Second NEH Grant Awarded to JPS for The Lost Bible The Jewish Publication Society (JPS) has announced that it has been awarded a $90,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to help fund publication of The Lost Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Relating to Scripture, a ground-breaking anthology of writings from the period of the Second Temple (6th century bce-1st century bce). A prior NEH grant in the amount of $100,000 had been awarded to the nonprofit publisher in 2006 for this ambitious project.
Edited by world-renowned scholars Louis Feldman, James Kugel and Lawrence Schiffman, The Lost Bible is an enterprising endeavor to restore Second Temple literature to its original Jewish character and context, illuminating the history of both Judaism and Christianity. Once dismissed as marginal to Judaism, many of these texts are now believed to have formed the core of ancient Jewish religious culture. Carol Hupping, JPS COO and Publishing Director, notes: JPS is uniquely positioned to coordinate a project of this complexity. Contributions by 75 international scholars will bring a Jewish perspective to a significant body of Second Temple literature, and make it accessible to a wide range of readers. The 2000-page volume includes accurate English translation and a first for Second Temple texts Jewish commentary. Some of the documents in The Lost Bible, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, were literally lost and then found, adds Hupping. Others were largely ignored or rejected by Jewish scholars. Never before has such a vast and diverse collection of texts from this period been gathered and explored from a specifically Jewish point of view. The two NEH grants have contributed significantly in helping to fund The Lost Bible, but we still have long way to go. We hope to attract donors who are as enthused as we are about this landmark project. JPS is the oldest nonprofit, multi-denominational publisher of Jewish works written in English. For more information on The Lost Bible and other JPS projects, call 1-800-234-3151, ext. 50609. ### Anita Bihovsky Publicity Manager The Jewish Publication Society 2100 Arch Street, 2nd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 832-0601 (800) 234-3151, x 50601 [email protected] Visitour website at www.jewishpub.org Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
