Wednesday 30 January 2008

Online Books From the Society of Biblical Literature

Society of Biblical Literature's International Cooperation Initiative (ICI) has put in place a system to provide free electronic access (in PDF files) to selected SBL publications to scholars and students in under-resourced countries who would not otherwise have access to this scholarship. Persons who are identified through SBL's technology as being from a country with a GDP per capita substantially lower than the average GDP per capita of the USA and the European Union will be able to have access to these resources.

The good news is that Malaysia is classified as one of those countries that benefits from SBL's online resources. The IP address will be tracked, so if you access the internet outside of Malaysia, you will not be able to have access to these files, unless you access it from a country that is classified to benefit from the ICI initiative.

Occasionally, it's "nice" to know we are still a "poor" nation!

So check out and enjoy the following books that are available for free to readers in Malaysia. All you need to do is to click here and follow the links of the books listed to download the PDF files.


Horsley, Richard A., ed. Oral Performance, Popular Tradition, and Hidden Transcript in Q. Semeia Studies 60. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006. (240 pages, 1.1 MB)

De Troyer, Kristin and Armin Lange, eds., Reading the Present in the Qumran Library: The Perception of the Contemporary by Means of Spiritual Interpretation. Symposium 30. Society of Biblical Literature, 2005. (244 pages, 1.5 MB)

Van Voorst, Robert E., Building Your New Testament Greek Vocabulary, Third Edition. Resources for Biblical Study 43. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001. (131 pages, 1.7 MB)

Draper, Jonathan A., Orality, Literacy, and Colonialism in Antiquity. Semeia Studies 47. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004. (248 pages, 1.4 MB)

Kennedy, George A., Invention and Method: Two Rhetorical Treatises from the Hermogenic Corpus. Writings from the Greco-Roman World 15. Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature, 2005. (291 pages, 1.5 MB)

Nissinen, Martti, Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East. Writings from the Ancient World 12. Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature, 2003. (296 pages, 12.5 MB)

Albertz, Rainer, Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. Studies in Biblical Literature 3. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003. (484 pages, 4.3 MB)

Landes, George M., Building Your Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary: Learning Words by Frequency and Cognate. Resources for Biblical Study 41. Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature, 2001. (232 pages, 679 KB)

Barr, David L., ed., Reading the Book of Revelation: A Resource for Students. Resources for Biblical Study 44. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003. (212 pages, 1.2 MB)

Draper, Jonathan A., ed., Orality and Colonialism in Southern Africa. Semeia Studies 46. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004. (278 pages, 1.8 MB)

Georgi, Dieter, The City in the Valley: Biblical Interpretation and Urban Theology. Studies in Biblical Literature 7. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005. (398 pages, 2.4 MB)

Lindenberger,, James M., Ancient Aramaic and Hebrew Letters, Second Edition. Writings from the Ancient World 14. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003. (208 pages, 1.7 MB)

Moreland, Milton C., Between Text and Artifact: Integrating Archaeology in Biblical Studies Teaching. Archaeology and Biblical Studies 8. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003. (254 pages, 1.8 MB)

Mykytiuk, Lawrence J., Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic. Academia Biblica 12. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004. (347 pages, 9.6 MB)

Cook, Stephen L. and Corrine L. Patton, eds., Ezekiel’s Hierarchical World: Wrestling with a Tiered Reality. Symposium 31. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004. (304 pages, 1.5 MB)

Reeves, John C., Trajectories in Near Eastern Apocalyptic: A Postrabbinic Jewish Apocalypse Reader. Resources for Biblical Study 45. Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature, 2005. (278 pages, 1.4 MB)

Singer, Itamar, Hittite Prayers. Writings from the Ancient World. Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature, 2002. (160 pages, 562 KB)

Jones, F. Stanley, ed., Which Mary?: The Marys of Early Christian Tradition. Symposium 19. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002.

12 comments:

SATheologies said...

At last... thank God that they have come to their sense!

I hope they will release Finkelstein edited Historical Search for Ancient Israel.

Kar Yong said...

Hi Sze Zeng,

I am very sure Singapore is not part of the list of "poor" nation, so don't think you are able to access the links there!

Malaysia Boleh....

SATheologies said...

HAHA... i'm going back to Penang this weekend! Will take the opportunity to make full use of God's gifts ;)

Anonymous said...

Dear Kar Yong, As a former missionary to Manila for almost a decade, I am wholly in sympathy with providing access to selected SBL books to budding scholars in the nations of the two-thirds world, so I applaud the Online Books program of SBL. I hope very much that this access will continue to be available to scholars in the two-thirds world. I just thought you might like to be aware that this morning, I happened to access your web site and was able to access the full text my entire SBL book from here inside the U.S. Apparently, despite your good intentions, the technical safeguards have not worked. I suggest that you simply provide a link to right place on the SBL site, rather than providing links to the books directly on your own web site.
Best regards, Lawrence J. Mykytiuk, Purdue University Libraries, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A.

Kar Yong said...

Dear Lawrence,

Thank you for alerting me on this. I am not aware that you are able to download the books directly from the States, as I thought that since the IP address is tracked, you would not be able to do so.

As such, I have removed all the direct links to the books listed. Instead, I have provided a link to SBL online books webpage - so hopefully this will work now and the books will be available only to those from the Two-Thirds world. Do let me know if this does not work.

Anonymous said...

Many thanks, Kar Yong, for your thoughtfulness and quick action. As far as I can tell, it works fine now. This seems to me to be a very valuable blog for theological students, and I am grateful for what you are doing for them.

Lawrence Mykytiuk

Anonymous said...

Wow! I just wish I can read English and understand it a bit faster!

Alex Tang said...

hi Kar Yong,

Thanks. looks like I am going to burn up another modem again.

BTW, I am from Malaysia, one of the poor two third world countries.

Kar Yong said...

Hi Perng Shyang,

Sure you can!

Kar Yong said...

Hi Alex,

You are from Malaysia? I thought you only watch Singapore TV channels.

pearlie said...

I can't believe I missed this post! Thankfully Reb re-posted it :)

Kar Yong said...

Hi Pearlie,

Better late than never :-)