Oxford prof sold stolen ancient Biblical fragments to Hobby Lobby family

[essentialsaltes]

An Oxford professor allegedly stole ancient Bible fragments and sold them to Hobby Lobby.

The suspected thief at the center of the biblical controversy? Professor Dirk Obbink, one of the most celebrated classics professors in the world, a Nebraska native and MacArthur “genius grant” recipient who had long directed — and allegedly looted — Oxford’s Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project, a collection of centuries-old literature recovered from an ancient Egyptian garbage dump in 1896.

On Monday, officials from the Papyri Project released the results of a three-month probe into Obbink, and accused the acclaimed professor of taking and selling at least 11 ancient Bible fragments to the Green family, the Hobby Lobby owners who operate a Bible museum and charitable organization in Washington.

Statement from the group that oversees the papyri:

"The MOTB [Museum of the Bible, founded by the Greens] has informed the EES that 11 of these pieces came into its care after being sold to Hobby Lobby Stores by Professor Obbink, most of them in two batches in 2010."



>>see also: Hobby Lobby Illegally Smuggles Artifacts out of Iraq

 

[Nithavela]

 

[DaisyDay]

Thievery for a good cause, I guess would be their excuse. Good Christians get to have the items for their museum instead bad Arab/Muslims.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Good Christians get to have the items for their museum instead bad Arab/Muslims.

Except that they were stolen from the UK.

They belong in a museum! Of the Bible!

 

[DaisyDay]

Except that they were stolen from the UK.

I thought the items were originally stolen from Iraq.

 

[Go Braves]

I can't stand the tackiness of that store. The tackiness of what they did goes way beyond the tackiness of their junk.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I thought the items were originally stolen from Iraq.

Oh, sorry, that was the previous story (that I did link to as a See Also at the bottom).

This is Hobbby Lobby having entirely new stolen property from Oxford University (at least some of which came from Egypt -- not clear to me if all of the stolen pieces are from the collection of Oxyrhynchus Papyri).

 

[essentialsaltes]

Hobby Lobby Sues Dirk Obbink Over Fraudulent Sale

The 64-year-old MacArthur grant winner was arrested last year for the alleged theft of up to 120 pieces of ancient papyrus from the Sackler Classics Library in Oxford.

The retailer now wants a full refund for the approximately $7,095,100 paid to Obbink for the fragments and other various items, claiming the entire collection is no longer of any value.

“To date, thirty-two (32) items have been identified as having been stolen by Obbink from EES and sold directly to Hobby Lobby. The investigation continues.”

Obbink maintains his innocence.