There’s been an update to the preaching themes dataset. This is exciting news, and I think it will improve this feature for preachers. Datasets are a lot of what is “under the hood” that makes Logos so unique. Logos uses datasets to pull verses and resources about that topic when you use a guide, like the sermon starter guide. If you’d like more information about datasets, check out what Logos has to say.
How does Logos know about all these passages connected to the theme of hope? That’s what the dataset does, specifically the Preaching Theme dataset.
In the above screenshot, notice two sub-sections within the Passages section: key passages and pericopes. Previously, all of the verses that would return for a search of the preaching theme for hope would have all the verses together. In this model, verses in the pericope that may not have anything to say about hope showed up in a Bible panel search because they are connected to a pericope with the theme of hope. Logos made the brilliant move to just show the number of verses directly related to the preaching theme Bible panel search.
When I used to search preachingTheme:”God’s Love” I would get over 3000 returns. Now, I get a reasonable amount of returns.
14 verses! The Preaching Themes dataset is not designed to show every verse related to a theme, but it brings forth some of the best verses about that theme in a broad sense. Preaching Themes allows users to search for themes that might not be explicitly in the text, but they are essential to search for.
You won’t get all of the verses in a Bible search because of the division between verses directly speaking about a theme and the pericope. However, all those pericopes will appear in the Sermon Starter Guide.
Application
Logos uses various datasets to help users find the information they need. Before, confusing Topics and Preaching Themes would be easy because they often overlapped. With this change in how the dataset works, preachers can get a great list of verses related to a theme without combing through thousands of verses!
Instead of going to a web browser and searching “verses about God’s love,” search “God’s Love” in the Sermon Starter Guide or preachingTheme:”God’s Love” in a Bible search panel. I imagine you’ll be happy with what you find!