Category: News

John William Wevers LXX Text Histories… free .pdf downloads

Yes, this is free
Yes, this is free

File under: I can’t believe this is free.

From The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS):

The Göttingen Septuaginta-Unternehmen, home of the Göttingen editions of the Septuagint, has announced two initiatives of interest to those dealing with textual criticism of the Septuagint.

Follow the link above to the Unternehmen’s home page. There’s a lot to check out there, including what I would consider the vacation/retreat of a lifetime. (Time with family tops everything, but this school would come in second.)

Back to the “free” part:

Several of the older volumes that have appeared in the series “Mitteilungen des Septuaginta-Unternehmens” are no longer available in print. To meet the wishes of the scholarly community to maintain access to these publications (among them, Rahlfs’ Verzeichnis), the Septuaginta-Unternehmen has published a free PDF scan of the first four volumes on its website.

These resources are available in the Septuaginta-Unternehmen’s new website, which is available in both German and English.

The link noted above (this one) includes, among other things, free downloads of the valuable and difficult to find Text History of the Greek… books by John William Wevers. You can download:

  • Text History of the Greek Genesis (1974)
  • Text History of the Greek Exodus (1992)
  • Text History of the Greek Leviticus (1986)
  • Text History of the Greek Numbers (1982)
  • Text History of the Greek Deuteronomy (1978)

They are large files, but I’m grateful to be able to have them.

Print book, electronic book: Buy One, Get the Other Free (Almost)

Kindle Matchbook

Amazon’s Kindle Matchbook program launches today. If you buy (or bought in the past) a book new from Amazon, the Kindle version is available at a discount–either $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free.

This would be advantageous, as I see it, in the following situations:

  • You lost a book you once purchased
  • It’s in storage but you want to read it again without going through seven boxes to find it
  • You want to easily keyword search a book on any device
  • You like it so much (or you like the author so much) you want to buy it again

Okay, so the last one is a stretch–I doubt this is raking in royalties for authors, but it’s a cool idea on Amazon’s part. All the available books are here.

Accordance Training in Greater Boston

accordance 10 lamp

Accordance Bible Software is coming to the Greater Boston area for two trainings at the end of October.

Here are the details on the free seminars from their Website:

  • Boston, MA area
    Saturday, October 26, 2013, 10am to 6pm
    Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
    Hamilton Campus
    130 Essex Street, South Hamilton, MA 01982
    Bld/Rm: AC240 (Academic Center-Rm #240)
    ** Special focus on Greek **
    Directions
    Campus Map
  • Boston, MA area
    Sunday, October 27, 2013, 1pm to 9pm
    Brandeis University
    415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453
    Bldg/Room: TBD
    Instructor: Dr. Roy Brown (Developer of Accordance)
    ** Special focus on Hebrew **
    Map & Directions
    Places to Stay
    Places to Eat

The schedule for the Gordon-Conwell training (subject to change) is:

10:00-11:30 Accordance Introduction, Interface, Library
11:30-11:45 Break
11:45-1:15 Search Tab, Basic Greek Searches, Symbols
1:15-2:45 Lunch on your own
2:45-4:15 Using Tools, Graphics, User Notes
4:15-4:30 Break
4:30-6:00 Greek searches and Commands

Accordance recommends the use of this 46-page hard copy Training Seminar Manual (which I have and find helpful: full-color screengrabs, clear explanations, etc.).

More details and registration info are here.

No longer having to decide between print and electronic books?

Kindle Matchbook

Amazon has announced “Kindle Matchbook,” coming in October. If you have bought a book new from Amazon, you can get the Kindle version at a greatly discounted price. They write:

For thousands of qualifying books, your past, present, and future print-edition purchases will soon allow you to buy the Kindle edition for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free.

(Thanks to a Facebook friend for the tip.)

NA28 Greek New Testament text in Accordance

NA28

The NA28 Greek New Testament is now available for purchase in Accordance Bible Software. The text itself is free here. The Accordance version includes the apparatus, marginalia, and other nice enhancements. Here’s a screencast that shows how you can use the NA28 in Accordance:

More about the Nestle-Aland edition is here. Its Accordance product page is here, with an Accordance blog post about it here.

Leviticus! the Video Game

LeviticusSharpen your knife and your priestly reflexes: are you ready for the Ultimate Rule Book? Leviticus! 

Play the role of a busy priest working to keep God happy by sacrificing choice offerings of sheep, goats, and bulls with frantic speed and slicing precision. Combo your actions and the rewards get BIBLICAL! 

Three sacrificial services a day, seven days a week. Can YOU make it to Shabbat? Download Leviticus! and start swiping to find out!

That’s the real description of this real iPhone and iPad app: Leviticus! It sounds like Fruit Ninja meets the Hebrew Bible.

I don’t think Leviticus can be wholly reduced to a rule book (it is also all about covenant), and I don’t think sacrifices are best described as just an attempt to “keep God happy,” but there is a lot of detail in Leviticus that most of us struggle through when (if) we read it.

Here’s a screen shot. Not for the weak of stomach, though neither is Leviticus the book:

Leviticus 2

From Tablet  (via the agade email list):

Titled Leviticus!, the game, as its title suggests, is both irreverent and deeply faithful to the source text—all that business about doves and cows and purity is right there in the book. But whereas Leviticus is too thick with rules to make for a very compelling read, it’s perfect when played.

As irreverent as this game first seemed to me, it may actually help one better understand the book. At least, that’s one of its purposes, according to the creator:

And education is at the heart of [Sarah] Lefton’s efforts. The game, she hopes, will do more than just amuse. “We brought something to very visual life that’s normally left on the page,” she said, “and that a lot of people just never study.” Believing that Jewish literacy and digital literacy make for excellent bedfellows—learning how to code and create applications that, in turn, are designed to enhance Jewish education and engagement—she now has future plans that involve not only the production of more games like Leviticus!, but also workshops teaching students and educators how to create their own Jewish-themed software.

The app is free, and found here. I don’t have an iPhone or iPad, so if anyone reading this downloads and tries it, I’d love to hear more about what you think. And it’s not April 1, so, as far as I know, the app is real.