ATLANTA – The exhibition “Passages” is leading the way with its ancient text materials, antiquities and scrolls with the third-straight weekend run in Atlanta.
“Passages: Experience the Bible Like Never Before” is described by organizers as a sleeper at first, but audiences to the tune of more than 63,000 in Oklahoma City woke up and caught the knowledge train earlier this year. Its run ended there recently and made it a successful family event; organizers expect it to be a hit with youth and adults in Atlanta beginning in January.
The organizers of the event, the Hobby Lobby family of the craft retail store operations said they are not in it for the money, but for the education and exposure of biblical and classical papyri and other manuscripts to varied audiences – the general public and scholars alike.
“As a private company, we don’t reveal gross sales numbers. While sales results are important, they are not the most important component of this project. The Green family has a strong desire to make this non-sectarian exhibition, which showcases the history, scholarship and impact of the Bible on virtually every facet of society, accessible to as many people as possible,” said “Passages” producer Cary Summers. The exhibition ran from May thru October in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Trivia question: Which book is one of the world’s most read and has sold the most copies? Oklahoma City has some prized copies and now Atlanta gets a chance to behold them.
A rare opportunity to see uncommon artifacts of a private biblical and ancient text collection such as scrolls, Torahs, biblical and classical papyri from a long lost period that is being brought back to life through the patronage of the Christian family, the Greens, best known as the owners of Hobby Lobby. Based in Oklahoma City, Steve Green, 47, the president of the privately owned craft retail stores went on a buying antiquities crash course more than two years ago; a historical mission to preserve and help educate the world in more ways than one.
But this time, the evangelical businessman did not use a do-it-yourself craft kit; he obtained the support of scholars and a venture capitalist and formed the Green Team, the eponymous label and last name of the exhibition’s benefactors. The Green Team focuses on buying, building, excavating and researching Roman Catholic, Protestant and Jewish works from the Old and New Testament eras for the collection; hence, a downsized version in Atlanta, titled the “Passages” exhibition.
“As noted above, the early attendance was similar to our start in Oklahoma City. Yet, comparing the exhibition in Oklahoma City to the one in Atlanta is like looking at apples and oranges. Our contract for space in the Perimeter Expo Center was not finalized until November 10. Because we were building out more than 23,000 square feet of exhibition space from the ground up to accommodate the expanded number of items being displayed at “Passages” in Atlanta, we were unsure how long the construction phase would take,” Summers said.
“Therefore the decision was made to do a “soft” opening in November, with a larger “grand” opening in January to coincide with the kick-off of our 16-week lecture series, led by world-renowned biblical scholars. Most of our marketing and advertising efforts will begin mid-December. Plus, we believe the Jewish and Christian communities in Atlanta will be very interested in ‘Passages’ and we did not want to interfere or compete with their Hanukkah and Christmas events,” Summers added.
With the lofty goal of establishing a national Bible museum, (there are some already established in this country), the Green family is amassing quite a collection despite the economy and spending millions of dollars on the future museum’s holdings to the astonishment of some experts.
And with a blessed pledge of money from the company’s profits, Green is moving forward with amassing the more than 40,000 piece collection which is estimated to be worth about $30 million according to rare and ancient specialists; there are 130 different Bibles in the collection which is presented in part as an interactive, high tech, and well researched exhibition with aid from Oxford University scholars.
“Based on our audience in Oklahoma City, where a lot of families came to visit and gave us feedback, we have a lot of kid-friendly, interactive, contextual activities that children and parents, alike, enjoy doing throughout the exhibit. Besides with their families, we believe children will come to enjoy ‘Passages’ with church and home school groups, as well as scout troops. Because of ‘Passages’ historical, scholarly and non-sectarian approach to the Bible, we believe this exhibition could also be a good fit for field trips for public school students,” said Summers.
“Passages” organizers reported previous attendance information including adults, 41.6%; seniors, 23.1%; groups (adults and children), 15.5%; and other, 19.9%. There were 63,340 attendees at the Oklahoma City showing of “Passages.” Approximately 10.9% of Oklahoma City residents and 1.6% of the state of Oklahoma’s population of about 3.8 million came out to view this ancient text and materials exhibition.
“With 450 biblical texts and artifacts on display and some 43,000 artifacts in The Green Collection as a whole, this is the world’s newest and largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts. In comparison, the Creation Museum has only a handful of biblical artifacts and the Museum of Biblical Art, while having a room of Bible artifacts with rotating displays, is largely focused on biblical art. ‘Passages’ (is) 23,000 square feet of rare texts and artifacts of great historical and biblical significance and the addition of animatronics and hands-on activities tells the dramatic story of how the Bible came to be,” Summers said.
“The Green Collection constitutes an invaluable resource for biblical studies and the history of the written word. The Green Scholars Initiative is a unique endeavor to bring museum-level research objects to the researchers who are most qualified to investigate them and to use them in teaching and the training of new researchers of the ancient and medieval worlds,” said Dr. Dirk Obbink, the University Lecturer in Papyrology, University of Oxford, and fellow and tutor of Christ Church College.
The Bible, the most read book of all generations is a centerpiece because its significance has withstood the test of time. The exhibition’s organizers have no theological or evangelical plans to promote the collection.
Using the latest technology in partnership with Oxford University scholars was the key to opening the door of an opportunity to view the parchment and other ancient texts and materials that previously held writings that were worn and barely visible. The digital post-modern age is helping to bring scribed words, certain speeches and prophetic verses back to life, even materials in African mummies can be unearthed and the masks dissolved.
The director of the Green Collection is Dr. Scott Carroll, Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts Scholar with ties to Baylor University. He is best known as an innovator because he developed recent innovations in multispectral imaging to analyze ancient manuscripts and uncover hidden texts. As an excavator, his hobbies include dissolving mummy masks to excavate ancient texts from them, including unknown works from Aristotle and Homer’s Iliad.
“The Green family has been deeply committed to showing the influence of the Bible on Western culture. We have shared those values over many years in our work on the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. The Green’s excellent collection of papyri, artifacts, and manuscripts on the transmission of the Bible is a great gift to all of us,” said Dr. Thomas C. Oden, General Editor, The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and Director, Centre for Early African Christianity.
The exhibition “Passages” lives up to its name in Atlanta even in this post-modern technological age if the tour is led by a top biblical and ancient text researcher. As Dr. Steve Pattengale, the director of the Green Scholars Initiative walked with a deliberate but lively gait during a recent preview of the collection, the biblical researcher lit up the darkened but petitioned rooms with his synopsized ancient text lessons. During the tour, he gave a short but well-informed history lesson and the word “passages” was defined by his actions; he utilized the process of moving forward. Pattengale has ties to Baylor University and is the Assistant Provost for Public Engagement at Indiana Wesleyan University.
“Look at this piece, showing the Black Madonna.” Pattengale explained that the piece had the most visitors waiting in line to preview it in Oklahoma City who wondered at its artistry and timeless message of love. Then, he pointed and said, “Look at this rare papyrus, showing a part of the Psalms.” Without a moment to spare, he pointed from exhibition piece to piece; a visitor had an opportunity to be transformed back into time in order to live in the present. About 450 pieces of the Green collection will be on display in Atlanta.
“We have Jewish scholars that travel from all around the world to see the scrolls,” Pattengale explained. The Torahs make up more than 1,000 pieces of the collection.
“The exhibition seems to pick up steam, the longer it is in a city,” explained Pattengale. Once homeless during his youth, the top researcher rebounded from his humble beginnings. Pattengale and Carroll have worked on numerous research projects together involving students and hands-on activities utilizing the Internet in cooperation with other scholars. Pattengale is the author of several publications including Biblical Evidence: Logical Approaches to Objectivity. The exhibition “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.
Highlights of the Green Collection include: one the largest collections of cuneiform tablets in the Western Hemisphere; rare illumination manuscripts and unknown biblical texts and commentaries; an undocumented copy of Wycliffe’s New Testament in (Middle) English; and early tracts and Bibles of Martin Luther, including a little-known letter writer the night before Luther’s excommunication.
Changing the world by digging deep through excavation and recovery projects seems to be the aim of the exhibition organizers. The prized collection is made up of many gems. The diamonds of the collection include Green’s favorite, a 1782 Aitken Bible, some of the early editions of the King James Version (the 400th year anniversary was celebrated this year) and the New Testament Gospel of Jesus’ era written in Palestinian Aramaic.
Previously, the exhibition had a private showing at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, DC, a public viewing in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma Museum of Art which ended in October, now it is on tour in Atlanta until May 2012 and then will be traveling to Rome and premier at St. Peter’s Square.
What a journey in such a short time for a rare collection.
The exhibition in Atlanta is but a stone’s throw from Perimeter Mall and located near I-285 and Ga. 400, one of Atlanta’s busiest traffic areas. With hotels and corporate buildings lining the skyline, “Passages” is a treasure trove in a high-traffic area and can also be reached via travel on MARTA, Atlanta’s public transportation system with the exhibition near the Dunwoody station. (The exhibition is located below clothing store, Marshall’s).
The exhibition is family and campus friendly. There are IPods for the kids and an accompanying Louie the Lion pamphlet with Bible puzzles as they wander through the exhibition and travel back and forth in time. About 10 students from area universities were hired to help with setting up the exhibition, including students from area schools: Point University and Clark Atlanta University.
There were also other professors and students highlighted as part of the research for the Green collection: Dr. Harvey Yunis at Rice University on Demosthenes on the Crown; Dr. Jennifer Larson at Kent State on an Egyptian dowry papyrus; Dr. Jennifer Hevelone-Harper at Gordon College, (MA) has a large group of students working on the Climaci Rescriptus, and has 13 students taking Syriac from her in preparation; numerous groups of students at Trinity Western University (BC) will work with Drs. Rob Hiebert, Peter Flint, and others on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagintal pieces, and Melek jar handles; and Dr. Thomas Oden, is the coordinator of a major project with African universities. In addition, there is a wave of students and professors from Wheaton (IL), Azusa Pacific, Biola, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Union, Southwest Baptist and Oklahoma City College, Summers explained.
What’s next? Finding national museum space to house and host parts of the collection is a major goal of organizers. Plowing and excavating for new discoveries even museum space is nothing but an earthly and mundane short term goal for the exhibition organizers.
Della Spearman is a Master’s of Divinity student living in Atlanta.