In recent days several valuable online resources have been posted on the web that will no doubt be of interest to readers. One is temporary (the month of April only) but the other two are permanent.

Temporary

Some time ago over at my Naked Bible blog I blogged on the importance of scholarly journals for biblical research. I also lamented the fact that digital access to these materials is restricted. But now some good news — The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) is making digital access to their scholarly journals available for free for a limited time. Granted, there are only a few journals, and the access is only for the last four years, but you may still find something you’d like to download. The available journals are:

  • Near Eastern Archaeology
  • Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
  • Journal of Cuneiform Studies

Permanent

The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago has a number of volumes available in PDF. Readers who are familiar with my website devoted to debunking Zecharia Sitchin’s ancient astronaut theory will recall that the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary is on that site. The Institute recently posted a note that the file for the valuable book, Religion and Power: Divine Kingship in the Ancient World and Beyond had been updated. I recommend that book for serious students and researchers, as well as many of the other titles on the Oriental Institute Publications page.

Volume 5 of Egyptological (a new online Egyptology magazine) has just hit the web. The more of the material I read in these volumes, the more appreciative I am that Kate Phizackerley and Andrea Byrnes initiated the endeavor and have maintained the effort. I especially recommend the series (continued in vol. 5) on Egyptian religion. I suspect many readers will also want to read about the online Certificate in Egyptology now being offered by the University of Manchester. It’s a three-year program headed by Dr. Joyce Tyldesley, who is interviewed in this issue.