On-the-Web

Unfortunate news from the Biblioblog Reference Library: Our webhost, GoDaddy, decided to change the rules on us and has deleted the entire Biblioblog Reference Library database. Beforehand we had enough space to keep the database working and pruned down to a size that was feasible, but in the course of the last few months, they decided to halve the allowable database size which made it impossible to house all of the data and indices. What’s worse is that after requests for a full backup of the database were made, they refused to provide anything but a corrupted partial backup. We tried very hard to make the chunked backups necessary to put the entire database into a format that we could move, but in the midst of it (moving millions of records only tens of thousands at a time) they pulled the plug. ...

On the web: The SBL website now has a page with links to a number of program unit and seminar papers (HT: Charles Jones). Ohio State University has a special online exhibition about the King James Version (HT: Bill Warren). Zotero has seen a significant and a couple more minor updates over the past few days. The SBL citation style is also newly updated as of January 29. The W3 Consortium has a list of fraktur characters (e.g., for cases where they are used as text-critical siglia) and their corresponding Unicode character assignments. Among other fonts, Gentium Plus natively includes 1D510 (Majority Text) and 1D513 (Papyrus).

On the web: Rod Decker shares an update on his forthcoming Greek grammar. Logos Bible Software is wishing everyone a happy International Septuagint Day today with a substantial sale on their release of the Göttingen Septuagint (HT: Brian Davidson, Abram K-J). Jim Davila excerpts a Cambridge News story about funding that Cambridge and Oxford are seeking to keep together the Lewis-Gibson Genizah Collection at Westminster College.

On the web: Larry Hurtado comments on Alan Mugridge’s PhD thesis, “Stages of Development in Scribal Professionalism in Early Christian Circles,” which is currently under revision for publication. Nathan Eubank enters the biblioblogosphere (HT: Stephen Carlson). Baker is now releasing the “Teach the Text” commentary series. Currently available is Marvin Pate’s volume on Romans, and Robert Chisholm’s volume on Samuel is available for preorder (HT: M. Miller).

On the Web: Phil Gons digests Tony Reinke’s suggestions for reading more. Logos Bible Software has added the 12-volume Clarendon edition of Aristotle’s works (1908–1952) to their community pricing offerings.

On the web: Nijay Gupta provides the table of contents for the latest issue of the Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters. Robert Woods reflects on significance and dissonance in Great Books. Abram K-J discusses the Göttingen Septuagint ( 1, 2, HT: Tommy Wasserman).

On the web: Mark Hoffman notes that Google Maps’ street view now includes several additional locations of significance around Israel. Charles Jones identifies several publicly accessible dissertations from the University of Pennsylvania. Dirk Jongkind reflects on Acts 17:3 in connection with the two latest Nestle-Aland texts.

Bridget Almas notes the availability of a new syntax search utility that presently covers about 400,000 words of Perseus’s Greek and Latin texts (HT: Charles Jones).

After several years’ blogging at jdavidstark.com, the site has now moved into its own domain at jdavidstark.com. All of the site’s links and RSS feeds should redirect automatically. But, you may see somewhat faster service by coming directly to jdavidstark.com or subscribing directly to jdavidstark.com/feed/rss/. ...

Apparently, Baker Academic has now entered the blogosphere (HT: The Jesus Blog). Besides the initial announcement, the blog is kicking off with an interview with Craig Keener about his Miracles (2011). ...

Courtesy of Logos Bible Software, Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections is available for free this month: http://twitter.com/Logos/status/286528925717393408

Jim Davila notes a report of a new German bill that explicitly permits the continued practice of infant male circumcision on religious grounds. The legality of the practice in Germany had been thrown into question by a related decision by the Cologne court earlier this year.

Apparently, the Pope now has his own Twitter account from which he sent the following earlier this morning: https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/278808536404852736 For a great deal more than 140 characters on the Pope’s tweet, see here.

Christian Askeland highlights four PhD studentships available at the University of Aberdeen set to engage the topic of “Authority and Texts: Concepts and Use,” considering questions like: What constitutes authority and provides authenticity to texts and what is the role of textual criticism? How should authoritative texts (including religious, legal, and other texts), be used and interpreted, and how is this issue determined? Is investigation of the contextual meaning of texts at their time of composition necessary to understanding and respecting their authority, or do different criteria exist which influence readings of texts? ...

Dan Wallace digests the SBL meeting discussion of the recently announced Romans fragment in the Green collection.

Portrait of Aristoteles. Pentelic marble, copy… Ah, so much the better: Bekker’s Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of the complete works of Aristotle at Archive.org: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, volume 4, volume 5 ...

Using Owen’s translation, LibriVox recordings have also been made available for Categories, Interpretation, Prior Analytics, and Posterior Analytics.

Earlier today, the program director, Robert Woods, announced that the Christian Institute for the Study of Liberal Arts would begin offering a SACS-accredited, fully distance-based PhD program: This PhD is literally one-of-a-kind in that it is fully accredited (SACS), offered fully distance with the dissertation being defended via conference call with a designated Research Fellow, and the student’s full committee having guided the research. This PhD is uniquely interdisciplinary in structure and practice. A number of the highly qualified faculty are generalists and encourage the kind of readings, research, and writing that reflects an interdisciplinary drive. ...

From the latest Zondervan academic update: If you can’t make it to ETS, however, there is now a next-best option. We are sponsoring live webcasts of all plenary speakers, including E. Calvin Beisner, Russell Moore, Richard Bauckham, and Douglas Moo. Visit www.LiveStream.com/ZondervanAcademic to RSVP and get reminders. ...

On the web: David Pao’s Colossians and Philemon, latest volume in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, is now available at CBD (HT: Matthew Miller). ACU Press works toward releasing all its texts in various ebook formats. Lawrence Schiffman reproduces his recent Discovery Times Square interview.

On the web: Jim Davila and Hershel Shanks, among others, pay tribute to the fallen titan, Frank Moore Cross. Michael Bird joins Joel Watts in reflecting on Justin Martyr, Xenophon, and the Gospels. The Cornell University Library has a collection of Eleusinian inscription images available (HT: Charles Jones).

On the web: Charles Jones notes the open-access availability of some of the Journal of Roman Studies. Brian LePort completes a two-part reflective digest of Amy-Jill Levine’s recent San Antonio lectures on Jewish-Christian relations ( part 1, part 2).

The University of Pennsylvania has made available online a series of PDFs containing the New English Translation of the Septuagint (Oxford, 2009). In keeping with the NETS’s printed text, the beginning of each file also contains a good introduction to the translation that it provides (HT: Charles Jones). ...

University of Oxford (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The Oxford University Classics Faculty’s PINAX “is a digital library comprised of collections of displayed papyrus images and texts at Oxford.” Texts include papyri from Antinoopolis, Herculaneum, and Oxyrhynchus, as well as magical texts (HT: Charles Jones). ...

Further thanks to Jonathan Kiel (via Brian Davidson) for passing along Miles Van Pelt’s Göttingen Septuagint sigla chart PDF.

On the web: Tommy Wasserman notes a new iOS app for New Testament manuscripts. E. K. McFall has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism: “Are Dionysos and Oedipus Name Variatnios for Satan and Antichrist?” Dan Wallace recounts an experience of reading a manuscript that “doesn’t exist.” Alin Suciu highlights Lorenzo Perrone’s lecture on recently-discovered texts of Origen’s homilies on the Psalms. For a selection of previous background posts, see here.

Tommy Keene notes the revival of an automatic link builder for Firefox and the Westminster Bookstore’s blog partner program. Tommy’s earlier Firefox search bar add-on for the Westminster Bookstore is also a very helpful tool. ...

Emmanuel Tov has made available the full text of his 2009 monograph Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert in two PDF files in the “Publications” section of his website. Excepting certain “minute changes,” these files are substantially identical to the printed versions. ...

On the web: Tokens makes available the final part of their interview with Walter Brueggemann. Theological Studies has back issues from 5 years ago and beyond freely available online (HT: Charles Jones). Michael Halcomb reflects on some of Albert Schweitzer’s comments on Christian scholars. Tommy Keene highlights BibleArc. Archive.org has Gordon Fee’s PhD thesis available online (HT: Larry Hurtado). Bavarian authorities are commissioning annotated editions of Mein Kampf in hopes of further defusing the work’s value for extremists’ use as it comes into the public domain. Joel Willitts reflects on some of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s comments on “self forgiveness.”

ABC News (HT: Michael Bird) and the AFP (HT: Jim Davila) are reporting that the regional court in Cologne, Germany, has rendered a verdict that makes involuntary circumcision on religious grounds illegal, although the practice remains permissible if done for medical reasons. The decision follows on the treatment of a four-year-old Muslim boy for post-operative bleeding and the prosecution of the doctor who had performed the procedure. ...