Ok, it isn't really the news, but it is in Publisher Weekly's Religion BookLine.

Hebrew Classic Might Bring Surprises for Christians

It's on Exodus in Targum Onkelos, the first of five volumes to be released covering all of Targum Onkelos. Queue up to get your copy, the article says they're only publishing 3000 of them ...

My good friend (and my boss, but that has nothing to do with this) Bob Pritchett has written a book called Fire Someone Today. It hits the streets in April, published by Nelson Business. Don't worry, the book isn't all about firing people — though that chapter does deal with a lesson that can be tough to learn in any environment.

Business books aren't normally my cup of tea. Bob's book, however, is not a mushed pablum of "you can do it!" positive expectation management crud; and it is not simply a list of maxims with some expanded and vapid thoughts. Instead, Bob writes about experiences he's had and what he's learned in the context of running a small business (Logos Bible Software). This is take-home stuff that can be applied.

While the chapters are geared toward entrepreneurs, there are some that are generally applicable outside of that environment. The chapter that simply recommends that you take people to lunch — frequently — is a good one that can be applied just about anywhere. If you have a colleague whom you respect or want to know more about, invite him to lunch. If you have students, or a pastor, or a parishioner you'd like to become more familiar with, lunch is a great option.

Anyway, check out the preview info on Bob's book on his web site, FireSomeoneToday.com.

And Stephen C. Carlson of Hypotyposeis tells us why.

I ran across two books on the subject that are online that could be of interest to bibliophiles out there.

Bookbinding for Beginners by Florence O. Bean. Originally published 1914.

Bookbinding and The Care of Books: A Handbook for Amateur Bookbinders & Librarians by Douglas Cockerell with Drawings by Noel Rooke. Originally published 1902. Includes a handy glossary!

Filología Neotestamentaria vol 15 (from 2002) is online. One article is The Marc Multilingue Project, from J.K. Elliot, Christian Amphoux and Jean-Claude Haelewyck. Interesting stuff, though the tables are unfortunately unreadable.

There are some other interesting-sounding articles that could be worth checking out, e.g. Ruis-Camps and Read-Heimerdinger on variant readings in Bezae Acts; Caragounis on Parainesis on 'ἈΓΙΑΣΜΌΣ'.

The ESV Bible Blog had notice of the MS copying project today. The focus was on Eli's way-cool stuff, though mention of Suzanne's efforts was made as well. They even mentioned me!

To those interested, participation in the project is open. You don't have to have a blog, and you don't have to blog about your experience. I'm just interested in getting copies to collate from folks relatively familiar with Greek (or the script, or who are experienced in scribal type stuff).

If you're interested in helping, send an email to [text geek] at [gmail] dot com for more details.

Thanks!

Update (2006-02-15): Thanks to the publicity from the ESV Bible Blog, the project has picked up four more copyists! That's awesome. Thanks again for your interest, y'all!

I think that puts it at 10 participants (including myself); I may have to put participation on hold until after collation. So if you're interested it is better to act sooner rather than later ...

Update II (2006-02-16): The project has picked up two more participants. The total is now over 10, which means I'll have a lot of Second Timothy to read and collate here in a few weeks. For that reason, I think I need to cut off participation. I have some further ideas (copies of copies of copies to see how families develop?). Also, please check out Suzanne McCarthy's further post on some of her manuscript copying experiences.

After reading Mark Goodacre's belated notice of Biblical Studies Carnival II, I suddenly realized: "Whoa, I'm hosting BSC:III ... I'd better get some things together!"

So this is the official call for submissions and nominations for the third Biblical Studies Carnival. What is a "Biblical Studies Carnival"? Tyler Williams summed it up well:

The Biblical Studies Carnival is patterned after the History Carnival, the Philosophers’ Carnival, and the Christian Carnival, among others.

A blog "carnival" is a blog post where a host blogger links to and sums up the best blog articles in a given subject area in specific period of time. The host typically rotates among a number of different bloggers ensuring diversity and different perspectives in the subject area. Some carnival hots will group entries following different themes, while others go through the entries in order of submission (the former is preferred, though not required).

What does this mean? It means you get to tell me what carnival-itize. You suggest, I assemble (with short consideration as to relevance, of course). I've already flagged a few posts, but I need your help to pull it off. Please note: Only posts made in the month of February 2006 will be considered.

If you read blogs in the Biblical Studies realm, send email with links to suggested posts (your own blog or someone else's blog) to: biblical_studies_carnival AT hotmail DOT com. Or use the submission form at BlogCarnival.com. Either way, I'll get the submissions and cobble together a post that will pale in comparison to the brilliance and mastery displayed by the ineffable Tyler Williams in the Electric Boogaloo version Biblical Studies Carnival.

If you're a blogger in the Biblical Studies realm, send links to your stuff using the above methods. Please don't be bashful about selecting a few of what you consider to be your best posts of the month and send them my way; this is one cool way to expand your blog readership. People who don't normally read your stuff will click on the link and end up at your site; if they like it they may just decide to stick around. What could be better?

BSC:III will run in early March. I'm shooting for March 1 but may be just a little late.

I've mentioned my little Manuscript Copying Project before.

In the past week, two folks have mailed me handwritten copies of 2 Timothy based on the text I sent them. In short: The stuff is awesome. Big-time thanks to Suzanne McCarthy (details on her very cool stuff here) and Eli Evans. I've posted a pic of Eli's gorgeous MS (smaller version below). Eli has indicated to me he may blog some notes on his experience, so I'll post a link when he does.

(Update: Eli has two posts with more on the way: Post A (an intro); Post B; Post C; Eli discusses the MS he produced in Post B. Eli discusses his setup and even has a pic of a diglot he slammed out in Post C.)

There's still time to help out. If you have a hankerin' to copy some Greek, send me an email (address on sidebar) and I'll send you the details. I'm not planning on starting collation until spring (late March at the earliest).

Me? I'm still playing around, though I did copy about the first half of 2 Timothy on Saturday morning (sample below).

This sample is a little different. I'm using a sharpie ultra-fine tip; I think that'll be the one I use for my final effort. This one went much better than the last one. Yes, I'm playing with nomina sacra type stuff and I'd intended to do that before seeing Eli's MS. I may or may not do that in the final MS; it sure does make things flow easier -- I can see why abbreviating things or combining strokes was something to consider. I've thought through the mechanics of zeta and xi and even though they don't look that good, they were easier to write this time. You can still see that words that are unfamiliar are spread out a bit longer than words that are familiar. No paragraph starts on this page so no cap stuff, though my plan is to save space for that on the MS and go back and do larger letters later, perhaps adding color, perhaps not.