HELPFUL RESOURCES FROM AROUND THE WEB

R. Brian Rickett R. Brian Rickett

Biblical Latrine: Ancient Parasites Show That Cleanliness May Have Been Next To Sickliness

Article from Science Daily: Fascinating article on research conducted on the Essene community’s latrine! It shows how the extreme purification of the Essenes negatively impacted their health in this unusual and inhospitable environment.

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Biblical Latrine: Ancient Parasites Show That Cleanliness May Have Been Next To Sickliness

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R. Brian Rickett R. Brian Rickett

Fragments of Truth

Interested in ancient manuscripts and/or the early evidence for Christianity? The movie Fragments of Truth premiered in a one night movie event on April 24 exploring the connections between the material evidence for the New Testament and the history it records. Follow the link for the trailer:

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R. Brian Rickett R. Brian Rickett

How to Get an Advanced Bible Degree for Free

Interested in seminary training but don't want to move? Willing to take online courses, but interested in only high quality teaching? If your answer to both of these is yes, and you're OK without the diploma, you can get a complete high quality online education for free (although we can't vouch for each one, several of the profs. featured are personal friends and for whom we have the highest regard). Here's how:

Interested in seminary training but don't want to move? Willing to take online courses, but interested in only high quality teaching? If your answer to both of these is yes, and you're OK without the diploma, you can get a complete high quality online education for free (although we can't vouch for each one, several of the profs. featured are personal friends and for whom we have the highest regard). Here's how:

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R. Brian Rickett R. Brian Rickett

Vatican Library makes 15,000 manuscripts available online for free

Explore a selection of digitized materials from their vast catalogue.

Archbishop Cesare Pasini, Prefect of the Vatican Library, announced on Wednesday the opening of the DigiVatLib, a shortening of digital Vatican Library. The Archbishop explained that over the last five years the Vatican Library has become involved in a vast undertaking to digitize the manuscripts belonging to its catalogue. Now, the fruits of their labors can be enjoyed by anyone with internet access, at no charge.

Once the tedious process of scanning all the individual pages of each manuscript is complete, the works are compiled and uploaded to their dedicated DigiVatLib website ...

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R. Brian Rickett R. Brian Rickett

The first owners of the Leningrad Codex: T-S 10J30.7

In my previous Fragment of the Month on Codex Leningrad (St Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Firkovich MS. Hebrew I, B19a – or Евр. I B 19a), I showed how documentary sources from the Cairo Genizah can help to fill out the picture of its manufacture: illuminating our knowledge of its scribe and of the social and cultural background to this great codex’s production.

In my previous Fragment of the Month on Codex Leningrad (St Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Firkovich MS. Hebrew I, B19a – or Евр. I B 19a), I showed how documentary sources from the Cairo Genizah can help to fill out the picture of its manufacture: illuminating our knowledge of its scribe and of the social and cultural background to this great codex’s production. I also showed that the book itself, notably the colophons, preserves important historical material. Indeed, much information can be derived from the plain colophon (f. 1r), which is, in its own right, a superb example of the art of the Medieval Hebrew biblical colophon, replete with linguistic playfulness, copious biblical allusion and artful obscurity. As with the copying and production of the codex, the scribe Samuel b. Jacob has excelled himself. Thanks to this colophon, we know where, when and by whom Евр. I B 19a was written (with a slight uncertainty as to the exact date of completion), as well as who owned it over several centuries.

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R. Brian Rickett R. Brian Rickett

Free articles from Dead Sea Discoveries

From Brill

To celebrate 25 years of Dead Sea Discoveries, 25 articles — one from every Volume — are made available in free access during 2018. Every two months 5 articles will be freely available. Find out more here

From Brill

To celebrate 25 years of Dead Sea Discoveries, 25 articles — one from every Volume — are made available in free access during 2018. Every two months 5 articles will be freely available. Find out more here

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R. Brian Rickett R. Brian Rickett

Open-Access Ancient Near East Monograph Series

Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).  The focus of this ambitious series is on the ancient Near East, including ancient Israel and its literature, from the early Neolithic to the early Hellenistic eras.

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R. Brian Rickett R. Brian Rickett

The World’s Oldest Torah Scrolls

A recent announcement by the Library of Congress regarding the purchase of a single Torah scroll sheet dating from approximately 1000 C.E. has generated great interest in the topic of old Torah scrolls. Just what are the world’s oldest Torah scrolls and where does the Library of Congress scroll fit in?

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