The Olie and Cynthia Tillery Bible Collection is a special collection housed within the McMeans Family Reading Area. This collection includes codices and Bibles of various versions and languages. Some of the facsimiles included are:
Leningrad Codex – This is a copy of the oldest complete Hebrew Bible still in existence today. The manuscript was written sometime around the year 1008 C.E. It is generally accepted to have been written in Cairo. (1998)
Codex Sinaiticus – A manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, the Codex Sinaiticus contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. The hand-written text is in Greek. (2010)
Jerusalem Crown (Aleppo Codex) — It was the oldest known copy of the complete Hebrew Bible, and was generally acknowledged to be the most important Hebrew manuscript in existence. It was written in the early 10th century in Tiberias. (2012)
Wycliffe New Testament – Oxford scholar, professor, and theologian John Wycliffe (ca. 1320s–1384), known as the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” produced the first English Bible manuscripts beginning in 1382. Wycliffe, along with his associates, completed their translation of the biblical text from the Latin Vulgate around 1384. Wycliffe’s legacy includes the formulation of the reformation principle sola scriptura (Latin for “by scripture alone”).
Tyndale Bible –William Tyndale (1494–1536) while in exile in Germany during the 1520s, produced the first English Bible translated from the Hebrew and Greek texts. Six thousand copies of the New Testament were printed and pirated to England, where he would be martyred for providing greater access to the Bible in English. Tyndale’s translation eventually formed the basis for the King James Bible (1611).
Geneva Bible – The Geneva Bible published in 1560 was translated by a group of English dissenters exiled in Switzerland during the reign of Mary I (1553–1558). This translation would later have a prominent influence on early English colonies in America, especially the Plymouth Colony founded by the Pilgrims in 1620.
