Posted on January 26, 2016
Museum of the Bible Comes to CCU Library
Colorado Christian University has partnered with the Museum of the Bible to display ancient Bibles in the University's library. The installation features several early Bibles, including a Vulgate (Latin) Bible that dates to 1230, a Martin Luther German Old Testament Bible from 1524, and a Torah scroll from the 19th century.
We're thrilled to exhibit these Bibles at CCU, says Gayle Gunderson, library director at the school. To participate in CCU's Year of the Bible, the library created a Bible collection, including reprints of the original 1611 King James Bible and a wide array of modern Bibles in various languages and Bible study aids on display. These additions make for an impressive walk-through of Bible history.
The Museum of the Bible, which is currently under construction and set to open in Washington, D.C., in 2017, is spearheaded by the president of Hobby Lobby, Steve Green. His relationship with Colorado Christian University helped make the Bible display possible.
The exhibit also has an original Geneva Bible, which was an English translation during Queen Mary's persecution of Protestants, as many English Christians fled to Geneva, Switzerland. The Geneva Bible on display dates to 1603 before the authorized King James Version. It was the first Bible to use numbered chapters and verses, and it influenced readers ranging from William Shakespeare to the pilgrims. It was one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower.
Each Bible carries with it a history and is a reflection of its time and the audience it was intended to meet, explains Gunderson. We thought it was the perfect time for a Bible display, both with the opening of the Museum of the Bible and CCU's focus with 2015-16 being the Year of the Bible.
Throughout the 2015-16 school year, students at the University have been encouraged to develop a deeper knowledge of the Bible. Special speakers have been brought into campus to talk about topics ranging from the archaeology of the Bible, to the formation of the canon, to specific stories and lives within the Bible.
It's a chance for our school to continue to focus on what makes us distinctive, and to show our high regard for Scripture, Gunderson says.
The display at Colorado Christian University will continue through March 22 and is open all hours that the library is open. For more information on the Museum of the Bible, please go to museumofthebible.org.