Author Archives: Brent Nongbri
A New Article on Palaeographic Dating of Codices
The latest issue of Journal for the Study of the New Testament contains a group of articles that emerged from an SBL session in 2016 arranged by Roberta Mazza on problems of dating ancient manuscripts. In addition to Roberta’s introductory … Continue reading
Dirk Obbink, Scott Carroll, and a Papyrus of Plato
Past posts on this blog have examined different aspects of Dirk Obbink’s involvement in the trade in ancient manuscripts–as buyer, seller, and consultant to Hobby Lobby. Another key part of the high-end antiquities market is the process of appraisal, assigning … Continue reading
The Radiocarbon Dating of the “New Sappho” Papyrus
In my last post on the various discrepancies in the origin story of the Sappho papyrus published in 2014, I mentioned an article by Dirk Obbink published in The Times Literary Supplement on 5 February 2014. In this article, Professor … Continue reading
Dirk Obbink, Scott Carroll, and Sappho
When I was pulling together material illustrating the long and close association of Dirk Obbink with the Green Collection / Museum of the Bible organizations, and especially the connection between Professor Obbink and Scott Carroll from 2010-2012, it occurred to … Continue reading
One of the “Other” Oxyrhynchus Gospels for Sale and a Pattern in the Green Collection
Like many people, I have a number of lingering questions about the alleged sale of four fragmentary gospel papyri from the Oxyrhynchus collection. I’ve mentioned a few of them already in other posts. I’m going to go a little deeper … Continue reading
Dirk Obbink and the Museum of the Bible: A Brief History
Although it is widely known that Dirk Obbink had an association with the Green Collection (and later the Museum of the Bible) going back at least as far as 2010, the recent news that Professor Obbink was also (legally) selling … Continue reading
Jerry Pattengale on Dirk Obbink and the Mark Fragment
Elijah Hixson draws attention to an article that appeared online today in Christianity Today by Jerry Pattengale, one of the core team who developed the Green Collection and the Museum of the Bible: “The ‘First-Century Mark’ Saga from Inside the … Continue reading
The Egypt Exploration Society Statement on Alleged Sales of Papyri to Hobby Lobby
The Egypt Exploration Society has issued a statement on the alleged sale of Oxyrhynchus papyri: Professor Obbink and sales of papyri to Hobby Lobby. I recommend everyone read the full statement at the link above. I note that the statement … Continue reading
The EES and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri “Card” System
One of the issues emerging from the letter and documents released by Mike Holmes regarding the sale of Oxyrhynchus manuscripts has to do with the “card catalog” system for organizing the unpublished Oxyrhynchus papyri, which was mentioned in the statement … Continue reading
Dirk Obbink and the Oxyrhynchus “Distribution” Papyri
There is an interesting twist with the developing story of the alleged attempt by Dirk Obbink to sell Oxyrhynchus papyri owned by the Egypt Exploration Society. It appears that he had some prior experience selling Oxyrhynchus papyri that he did … Continue reading
