The erasmus Bible app

Who We Are

The erasmus Bible app is a free Bible reading/studying program.
It has a similar interface for all platforms, so you don't need to relearn how to use it when switching between Windows, Mac, IOS, and Android. The app has a simple and intuitive interface that belies the fact that it has the abilities found in expensive commercial Bible study apps. Most features are accessible in only two or three taps/clicks. It also comes with an array of hand-picked reference works including Bibles, commentaries, lexicons, and much more. New enhancements and additional reference works are added on a regular basis. You can also purchase even more content from our add-on store.

Conroy & Conroy Company is a small family-owned business founded in 1987 as a computer hardware repair and software consulting company. Over the years, we dropped the hardware repair to focus on software. In 2021 we made the decision to devote all of our resources to producing the erasmus Bible app. The people contributing to the effort represent a combined 70 years of experience in the Bible software industry. This is a labor of love and none of us are getting rich as a result.

We do things a little differently. We treat our users with respect. For instance, we find it misleading when software is offered as a "free download", but after installing it one finds that although the "download" is free, using the program will cost you money. So when we say free, we mean exactly that: the download is free, the program is free, and using it is free. Further, we hate spam and annoying advertisements, so we limit the amount of email we sent out and the app is 100% free of adverstisements. Finally, we've all heard promises from software companies about delivery dates and planned features, but those promises were broken time and time again. We don't to that. We won't announce anything ahead of time. If we announce a new version, for instance, that new version is available from the moment you hear about it. We think that acting in any other way would be dishonoring to you and to the Lord.

The app is named after Desiderius Erasmus (aka Erasmus of Rotterdam) (1466-1536), a Dutch philosopher and theologian whom many consider to be one of the greatest scholars of the Renaissance. The Commentator Adam Clarke said that Erasmus was one of the "most correct Latin scholars since the Augustan age", several hundred years prior. Erasmus prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament, which raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He took the scripture at face value and was variously claimed and disavowed by both Protestants and Catholics.

The app is intended for pastors, teachers, and lay people.
Like most things in life, one tends to get value out of something commensurate to the effort put into it. erasmus will not do the work for you, but it will make studying the Bible easier. You don't need to know Greek or Hebrew (or Latin) - you can benefit from those who had that knowledge and provided commentaries on the entire Bible, exhaustive encyclopedias, and other useful resources. You can also dig into the original language through the Greek and Hebrew Interlinears and lexicons if you wish. In short, you can dive as deeply into the Bible as you have time and desire for, without needing an expert or having to rely on potentially unreliable internet resources. Note: there are many good and useful online resources, but if you are not well grounded in the Bible to begin with, you may not be able to tell the difference between the good and the not so good.

We take efforts to provide useful material that is unmodified from the original reference works. The erasmus-project shares some of the same developers as the erasmus Bible app. You can visit that site to see some of the material that erasmus uses which has been made publically available for free.

Our Goals
There is a problem with Biblical illiteracy in modern culture. Frankly, many Christians today have a poorer understanding of the Bible than nonChristians of 100 years ago. Some of this is due to the perception that the Bible is hard to understand or is somehow at odds with common sense, science, and/or itself. But it this very illiteracy which feeds that false perception. We encourage people to read the Bible and let it speak for itself - which it does quite well, even in older translations. Our goal is to provide everyday people with the Bible and with tools to help understand and study it, packaged in an easy-to-use app that is available across multiple platforms. If one encounters questions while reading the Bible, the resources included with erasmus should help to clarify things. Even if you have no questions, you can discover richer meaning where the culture and history of the writers of the Bible is explained by scholars who have been trusted resources from over 100 years ago up through recent years.

We do not hold to any particular faction of Christian belief, although we would doubtless be considered by some to be "fundamentalist" or "evangelical". Though we may have various secondary doctrinal stances, we welcome differences of opinion on those non-core beliefs, which we think is healthy (even essential). But we do not compromise on essential doctrines. This will be reflected in included reference works. Thus, we will not include any resources that we feel are not treating the source text (the Bible) with respect. For example, poor scholarship - such as material from some fringe groups, like the Jehovah Witnesses - is not included. Likewise, material that tries to "reinterpret" the meaning of the Bible (as understood over the centuries), or that is overly factional, or is unquestionably (in our view) misrepresenting what is in the Bible, is likely not included. We might include such if also accompanied by resources that point out the errors, as such may be helpful in correcting misunderstandings of clear Bible doctrine.

Our prayer is that erasmus will assist in growing your understanding and faith, sometimes gradually and sometimes through "ah ha" moments when things suddenly "click into place". We are humbled and grateful for the opportunity to serve you through the countless hours we've spent (and continue to spend) on developing erasmus. We are excited for you to better grasp the indescribable majesty of Almighty God and His unfathomable love for us, shown through His Son, Jesus Christ. May He encourage your heart, and open your eyes to a much larger reality and a hope for the future that the world promises but simply cannot provide. To the glory of God alone!

How You Can Help. Our goal is to help equip the saints to live a victorious life and accomplish the work that God has prepared for them to do. If you already have software tools that help you, by all means keep using them. If you don't, or if the erasmus Bible app serves you better, use it as a tool to assist in your own Bible study. You can help us in our goals by

Studying the Bible yourself.
Encouraging others to study the Bible - or even to read it regularly.
Spread the word about the erasmus Bible app. Direct others to our web site.
Pray for us and for the erasmus Bible app. You can use the Prayer Journal feature of erasmus to download our prayer requests from https://erasmusbibleapp.com and pray for us regularly. See step-by-step instructions on how to do this.
We are not a non-profit organization, so you cannot give us tax-free donations. Any sales we make in any area help to subsidize the development of the app and the reference works that accompany it, so if you want to help financially, you can buy any add-ons that we sell, which will also serve your own Bible study.
One might ask why we are a for-profit company instead of a non-profit ministry. In fact, we considered being non-profit. However, the state and federal rules and reporting requirements are simply excessive (as some of us who have dealt with other non-profits can attest). Since any profit we make would be immediately reinvested into the effort, we don't have income taxes to pay anyway. So, other than not being able to accept tax-free donations, we operate very much like a non-profit ministry.