A senior lecturer at Oxford University in the UK is accused of illegally selling historical bible scripts to a controversial US company. It is the American Dirk Obbink, one of the world's most famous papyrologists, as the British newspaper "The Guardian" reports.
Obbink is said to have handed over the fragments to the handicraft chain Hobby Lobby. The chain belongs to a prominent evangelical family in the US and has already attracted attention for its aggressive purchases of historical writings. The evangelical family, on the other hand, is well-known for largely funding a $ 400 million bible museum in Washington DC alone.
The allegations against Obbink were raised by the Egypt Exploration Society, a British foundation for the financing of excavations in Egypt. The Lecturer is involved in a Papyrus project at the University of Oxford, sponsored by the Foundation. His colleagues in the project are investigating the case. The foundation confirmed in a statement that they are investigating Obbink together with the university.
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Serious allegations: Has the papyrologist Dirk Obbink illegally sold Bible fragments?The Egypt Exploration Society's statement further states that the Bible Museum has informed the Foundation that it has eleven artifacts that Obbink is said to have sold to Hobby Lobby in 2010 in two batches. The Foundation now wants to examine their entire holdings to see if further writings are missing.
Obbink himself did not comment on the allegations at the request of the Guardian. Already last year, he had rejected, according to the US news site "Daily Beast" parts of the allegations. He had never sold a fragment of the first chapter of Mark's Gospel to Hobby Lobby.
Papyrologist has "concerns not dissipated"
Obbink continues to work at the University of Oxford. However, the Egypt Exploration Society has relieved him of his senior responsibilities in the papyrus project. The statement of reasons stated that Obbink had fulfilled his editorial duties "unsatisfactorily" and had "not dispelled concerns about his involvement in the sale of historical texts".
Hobby Lobby was fined $ 3 million in another case in 2017 for illegally importing ancient artifacts. The objects from Iraq had been misclassified and sent to the US company via the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
