Museum of the Bible

Permanent Museum and collections - Museum of the Bible (motb) is a global, innovative, educational institution whose purpose is to invite all people to engage with the transformative power of the Bible. Through interactive exhibits and cutting-edge technology, we bring guests an immersive, personal experience with the impact, narrative, and history of the Bible. Ranked one of the top museums by foder's travel, Museum of the Bible has welcomed over 2 million guests. According to post-visit surveys, 80 percent of guests would strongly recommend the Museum to an acquaintance. the Museum reaches beyond its walls through digital content including a podcast, digital magazine, virtual tours and events, online exhibits, virtual field trips for students and video series. This digital content has global impact reaching people in nearly every country in the world.

Traveling exhibits - reaching over 500,000 people to date, our exhibits have traveled across the country and around the world. We have brought unique and beneficial exhibits on different aspects of the Bible to dozens of u.s. cities and 5 countries including israel, cuba, argentina, germany, and vatican city, with more planned in the coming year. Each of these exhibits provided a scholarly and immersive presentation on the Bible's history, narrative and impact from a variety of vantage points. All of these exhibits included public viewing of biblical artifacts from various collections.

Research and education - Museum of the Bible sponsors research through its scholars initiative, whose mission is to facilitate research (primarily on artifacts in the Museum collection) and to help prepare the next generation of scholars. To these ends it provides grants to scholars to pursue research and provide students with opportunities to develop as scholars through scholar/mentor relationships. In the 2021-2022 academic year, scholars initiative collaborated with multiple professional researchers and graduate fellows on a variety of research projects.torah scrolls projectthe torah scrolls project, largely conducted through in-house curatorial work, is devoted to the study of the torah scrolls collection curated by the Museum. the prject has three major goals: the first is the production of a comprehensive online database of the entire torah scroll collection. the second is the creation of a new body of scholarly literature in medieval and modern torah scroll research, an area that has been largely neglected. the third is the restoration of such scrolls as have no long-term research value to a condition where they would be fit for ritual use, and the distribution of these scrolls to jewish communities in need of torah scrolls. the project has received a grant for provenance research.imaging laboratoryto aid in the conservation, research, and accesibility of the Museum's collections, we are constructing an imaging laboratory after an initial grant from the m. j. murdock charitable trust. This laboratory will be built to a multi-spectral standard, so the most accurate data can be gathered from the items in the Museum's collection. These images will be hosted publically on a website, and will enable both scholars and the general public to better access the items in the Museum's collections. the renovations on the relevant rooms have begun, and the first pieces of equipment have been purchased. We expect the first phase to be operational by the end of the 2022 year.greek paul projectthe greek paul project engages students in the textual examination of the pauline epistles, introducing them to the greek minuscule script and its transcription through the muenster virtual manuscript room (vmr). the resultant transcriptions will support new critical editions of the new testament, including but not limited to the pauline epistles editio critica maior, a new byzantine edition of the new testament and future editions of the nestle-aland novum testamentum graece. the project has two primary teams, one based in north america and one in thessaloniki, greece. the project has transcribed, proofread, and published nearly 300 manuscripts of 1 timothy and presented the results and methods of their work at multiple academic conferences, including the annual society of biblical literature meeting and the 11th birmingham colloquium on the textual criticism of the new testament. the project supports faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and undergraduate students in the study of the greek new testament. An international conference related to the project is being planned for 2024.speculum humanae salvationis publication projectthe medieval latin poem speculum humanae salvationis (contained in the motb collection digitized manuscript motb ms.000321 and known in english as the mirror of human salvation) was one of the most popular works of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with preachers and laity alike. Although the work survives in hundreds of manuscripts and early print books in every major european language, there is no complete modern edition and translation. This project involves a faculty project director and the talents of over a dozen undergraduates to produce the first modern transcription and english translation of the latin speculum, project thus makes this significant text of christian interpretation newly accessible to readers in the university, pulpit, and pew today. the results of this research were published as an academic volume in 2022.frater petrus codex publication projectthis project, directed by a bayor university scholar, will produce a scholarly edition of gc.ms.000465, a manuscript currently in the green collection. the manuscript contains the only complete copy of the collationes de tempore of frater petrus (latin, 14th c). the collations are reflections on the liturgical readings from the medieval lectionary for all the sundays and feast days of an entire ecclesiastical year. the lessons were for private reflection but were also presented as guidelines for preachers, systematically giving moral and theological distinctions on key passages, complemented by citations of biblical proof-texts in support of the given lessons. the study has been broken into two volumes, and the first has been published by brill.charles v prayerbook publication projectthe current project, directed by a baylor university scholar, involves completing a scholarly edition, translation, and introduction of a sixteenth century illuminated prayerbook that was once owned by charles v, before he was elected holy roman emperor. It is the earliest of the four known prayerbooks once owned by charles v. while the text and translation of the prayers were completed in 2014-2015, the present phase of the project involves writing an introduction in two parts: (1) codicology and (2) art historical analysis.codex climaci rescriptus syriac projectthe present project involves students in the study of the famous codex climaci rescriptus (ccr; motb.ms.000149), focusing on two syriac texts by john climacus. Participants interact with codicology, paleography, translation technique and the textual and reception histories of these syriac translations. the primary goal is the production of a critical edition of the relevant syriac texts which critically engages the greek text. the edition will explore the role of the syriac translation as a witness to the aramaic world in which the syriac text had been created and would flourish for centuries. the ccr enjoys a central role, but the project also transcribes and incorporates parallel texts in greek and syriac. As of the conclusion of the initial contract in the summer of 2019, the project has identified all manuscripts to be utilized, structured digital indices, established image management processes, launched a designated online transcription tool, prepared a syriac base text, drafted a greek base text, and created digital transcription guidelines for the syriac language. the project has proposed a second phase in which the tools developed for editing syriac texts developed in the first phase will be used in the study of the syriac text of climacus' works. the proposed outcomes are a digital edition, a conferece and subsequent volume, and then a printed critical edition of the syriac ladder of divine ascent.tyndale house codex climaci rescriptus projectthe aim of the project is to read the underwriting of the codex climaci rescriptus (ccr; motb.ms.000149), whose upper writing was inscribed on parchment leaves taken from older manuscripts which were erased and re-purposed for the new manuscript. the erased leaves (whose text can be read via msi imaging) come from about eleven previous manuscripts, Museum of the Bible 27-3444987 each of which was is now incomplete. These previous manuscripts are either in aramaic or greek and come from the fourth to sixth centuries. Collaborators have completed about 75% of drafts for all aramaic and greek text and suggested several corrections to lexica and grammars for christian palestinian aramaic. the project is nearing completion and will result not only in editions of the under-text, but also in essays documenting the unique features of these texts and this manuscript. Individual texts have now been published in academic journals. These will be gathered into an academic volume when all sections are completed. A significant and unexpected discovery that came from the project was the finding of the lost "star chart" of hipparchus.sinai imaging projectin collaboration with the early manuscript electronic library and ucla, the Museum supports support a project involved in imaging the contents of st. catherine's monastery, sinai. St. catharine's contains the world's oldest continually operating library, begun in the 6th century and remains an operating monastery in the orthodox church. This project is currently involved in imaging the library's arabic and syriac collections. the global pandemic and other issues have caused a delay in finishing the first phase of this project, but funding has now been provided to complete that phase.