Verbum Bible software, the Catholic version of the long-running Logos Bible Software, required a few updates to fully shed its evangelical carapace, but the people at Faithlife took the time to get it right, hiring and consulting with Catholics, until it emerged as the best Catholic biblical software on the market. Each has worked on a roughly two-year schedule of updates, with Version 10 being the last. Now, it is entering a new phase with a new model based on the dreaded S-word.

That word is "subscription."

We all have subscription fatigue, so Verbum needs to make a good case why we need one more.

The new subscription model essentially functions as a rolling update, with changes and features coming every two months rather than every two years. The two-year subscription price works out to approximately the same cost as full upgrade, only with new features released along the way. Those who subscribe for two years get a "fallback" license, keeping any features released during that period even after they cancel.

The packages are outlined here, with owners of Verbum getting a custom price. The three tiers are aimed at in-depth study (Premium), clergy (Pro), and deep language and academic work (Max). Owners of previous versions of Verbum may already have some resources, so they should get the detailed list to find out what’s new to them.

For example, I own Verbum 10 Platinum. Many (but not all) of the language tools are already available to me, so I settled for Pro. If you're starting from scratch, however, this is a good way to get into those more advanced levels and get a decent library as well. Each higher level has more tools and features, with the lowest providing solid Bible study and features and highest providing deep original-language analysis.

Libraries are a big deal for Verbum users, and users starting from scratch get 225+ books for Premium, including the Church Fathers; 600+ for Pro, including intermediate Greek and Hebrew; and 850+ for Max, including advanced Greek and Hebrew language as well as Latin, Coptic and Syriac. The more advanced tools start to kick in with Pro, which has the AI features, homily helps, and other items. All of them come with the ability to search, study, annotate and compare Scripture, with multiple translations, datasets, commentaries and other features. When you subscribe, you also get a 30% discount on upgrade libraries, which allow you to add more books to the software.

Make no mistake: It's expensive. Verbum/Logos always had a reputation for being costly, but the tools are very powerful and allow more advanced study of the Bible that you'd be able to do with print alone. I used it through two master’s degrees as well as for homilies and personal enrichment, and its ability to search, clip and cite texts was invaluable.

Smart Assists

The main feature of the new Verbum is widespread integration of AI tools. Although initially skeptical, I found the new smart searches an excellent addition to the software. My Verbum library, accumulated over decades, is huge and can return dazzling results with some work. The natural language queries and AI assists make that easier, returning searches not only with summaries, but with citations indicating the resources used to make the replies. These summaries are the other major feature of AI, providing an overview of a text’s major points.

Sometimes, however, the smart search chokes. For example, it gave nothing of use for the query “What does Von Balthasar say about pistis and gnosis?” at the level of a complete library search, but turned out a respectable answer when the search was limited to just Von Balthasar’s work. Clearly, these tools are new and require some finesse to use, as well as further development.

The other thing AI does is lower the bar to entry for new users. It is much easier to do natural language queries and find answers using smart tools that it is with ordinary searches. Verbum is deep and powerful, with a pretty steep learning curve. That’s less of an issue now.

Since smart searches are cloud-based features, they require a live internet connection and are the main selling point of the higher subscription levels. The software uses a credit system that hands the smart searches off to a third-party vendor. Credits are replenished each month, and Verbum is still working out just how to balance credit amounts. I have not found that I consumed even a fraction of my total credits during testing.

Longtime users will also notice significant changes to the Factbook and the toolbars. The Factbook now offers more information organized in a more natural way. It uses different tabs and sections to sort responses and provides a fine starting place for a passage search, offering a page full of links to books, exegetical guides, passage guides, word studies, workflows, books, commentaries, language tools and other features.

The toolbar is more complex now, but also more powerful, providing access to search features, interlinears, annotation options, highlighters, summaries and other tools. Pro level and above includes a scrolling insights panel for each Bible, providing a window with quick access to commentaries, cross-references and other information.

Homily Helps

Finally, homilists will find a mixture of old and new tools to help them preach. The homily manager has been refined and given some added utility for Pro and Max levels. It’s still possible to populate the manager with empty homily templates, complete the citations for daily and weekly readings, and then research and compose right in the software. In addition, AI can also generate a basic outline, anecdotes, illustrations and study questions from any passage or theme, distilling a few central ideas. This works pretty well as a preliminary, bird’s-eye view at the beginning of homily prep. Verbum is taking pains to assure people that these features do not “write” AI homilies, but rather provide starting points for the homilist to develop on his own.

Overall, it’s an excellent update. I would have paid $200 to get these options if they had been released as Verbum 11, and that’s more than I paid for a two-year subscription of Verbum Pro. I will keep all but the AI features if I decide not to continue my subscription after two years. It’s a particularly attractive option for people new to the software, since it actually lowers the cost of entry and allows you to scale your subscription, level up or down based on your needs. I cheerfully detest all subscription models, but they are here to stay, and this is advanced Bible software for less than the cost of a Netflix subscription.