Unprecedented Collection of Religious Texts Unveiled

January 31, 2014

The exhibit is one of the most extensive collections of biblical manuscripts and texts to date. From prayers written on silver amulets to meters-long scrolls to leather-bound Bibles, the exhibit traces the development of Christianity back to its Judaic origins.

Liber Chronicarum/Ardon Bar Hama The founder of the collection, Steve Green, is the president of Hobby Lobby, an American craft store chain. Green, who is a devout Baptist, said in a speech that the exhibit is meant to bring the materials closer to the common people and to unite Christians and Jews. “We hope that this exhibit will bring us together under a book that we all love, the book of Scriptures,” Green said.

Esther Scroll/Ardon Bar Hama Many visitors were taken aback at the scope of the material being shown. “The impact on everyone walking into the exhibit, the visual impact, the drama, the power of this show is just riveting,” Amanda Weiss, the director of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem told The Media Line. “I've been living with this for some time and it still impresses me greatly. But people walking through the front door for the first time are simply in awe.”

The display will be in Jerusalem until mid-May, when it will travel to Vatican City in Italy before eventually heading to Washington, D.C., for its permanent exhibit.

1709 Gospel of John/ The Green Collection The display includes many rare pieces, like the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, a manuscript of the Old and New Testaments that dates back to the sixth and eighth centuries of the Common Era. The Codex, which is written in both Christian Palestinian Aramaic and Greek, was listed at [US] $1 million by the Sotheby's auction house prior to its sale to the Green family and is one of the most prized pieces of their collection. The exhibit also has a significant portion of a Gutenberg Bible, some early Bibles from Martin Luther, and two original versions of the King James Bible from 1611, referred to as the “he and she Bibles.”