Bible Exhibition

[SeanG]

This morning I went to the ribbon-cutting ceremony of an exhibition (housed at a downtown hotel) called, "The Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America."

I was invited to it because I am a member of the local media. The folks involved with the exhibition (it is a traveling one, staying for a month in this city) wanted some free publicity.

Before I went, I had my suspicions when I looked over the advance pubicity material. It made me think that it was bankrolled by some evangelical group that thinks that the Declaration of Independence should be considered as an appendix to the KJV.

The first thing that I saw was a large reproduction of a portrait of John Wyclif. Following him were framed (print) paintings of Luther, Calvin, and Knox. The publicity lady gave me a book written by (I think) a minister or Bible college prof connected with the exhibit. The book's title is "The Forbidden Book: The Story of the Chain-breakers" and was written by Dr. Craig Lampe.

On the back cover you can read the following: "During the Dark Ages, superstition and ignorance controlled the minds of the masses. A few brave men obeyed God and brought the Scriptures to the world." Then there are quick bios of Wyclif, Luther, and Tyndale.

At the top of the front cover you can read: "Many [read: the Catholic Church ] stopped at nothing [read: inquisitions killing millions of Christians] to conceal the light...A few risked everything [including their souls?] to reveal it." There was also a picture on the front cover of a Bible that is chained shut with a enormous chain and a large padlock.

Anyway, the exhibit was ok. They had some ancient artifacts, including some smaller-than-postage-stamp size fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They had some 16th century editions of some Bibles in English. They also had some pages from some medieval illuminated manuscripts of some psalms. They also had an early edition of the Douai-Rheims Bible. In the note to that they said that it was, in large part, the translation of an edition of the Vulgate authorized by Pope Clementine [that edition is often called the 'Clementine Bible', authorized by Pope Clement VIII in 1592--what utter lack of simple scholarship!!!].

In the section with the early English Bibles, there was a large chart that had a timeline and what languages the Bible was in at various times. They claimed, of course, that the Bible was only in Latin from the mid to late patristic era to the time of Wyclif. Whatever.

Then there was a section about the history of the Bible in America. There were also reproductions of a couple of letters from Jefferson trying to show him to be a Scoville Bible reading fundamentalist. Whatever.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony, Greg Garrison was the host. He is a local conservative radio talk show host, made famous for being the prosecutor in the Mike Tyson rape case. Various conservative state representatives and senators spoke, saying that the exhibit should quell all debate about the authenticity of the Bible, the Christian roots of our nation, and can be an answer to those who want to take God out of the pledge, the schools, etc.

Although I think that Catholics can join them in some of their sentiments, I think that the overall tone and, indeed, misinformation of the exhibit makes it one that I could never recommend to other Catholics or anyone else for that matter.

The media organization for which I work will not be giving any free publicity to the exhibition.

[Xenon-135]

Hey Sean,

Well, it sounds like a reformers ball up there in Indy. I was wondering if that exhibit will ever come down here to Evansville, but then I got an even BETTER idea.

Lets hear where this exhibit is being held at and I will arrange a squad to road trip up there and check out what kind of foolishness is being spread with that three ring pseudo scriptural display.

I wouldn't even mind asking some specific questions particularly directed at dispelling some of the Wycliff-Tyndale-Luther-Calvin hero claims. I feel the apologetic adrenaline starting to surge. Good ol' Henry G. Graham's book about how we got the Bible has primed me for such an excursion. I am hoping to bring this to the attention of the folks in my weekly Cursillo group and spark some interest.

Look to hear from you Sean.

[quasimodo]

maybe you should write it up..but focus on the poor scholarship and bigotry in hte first three paragraphs

[SwissGuard]

Wow Sean....it must have been hard to take some of that garbage! From what you wrote, though...it didn't sound like anything was blatantly anti-Catholic...so I guess that's a good thing. I'm with Quasimodo, though- you should write a scathing review of the thing!

[bengal_fan]

" I'm with Quasimodo, though- you should write a scathing review of the thing! "

"They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another." i understand your frustration when you think some one is wrong or attacking you but it is fairly unbiblical to attack back. to defend is fine but to instigate an attack is not. as mistaken as these people may be (and perhaps you too are mistaken in some of your views as well....luther did have a huge influence in getting the bible produced in the vernacular of the people and the others had enormous impacts on getting individuals reading the scriptures. i know that sola scriptura is wrong and self-interpretation can lead to wrong conclusions, but even the catholic church today encourages catholics to read and study the scriptures. this is directly related to the protestant reformation.) they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to attack them in public will always cause more harm than any good that could come out of it.

[masondoggy]

UHG! I went to that exhibit when it was in Akron and my mom and I just left angry. You're right, it was very biased and it was anti-Catholic. It was sickening. Especially in the movie that they showed us when we first went in. The entire movie was about how the evil CAtholic Church kept the Bible from the public and cruelly executed those who did.


One thing I noticed is that in the entire exhibit that is supposed to tell the entire history of the Bible, not one thing was mentioned about how the New Testament Canon was established! Well, then they would have had to give the Catholics credit they didn't even want to touch! It was like they deliberately skipped over a huge part of history. It went from the Old Testament material, straight to how the Bible was translated into vernacular languages. UH, Hello, your missing something here!

What I think is sad is that they are spreading their Anti-Catholic message all over the country. I saw entire church youth groups attending this thing and I'm sure they're all leaving with a screwed up view of history at the expense of the Catholic Church.

[SeanG]

I think that Bengal Fan has something of a point. Deliberately going to an exhibition like this one to pick a fight isn't good. Anyway, they're charging $15.00 to get in (WAY overpriced, in my opinion--you'd have to pay me to go back) and I think that deliberately starting conversations with the kind of folk who support these events in order to convince them of their errors probably wouldn't be effective.

Now, if in the midst of a simple conversation with one of them there is an opportunity to point out the errors found in it, I think that it is right and good to bring it up. But I think that this is different than starting a conversation just to bring that point up.

In any case, what is always needed is prayer--prayer for these folks that the Holy Spirit might enlighten them to the truth and for ourselves that we might bear this cross as Christ did and to speak the truth in love.