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Bringing Ancient Texts to Life: Principia College Receives Historic Gift  

 

What if you could reach out and touch a piece of biblical lore without leaving the College campus? Last month, this question came alive with the presentation of a timeless gift. Thanks to the Endowment for Biblical Research, Boston (EBR), Principia College will be the new home for a replica of the original container that held the Dead Sea Scrolls. 

The presentation was lovingly made by two EBR trustees—Chuck Stocking (C'66) and Bruce Butterfield. Following the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the late 1940s, EBR—the biblical research foundation chartered in 1920 by Mary Beecher Longyear—supported archaeological expeditions and photography of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  

The replica Dead Sea Scrolls container from EBR was accompanied by over twenty small antiquities from three Bible scholars and former EBR trustees, religious studies professor Dr. Barry Huff (US‘98, C’02), Dr. Susan E. Humble, and Virginia Stopfel. These included artifacts dating back as far as Iron Age II (1000–586 BCE) and an oil lamp found at the pool of Bethesda, similar to those found in beloved Bible stories. 

“Seeing this replica of the Dead Sea Scrolls jar will help make tangible for Principia students one of the most significant biblical archaeological discoveries," says Huff. “This is a wonderful teaching tool for learning activities to enrich students’ understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which include the oldest known copies of Hebrew Bible texts and commentary on biblical texts.” 

This gift to Principia College’s Religious Studies Program supports the second outcome of Principia College’s General Education Bible Liberal Arts Distribution Requirement: Analyze biblical texts in their literary and historical contexts.  

Jeanne and George Todd Professor of Religious Studies and Head of Principia’s Humanities division Dr. Gretchen Starr-LeBeau added, “Everyone who visits our library will be able to gain an important perspective on the history of the biblical texts, and how much we’ve learned through scholars deciphering the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments.” Adds Huff, “We are excited for our students, alumni, visitors, and community to have the opportunity to see this replica of a Dead Sea Scrolls jar in the Principia College Library.”