I have kvetched before about the mercenary academic publishing industry. Most new scholarly texts are routinely priced now around 100 dollars american! Some much more. What normal non-specialist with an interest in some specialized field can manage this state of affairs?
Of course there is your local library. Even if they don’t have these tomes on hand there is an interlibrary loan system. But there are frequently works that someone interested in a subject need to have as a hardcopy. Imagine if every time you wanted to read the New Testament you had to go to your library!
There are however academics themselves who lament the current situation and so make their work easily available online . They want folks to read their stuff. And aside from the prestige they’re not profiting very much from academic publishing. Sooo.. some links to stuff you may or may not find interesting.
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More to come…
NOTE: There are of course several Black Sites where texts are made available for download. I will not condemn them other than point out that the texts are present without the authors permission. All the links I will share were provided by the authors themselves.
Addendum: The links might take a bit to open. These are books. You have permission to download and print for your own use. Fair use does apply. Credit where credit due.
As I said I do not condemn since the academic press is complicit in its own subversion. However I don’t think it would be appropriate to link to such sites from a location owned by a published author who I suspect would frown on being placed in such an awkward position unwillingly.
These sites are easy enough to find. I only speak for myself. Before I provide a link to a published work I am going to verify that it is with the author’s consent.
I have been living and working near Atlanta for the last few months on a project that looks like it might last until the holidays. -Sigh-
But higher forces are obviously at work. Over the weekend I went to a restricted estate sale through the munificence of my minister friend. The estate belonged to another minister who among other things left a big ole library. I was one of the vultures lustily descending.
I found out the library had already been gone over by his family and close friends. Fair enough, so I didn’t expect much. However…in a box sitting on a shelf I saw the characteristic and distinct spines of several Hermeneia series commentaries. These are well regarded and pricey. Imagine my suprise when I discovered George W. E. Nickelsburg’s two volume commentary on the Book of Enoch, and Walther Zimmerli’s commentary on chapters 1 -24 of Ezekiel!!!
The Enoch is the current critical commentary on the book and the Ezekiel is one of the best. I had desired both for a long time but wasn’t willing to pay full price. I got all for about half the price of what a brand new copy of a single volume would cost.
Now the obvious explanation is that these things happen to me because I’m noble and pure of heart. Or more mystically perhaps, such books seek out a good home.
Two comments.
It’s been a pure pleasure to hang out with my friend for long periods not online.
My family, fundamentalists all, and I now live in completely different universes. Age gives perspective (or its illusion). It is so strange to have once thought their views made sense only now to think them perfectly crazy. And politics! OMG. Two incompatible visions of how things out to be. They are safe in my world but I don’t think I would be in theirs.
I found out the library had already been gone over by his family and close friends. Fair enough, so I didn’t expect much. However…in a box sitting on a shelf I saw the characteristic and distinct spines of several Hermeneia series commentaries. These are well regarded and pricey. Imagine my suprise when I discovered George W. E. Nickelsburg’s two volume commentary on the Book of Enoch, and Walther Zimmerli’s commentary on chapters 1 -24 of Ezekiel!!!
The Enoch is the current critical commentary on the book and the Ezekiel is one of the best. I had desired both for a long time but wasn’t willing to pay full price. I got all for about half the price of what a brand new copy of a single volume would cost.
Some great finds!
Your occasional mentions of the Book of Enoch have made me extremely curious, and perhaps it’s time to give it a read.
BJH1960, good luck, the BOE is a vast ocean.
Start here –
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This is Nicklesburg’s Hermaneia translation, reflecting all the latest manuscript finds, but without the commentary critical apparatus of the two volume set I snagged. And the price. Bless the fine folks at Hermaneia for putting out such a low cost translation! The book has a nice introduction to the text.
Also if you want an overall let me recommend Michael Heisers’s books.
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Once again you can find Heiser’s books at reasonable prices.
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David, Charles was an important scholar. His translation of the Book of Enoch, for example, is the one you see all the time online because it is in the public domain. However while his work is not worthless it is somewhat dated in the field. He was writing over a hundred years ago.
If you’re really interested in the subject, try this one. You may have heard of the author.
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“may have heard of the author”
_Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife_
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_Journeys to Heaven and Hell_
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Do you agree with R.H. Charles that the higher the view of God, the more elevated the eschatology?
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
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