ACU sponsors Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in Dallas

For immediate release
Sept. 4, 2003

Abilene Christian University is sponsoring an exhibit in Dallas chronicling the history of the Bible, including fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Experts are calling this exhibit the finest collection of Bibles anywhere in America.

ACU is one of three university sponsors for the exhibit, which begins Sept. 4 and runs through most of the fall season at the Biblical Arts Center in Dallas. Other university sponsors are Southern Methodist University and Dallas Theological Seminary.

The initial idea for the exhibit began in Tennessee, organized by Dr. William Noah, a physician who also collects Biblical artifacts. Noah brought the exhibit to Dallas and plans to take it to other major U.S. cities in the future.

"My desire is to educate people about the history of our Bible and to inspire them to read the one they have at home," Noah said.

Highlights of the exhibit include

Dead Sea Scroll fragments
"Elohim" Papyrus (the earliest Hebrew writing on papyrus)
5,000 year-old clay tablets
Exodus fragments in Greek from the 4th century
An excerpt from Colossians written in Coptic Greek from the 3rd Century
Early Latin Bibles from the 13th-15th century
A handwritten Wyclif Bible in English from 1410
A medieval Hebrew Bible scroll
A sample page from the Gutenberg Bible
An early 16th century printing of the Martin Luther Reformation Bible in German
Early 16th century printings of the first Bible printed in English, translated by William Tyndale
A first edition, first printing of the 1560 Geneva Bible, also known as the Pilgrims Bible
The first Bible ever printed in the Spanish language in from 1569.

"I walked away from the exhibit saying, 'This is probably the finest collection of historically significant Bibles on display anywhere in America today,' " said Dr. G.B. Howell, editor-in-chief of Biblical Illustrator.

More information on the exhibit is available at www.deadseaexhibit.com. Tickets to the exhibit are also available on the Web site and are $21 for adults, $13 for children and $20 for students and seniors.

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