Open Educational Resources for the Ancient Near East

 Open Ed Resources for the ANE

The site offers information on Digital Archaeology, images, primary texts, bibliographies, and other categories.

 

New open-access commentary on Deuteronomy

William Whitt has shared his new commentary on Deuteronomy. I'm checking with him to see if his 2019 commentary on Genesis is also open-access.

More tools for studying the Hebrew Bible (this time from Marc Brettler)

 Tools to Study the Hebrew Bible 

 This site aims to teach students how to use a set of specialized tools for the study of the Hebrew text of the Hebrew Bible (henceforth, the Bible). These are different from the tools used for modern Hebrew because the languages are substantially different, and because the study of ancient texts, written in "dead" or "literary" languages, such as BH (biblical Hebrew), is fundamentally different from the study of modern languages.  The types of tools presented here include:

1. Scholarly Editions of the Hebrew Bible
2. Lexica
3. Grammars
4. Concordances: Electronic and Paper
5. Other Research Tools

I have also included some helpful exercises designed to help students learn how to use the major scholarly tools, as well as some other tools that the beginning and intermediate student of biblical Hebrew may find useful; you can navigate among these by using the links below:

• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
• Additional Scholarly Bible Editions
• Lexica
• Grammars
• Concordances
• Exercises
• Electronic Resources
• Research Tools
• English-Hebrew Glossary
• Hebrew-English Glossary
• Hebrew Chapter and Verse Numbers
• The Name of God
• Parshanut Glossary

Videos for the apparatus and Masoretic notes in BHS

 Here are two videos from David Z. Moster:

1. "How to Use the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: The Scholarly Apparatus"

https://youtu.be/YNT1ouWSYYg

running time: 17:07

Excellent overview of the history of BHS ("Introduction"), the page layout ("Page"), and a few examples of variants of the MT, e.g., Sam Pent, LXX ("Case Studies"-- here, he leans too heavily on the lectio facilior in my opinion).

2. "How to Use the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: The Masorah Notes"
https://youtu.be/62KFxvJi0mA

running time: 20:42

Here again, a well-organized presentation divided, again into three sections: 

• "Textual Instability": scribal errors such as omissions, additions, and metathesis
• "the Masoretes": the Masoretes' efforts to preserve their received text by the addition of a system of pointing for vowels and cantillation
  
• "3 Types of Masoretic Notes in the BHS": the marginal notation systems of the Masorah Ketanah and Gedolah (along with explanations of Masoretic signals where the reading should be adjusted such as the system of Kethib/Qere), and the Masorah Sofit

In this video he also favors the lectio facilior, and speaks of "the" biblical text when there were several text families, e.g., Palestinian, Tiberian (hence the Masoretes preserved the text they received--but that's probably too much detail for an overview).

The two are a superb introduction to what can be baffling when one first opens BHS.

International Voices in Biblical Studies

International Voices in Biblical Studies

This a new, open-access monograph, the contents of which are:

Stories of Minjung Theology: The Theological Journey of Ahn Byung-Mu in His Own Words Ahn Byung-Mu; Translated by In Hanna and Park Wongi , 2019	Download	Paperback	Hardcover
Landscapes of Korean and Korean American Biblical Interpretation Edited by John Ahn, 2019	Download	Paperback	Hardcover
A Filipino Resistance Reading of Joshua 1:1–9 By Lily Fetalsana-Apura, 2019	Download	Paperback	Hardcover
A Samoan Reading of Discipleship in Matthew By Vaitusi Nofoaiga, 2017	Download	Paperback	Hardcover
Reading Ruth in Asia edited by Jione Havea and Peter H. W. Lau, 2015	Download	Paperback	Hardcover
Migration and Diaspora: Exegetical Voices of Women in Northeast Asian Countries Hisako Kinukawa, 2014	Download	Paperback	Hardcover
Zer Rimonim: Studies in Biblical Literature and Jewish Exegesis Michael Avioz, 2013	Download	Paperback	Hardcover
Women at Work in the Deuteronomistic History Mercedes L. García Bachmann, 2013	Download	Paperback	Hardcover
The Old Testament and Christian Spirituality: Theoretical and Practical Essays from a South African Perspective Christo Lombaard, 2012	Download	Paperback
Reading Ezra 9–10 Tu’a-Wise: Rethinking Biblical Interpretation in Oceania Nasili Vaka’uta, 2011	Download	Paperback
Global Hermeneutics? Reflections and Consequences Knut Holter and Louis Jonker, 2010	Download	Paperback