What's New
Update program for Oxford Biblical Studies Online
A variety of regular updates and site enhancements are planned for Oxford Biblical Studies Online. One of the most exciting aspects of the current update program is that subscribers will be able to access a growing number of new articles from Editor in Chief Michael D. Coogan's forthcoming Encyclopedia of the Bible. In addition to entries from this groundbreaking new work, users will also benefit from an expanding biblical art program, with new images being added in each update.
October 2009
For the inaugural update to Oxford Biblical Studies Online, the site’s editors are thrilled to present the first group of articles from the forthcoming Encyclopedia of the Bible, edited by the site’s Editor in Chief Michael D. Coogan. The entries cover topics such as Eden, Romans, Psalm 151, and the Pastoral Letters. There is also a new Letter from the Editor by Professor Coogan, describing his work on this remarkable new resource and the cutting edge scholarship it will contain.
Along with these exciting additions to the site, the first two in what will be a growing collection of thematic guides in the area of Biblical studies are now available. These guides have been designed to provide a general introduction on popular topics in Biblical studies including historical conflicts, movements, philosophy, people and places, and more. Each thematic guide walks users through a topic by providing background information and links to supporting material, such as entries, maps, and images, which will give users an even deeper understanding of the topic. The first two guides discuss the crucial topics of Biblical geography (Lands of the Bible) and Biblical research (Writing a Research Paper with OBSO). This update also contains a new resource for professors—lesson plans that demonstrate how Oxford Biblical Studies Online may be utilized in the classroom. The “Historical Jesus” course plan by Professor Kenneth Atkinson and “The Problematics of Translation” by Professor Steven Leonard Jacobs are the first lesson plans available, with more to come in future updates.
Help improve Oxford Biblical Studies Online
Oxford University Press is committed to further developing Oxford Biblical Studies Online to best serve the research needs of students and scholars in the field. Your responses to a survey we are conducting, linked below, will help us to understand how you are interacting with the site. This will aid Oxford's product development team in making informed decisions based on your needs.
The survey only takes approximately 10 minutes. Upon completion, to thank you for your time, we will enter your name in a drawing to win one of two Amazon Kindles.
Update alert service
To receive notification and details regarding site updates, you can sign up for Oxford Biblical Studies Online update alerts. Simply type your preferred email address within the body of the message and send. If you cannot open an email link from your browser, send a message to biblicalstudiesonline@oup.com with the subject heading "Update Alerts." If you need to deactivate the alerting service, use the same process, but include the word "deactivate" above your email address in the message body.
Focus On
In addition to the ongoing editorial update program, the Oxford Biblical Studies Online editors commission and publish “Focus On,” a series of publicly-available articles written specifically for OBSO by leading scholars, with bibliographies and links to Related Reading content—Bible texts and reference material—within the site. The inaugural Focus On feature examined the book of Genesis and theologies of creation in the Hebrew Bible. In the new Focus On feature, Mark Zvi Brettler explores the textual origin of what are commonly known as the Ten Commandments, and their artistic representation from Michelangelo’s Moses to monuments in the courthouses of the United States. Click here to read the current Focus On feature.
From the Desk of Editor in Chief Michael D. Coogan
Editor in Chief Michael D. Coogan, one of the most renowned scholars in the field of biblical study, contributes a Letter from the Editor with each update to the site. His first letter introduced the spirit, aims and scope of this unprecedented project, which aims to fulfill the Oxford University Press mission of combining the best in authoritative scholarship with cutting edge online resources devoted to the enlightenment, ease, and comfort of users at a wide range of levels.
