Launch of Atlanta Passages Traveling Exhibition
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NEXT WEEK: WORLD’S LARGEST PRIVATE COLLECTION OF RARE BIBLICAL TEXTS AND ARTIFACTS OPENS TRAVELING EXHIBITION IN ATLANTA
23,000-square-foot, Non-sectarian, Multimedia Exhibition Provides Interactive Experience that Tells the Dramatic Story of the Most-debated, Best-selling Book of All Time
“A sampler of Jewish, Roman Catholic and Protestant treasures. . . ”
USA Today, April 4, 2011
ATLANTA, Nov. 10, 2011─On the heels of its worldwide debut in Oklahoma City and prior to a brief trek to the Vatican for the Lent and Easter season, the traveling exhibition of the world’s newest and largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts is coming to Atlanta. On Saturday,
Nov. 19, Passages will make its Atlanta debut, showcasing 450 items of great historical and biblical significance in a highly contextual, interactive formatto tell the dramatic history of the most-banned, most-debated, best-selling book of all time.
“Our goal is to make the Bible accessible like never before,” said Hobby Lobby President Steve Green.“Passages brings the pages of the Bible to life and allows people of all interests to experience the creation of the book that has altered history, shaped culture, inspired minds and changed lives, including my own.”
The Passages traveling exhibition is part of a 40,000-item collection—assembled at meteoric speed and scoured from the hallowed halls of Cambridge to the remotest parts of inner China—named for the Green family, who founded the national arts and crafts retailer. The collection will ultimately find a permanent home in a yet-to-be-built national Bible museum to enable visitors from around the world to experience it year-round.
Spearheaded by the work of collection director and ancient/medieval manuscriptsexpertDr. Scott Carroll,Passagestakes an interactive, non-sectarian, scholarly approach to the Bible that is wowing both scholars and school children.
“Passages provides casual visitors and scholars alike a one-of-a-kind opportunity to go behind the scenes of the most influential work that humankind has ever labored to capture, preserve, translate and study,” said Carroll, who holds a Ph.D. in ancient studies.
Atlanta Highlights
- 23,000 square feet showcasing 450 rare biblical texts and artifacts including the earliest-known text from the book of Matthew, the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, one of the earliest-surviving, near-complete Bibles that includes the most extensive early biblical texts in Jesus’ household language of Palestinian Aramaic, and one of the earliest-known complete Spanish Inquisition Torah scrolls
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- Hands-on components that enable people of all ages to see, touch, feel and experience the history of the Bible including:
Printing with blocks, setting letters and type
Working a replica of the Gutenberg printing press
Adorning replica pages like a book artist
Participating in a scavenger hunt for clues found throughout the exhibition
Copying script by candlelight, as did monks who transcribed the Bible during the Middle Ages
- A free,multi-week lecture seriesbringing world-renowned Bible scholars to Atlanta to discuss new biblical research findings and insights intothe Bible’s history and impact
- NEW: Rotating exhibits on display throughout the exhibition:
A collection of Jewish artifacts and rare scrolls spanning a millennium, including scrolls that have survived centuries of persecution at the hands of the Nazis, the Spanish Inquisition and radical Islam
Items illustrating longstanding Judeo-Christian traditions in Africa
Papers, tracts and early printed books illustrating the impact of the Bible on American culture and history
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