I’ve visited Washington DC a few times in my travels. There’s lots to see and lots of history there. Its taken a few trips and several days just to see and visit the popular sites. Of all the places I’ve visited in Washington DC, there is one place that I wanted to go back to and do a return visit. That place is the Museum of the Bible.

I got to make that return visit recently while traveling home from Florida. My wife and I stopped in Washington and spent the night in town so we could spend a day at the museum.

Background

The Museum of the Bible (MOTB) opened in 2017. It was founded and funded by the Green family, who own the arts and crafts store chain Hobby Lobby. Some take issue with the Museum. There is controversy around the Green family’s acquisition and handling of artifacts. Some disagree with the Green’s religious views. Some also take issue with the presentation of the artifacts, the focus (and exclusions) of Bible narratives, the authenticity of the Bible, and the exclusion of other religion perspectives.

I don’t have an opinion on any of this and my purpose for this post is not to write or comment about any of it. I’m a Christian. I believe the Bible is the inspired work of God and I believe what it says. Others may not believe as I do and I respect those differences. When it comes to the MOTB, I respect what it presents, acknowledge it’s shortcomings, and found it helpful to know more about how the Bible came to be.

I’ve visited the museum twice. Here’s my take (opinion) on it. It’s not about religions, ideology, theology, dogma, beliefs, or denominations. It does present a mostly western hemisphere and Christian view of Bible history. But, it’s not promoting the validity, messaging, or authenticity of the Bible content. I found it to be about the history of the book called the Bible – the source of its contents, how it came to be from its origins to present day translations.

In this post, I’ll share info about what I saw and learned at The Museum of the Bible.

The Setting

It’s interesting that the MOTB is located in Washington DC. DC is filled with huge buildings and monuments of things honored and held in high regard. It was purposely built that way. There are monuments to institutions, monuments to people, and monuments to historical events.

I hold the opinion that Judeo-Christian principles had influence and are woven into aspects of our nations’ history. Some of the basic laws we live by and guide our society were influenced by English Common Law, which in some areas drew upon the laws written in the Old Testament of the Bible. A statue of Moses is displayed, along with 23 other statues of famous historic law figures, in the US Capital House chamber. I think it’s a fitting setting that a museum about one of the most important books in western history be among the institutions, monuments, and people that are honored in our nation’s capital.

Highlights

Like other buildings in Washington, the museum is a massive building. It encompasses six floors. As you approach the building, the front is dominated by two towering metal doors. The front doors are 40-foot brass replicas of the cover of the Book of Genesis in the Gutenberg Bible, the first Bible mass produced and made available to the wider public in the 1400s.

There are six floors to the museum, which includes a Cafe and observatory on the top floor. Each floor has a different theme and content. On the first floor is a multi-media walk through that shows the messaging in the Old Testament (OT) as a continuum story of God and his interactions with people. I found this helpful because sometimes it easy to just look as the Bible as a collection of disparate books versus a story with many chapters.

Also on the first floor is a small recreation of what a village may have looked like during the time of the Roman occupation of Israel. This helps to give a sense of what life may have looked like at the time Jesus was preaching.

There are numerous artifacts on display that include fragments from various scrolls (including the dead sea scrolls), manuscripts, and historic copies of Bibles. There’s also a fly over video of Washington (it’s like a theme park ride) that takes you to (and into) various monuments and buildings showing where there are biblical inscriptions and references.

New Things I Learned

I’m a history buff and I like to learn the origins of things. On this visit, I focused on the origins of how the printed versions of the Bible came to be and evolved. I wanted to learn how the original words from the authors hands made their way to the Bible that I currently read.

The 4th floor of the museum is dedicated to the history of the Bible – showing and describing how the Bible was formed. written, assembled, and translated into the Bible we know today. Here’s a synopsis that highlights that story. It may be too a little too detailed for some but I found it to be interesting history.

The original written content of the Bible started out written in Hebrew and later in Aramaic. It was written on scrolls and read aloud in the temple and synagogues. While Hebrew was spoken in the synagogues, Aramaic became the more popular everyday language along with Greek by the time of Jesus birth.

Old Testament (OT) scrolls were translated into Greek in the 3rd century BC (prior to Jesus birth). The Greek translation of the OT is called The Septuagint. These OT Greek translations were most likely the translations that the Apostles would have read. Much of the New Testament (NT) was written in Greek because that was the popular language in the eastern mediterranean areas. Greek was more widely used and could be understood by more people.

The Bible Canon (the selection of which books would be in the Bible) was started around 200 BC with the establishment of the Tanakh and other books recognized by Rabbinic Judaism. The Jewish Bible canon was completed around 200 AD. The Christian Canon, which includes OT and NT books, was generally set between 300-500 AD.

In 382 AD, Jerome of Stridon (later to be know as St. Jerome) translated the Bible into Latin. Jerome was a convert to Christianity and later became a priest. Jerome used Hebrew and Greek versions to create his translation. His translation of the Bible became known as The Vulgate (meaning Bible in common tongue) and it remained in use by the church for over 1,000 years.

Up until the 15th century, all bibles were handwritten, many were in scrolls and were used by priests and elders in churches. Then in 1454, Gutenberg used his newly created printing press to produce the first mass produced printed version of The Vulgate Bible. Printing of the Bible was one of the earliest uses of Gutenberg’s press. Translating the Bible into common languages and technology made the Bible accessible to more people.

With the Protestant Reformation, the Bible was translated into English and German. The authors of these translations felt the need to make the Bible available to the people in their common language. James Wycliffe created a handwritten manuscript of the Bible in English in 1382. Martin Luther created one of the most noteworthy German translations in 1522. William Tyndale created another English translation in 1526. These translations created conflicts within the Catholic Church. Wycliffe and his followers were persecuted, Luther was excommunicated and declared an outlaw and heretic. Tyndale was charged with heresy, strangled, and burned at the stake.

Later, King James I of England (who’s mother was Mary, Queen of Scots) commissioned a revision of the English bible translations at the time into a unified and authorized translation. In 1611, The King James Bible (KJV) was produced. (It’s estimated that Tyndale’s translation was used as a basis for 70-80% of the KJV translation). The King James version would became the “gold standard” of Bible translations for hundreds of years.

As language evolved more English translations were produced and the Bible was translated into several 100 other languages. In the early to mid 1900’s, many present day translations came to be such as the American Standard Bible (ASB), the New American Bible (NAB), The Good News Translations (GNT), the New International Version (NIV), The New King James Version (NKJV), and the Revised Standard Version (RSV). It also also been translated into over 2,800 languages. All of these translations attempt to make the Bible more available, easier to read, and understand by more people.

As a reader and student of the Bible, I have knowledge of the authors of many of the books within the Bible. What I found enlightening in all this was learning that a few key people like St. Jerome, Gutenberg, Wycliffe, Luther, and Tyndale played major roles in making the Bible available so it could be read by common people.

Summary

We spent about 4 hours at the museum and visited all but one of the floors. The sixth floor has a Cafe which serves food and has an enclosed promenade to view the Washington sky line. Admission to the museum for seniors is $19.99 per person. The virtual fly over cost and additional $10 per person.

We both enjoyed our visit learning more about the history of the Bible. It was worth the return visit.