The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin houses a large number of books of interest to Episcopal students, particularly Bibles and early editions of the Book of Common Prayer. On December 6, 2023, students from the Bible classes of Profs. Steve Bishop and Acacia Chan visited the Center to view Bibles and other books curated by Prof. Bishop. Among the highlights were the 1st and 2nd editions of Edward VI’s Book of Common Prayer published in 1549 and 1552 respectively. Among the several important editions of the Bible were the first complete Spanish Bible (La Biblia Reina-Valera 1569) and illuminated Latin (1476) and German (1475) Bibles printed before the invention of moveable type.
The history of Bible printing was also a focus of the exhibit, so Bibles with noteworthy printing errors were also on display. Most notably the “Unrighteous Bible” that contains the error from 1
Corinthians 6:9 “know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God.” A popular attraction usually in this exhibit but unavailable this year is the “Wicked Bible” with the error in
Exodus 20:14 “Thou shalt commit adultery.”
Students also viewed a recent (and very exciting to Biblical scholars) addition to UT’s archive, the Willoughby Papyrus. Prof. Chan spoke about this rare, 3rd or 4th century, manuscript fragment from the Gospel of John.
“Bible faculty have been offering this extracurricular outing for decades,” shares Dr. Bishop, Associate Professor of Old Testament, who organized the visit. “It underscores the classroom experience of considering the history of translations and the production of Bibles or portions thereof over 15 centuries. This is just one of the advantages of being so near a stellar research university.”
