BARlines

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Oxford University Press ‘Unethical,’ Charges Qimron

Dead Sea Scroll scholar Elisha Qimron of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has accused Oxford University Press of “unethical” conduct because it failed to consult him before giving BAR permission to reprint the reconstructed text of a fragmentary scroll known as MMT in its November/December issue (“For This You Waited 35 Years,” BAR 20:06).

Qimron has long been involved in litigation in an effort to retain exclusive control of his reconstruction of MMT.

Oxford University Press publishes the official Dead Sea Scroll series, known as Discoveries in the Judean Desert. Volume X of this series, by Qimron and Harvard professor John Strugnell, is the official publication of MMT. This volume is unique, however, in that the copyright is in Qimron’s name, rather than in the name of Oxford University Press. Nevertheless, the volume instructs those seeking permission to reprint material to apply to Oxford University Press.

In compliance with that instruction, BAR requested Oxford’s permission to reprint the 135-line text of MMT, which was granted in writing. Oxford even agreed to waive the fee. Qimron now says that Oxford was “unethical” because it failed to consult him before granting permission. He is “angry” he says, because he would never have granted permission to BAR.

Oxford maintains that it has the exclusive right to grant permission and that Qimron agreed to this.

Qimron previously sued BAR in an Israeli court for reprinting his reconstruction of MMT as it had earlier appeared in a Polish journal. The Polish publication, however, was not authorized by Qimron and the official text had not yet been published. Qimron recovered nearly $50,000 in that suit, although the case is now on appeal in the Israel Supreme Court.

Through his Jerusalem lawyers, Qimron has now threatened BAR with additional legal action, claiming that the permission from Oxford University Press does not exonerate BAR.

Qimron is also involved in litigation over MMT with two American scholars. After he threatened legal action against Professor Ben-Zion Wacholder of Hebrew Union College and Professor Martin Abegg of Grace Theological Seminary if they made any use of his reconstruction of MMT, the American professors asked a federal court in Philadelphia to declare their right to make their own reconstruction of MMT, using Qimron’s work. That case is still pending.

Diggers Needed

Excavators at Tel Harassim are seeking volunteers to join their dig this summer from July 30 to August 25. Tel Harassim, or Nahal Barkai, lies in the northern Shephelah, the low foothills between the Mediterranean coastal plain and the central hill country. Throughout Biblical history, the Shephelah played a strategic military role, buffering Judah, to the east, from attack by the Philistines and others westerners. The Bible describes the Judahite conquest of the region: “The Judahites went down to attack the Canaanites who inhabited the hill country, the Negev, and the Shephelah” (Judges 1:9).

Concentrating on the site’s Middle and Late Bronze strata, excavators have uncovered an open courtyard with an ochre-colored plastered floor, animal bones, several walls, scarabs and cultic vessels—the remains of what may have been a Canaanite temple. Next summer, they will continue to expose the temple and to explore further the Middle Bronze strata.

Those interested in joining the dig at Tel Harassim should contact Shmuel Givon, 113 Bialik Street, Ramat Gan 52523, Israel; telephone: 972-3-6131840, fax: 972-3-6132755. (A detailed chart of other volunteer opportunities on digs in Israel and Jordan appeared in the January/February issue.)

Bible Documentary on Cable

Who Wrote the Bible?, a three-hour television documentary, will be broadcast on the Arts and Entertainment (A&E) network on Sunday, March 19 from 8 to 11 PM Eastern time and again from midnight to 3 AM. (Please check your local listings for other time zones.) BAR and Bible Review editor Hershel Shanks will be a featured guest. Also interviewed are BAR and BR contributors Joseph Blenkinsopp, John Dominic Crossan, Richard Elliot Friedman, John P. Meier, Stephen J. Patterson, James M. Robinson, Lawrence Schiffman, Michael Wise and Walter Zanger.

Oxford University Press ‘Unethical,’ Charges Qimron