Oxford professor is accused of selling ancient Bible fragments to an American billionaire

An Oxford professor has been accused of selling ancient Bible fragments to an American billionaire.

At least 11 texts from the university’s archives have turned up at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. The archives are held at Oxford University.

Professor Dirk Obbink has been accused of selling the precious artefacts to Steve Green, who spent $500,000 opening the museum in 2017.

The ancient texts, which date from the 3rd to the 7th Century, are part of the Oxyrhynchus collection – 500,000 fragments of papyrus and parchment discovered in an Egyptian rubbish dump by two British explorers in 1890.

The ancient texts, which date from the 3rd to the 7th Century, are part of the Oxyrhynchus collection – 500,000 fragments of papyrus and parchment discovered in an Egyptian rubbish dump by two British explorers in 1890

The papyri, which were preserved beneath drifted sand, documented everyday life such as shopping lists, but copies of the New Testament were also found.

An apparent contract between Mr Green, the son of the founder of American arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby, and Prof Obbink was released by a researcher at the museum.

The document, which details the sale of several texts, was redacted and the sale price is not known. However, it was published online by an Australian academic yesterday.

A statement from the EES online said the texts were taken ‘without authorisation’ from the collection and it is investigating whether any other items are missing.

A year after the alleged sale, Prof Obbink, who is from Nebraska but based at Christ Church and at the university’s Classics department, is said to have bought a castle in Texas and sold it this year for around £400,000.

The Museum of the Bible is said to have ‘accepted’ the EES’s right to ownership and would immediately return the texts.

The papyri, which were preserved beneath drifted sand, documented everyday life such as shopping lists, but copies of the New Testament were also found. Pictured, excavations at Oxyrhynchus 1, ca. 1903 

Its statement added that the museum claimed 11 of the texts ‘came into its care after being sold to Hobby Lobby Stores by Professor Obbink, most of them in two batches in 2010.’

‘In August 2016 the EES did not re-appoint Professor Obbink as a General Editor of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri primarily because of unsatisfactory discharge of his editorial duties, but also because of concerns, which he did not allay, about his alleged involvement in the marketing of ancient texts, especially the Sappho text.’

Since June, when the EES started an investigation into the missing texts with the museum, he has been banned from accessing the collection.

The society claims Oxford University is investigating ‘the removal from University premises and alleged sale of EES texts.’ A spokeswoman for the museum said: ‘The items referenced were acquired by Hobby Lobby Stores in good faith between 2010 and 2013, but sold by a known expert from Oxford University’.

A spokesman for Oxford University said it had launched an investigation with the ESS ‘to seek to establish the facts’.

Prof Obbink told the Daily Beast in 2018 the claim he sold the fragment of the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark to Hobby Lobby ‘is not true’.

(LEGAL MUST KEEP IN) Prof Obbink did not respond to The Times, The Washington Post and The Daily Telegraph’s requests for comment.