Newswise — Before making their way to Vatican City, more than 100 priceless items from a private collection — among them rare Bibles, Hebrew scrolls and medieval manuscripts — will be shown Thursday, April 7, through Saturday, April 9, at Baylor University’s Armstrong Browning Library in a free exhibit.The exhibit is part of the university’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible. Despite niche versions that range from the Teen Bible for young people to the Green Bible for the eco-conscious, no version occupies a position in the heart of Christianity — and in politics, culture and literature — like that of the King James, experts say.
The exhibit will be installed on April 6, with photo opportunities for the media. Available this week to speak about the version’s sometimes-controversial history and ongoing impact and about other items in the exhibit will be: • Dr. Scott Carroll, director of the Green Collection and a research professor in manuscript studies and biblical tradition at Baylor. • Dr. David Lyle Jeffrey, Distinguished Professor of Literature and the Humanities in Baylor’s Honors College, as well as a Distinguished Senior Fellow and Director of Manuscript Research in Scripture and Tradition at the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion.• Dr. Philip Jenkins, one of the world's leading scholars on global Christianity and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion• Dr. Thomas S. Kidd, associate professor of history at Baylor and a Senior Fellow at Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion.
Among the rare items at Baylor’s exhibition will be a Dead Sea Scroll containing fragments of the book of Genesis, an illustrated Gutenberg Bible, a text handwritten by King Henry VIII about the sacraments and the “Wicked Bible” — in which the printer omitted the “not” in “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
The items are on loan from the Oklahoma-based Green Collection of the Green family, which owns the Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. retail chain. The collection is one of the world’s largest private collections of rare biblical manuscripts and artists, with tens of thousands of items.
The items at Baylor will be among more than 300 that will be in a traveling exhibition called Passages, which premieres in Oklahoma City May 16. The items shown at Baylor will be shown in Vatican City in October.
The exhibit will be displayed in the Hankamer Treasure Room of Armstrong Browning Library, 710 Speight Ave. on Baylor’s campus in Waco. Exhibit hours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 7, and Friday, April 8; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 9.
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