagogue, but not houses of worship. Additionally, Synagogue tells you the religious affiliation of the synagogue (Reform, Conservative, and so on) as well as the rabbi’s name, the website, and the number of households in the congregation (in case you want a smaller or larger one to attend).

Shabbat Shalom (Free)

What time does Shabbat start? What time is it over? What’s the Torah portion for the week. This application I use more than any other to answer these questions. Since many of my friends are observant Jews and do not answer the phone on Shabbat, being able to see what the start and end times for Shabbat where either I live or they live is very helpful. You can add multiple locations so I know not only when I can call local people, but when I can call observant friends and family living out-of-state.

Mizrach (99 cents)

During many Jewish prayers in America, you must pray pointing East, towards Jerusalem. Mizrach, which means “east” in Hebrew, uses the 3GS compass feature to accurately and elegantly tell you where east is (technically, slightly southeast). Sure, you can use the actual compass, but it isn’t as pretty. Mizrach will accurately direct you towards Jerusalem no matter where in the world you might be praying.

Shabbat Clock (Talking Version) (99 cents)

One of the restrictions of a traditional Jewish Sabbath is the inability to use electronics such as an alarm clock. Generally, you can set the alarm clock in advance, but you can’t snooze the alarm because that would be using electronics. You can’t even wake up the phone from sleep because that would be “using” the phone. Shabbat Clock keeps it’s app open and prevents the iPhone from going to sleep (make sure it’s plugged in). At the appointed time, it will play an alarm for up to a minute. It will even automatically call someone if you’d like.

For those so inclined, an iPhone might be your must trusted tool in the synagogue next to your siddur. Just please put it on vibrate during services!

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