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Exhibition opens eyes to pages of Bible history

The St. Petersburg exhibit outlines the bloody political history that accompanied the Scriptures.

By MARY JANE PARK
Published January 14, 2006

[Times photo: Bill Serne]

Alan Wolkenhauer, a pastor from Dunedin, examines a reproduction of the Gutenberg press on opening day of the exhibit "Ink & Blood: Sacred Treasures of the Bible" in St. Petersburg on Friday.

	[Times photos: Cherie Diez]
	This manuscript on papyrus about Moses and the burning bush dates to fourth century Egypt.
	This first edition of the King James Bible dates to 1611 London. Both manuscript and King James Bible are on exhibit at Florida International Museum.

ST. PETERSBURG - Larry Brewer, a missionary with Campsite Ministries in Hudson, was impressed by the exhibition on the Bible that opened Friday at Florida International Museum.

"When you find out that the first original book was the Bible - that's awesome," he said after a guided tour. Brewer and his wife, Treva, were among a group of clerics invited to see the show, "Ink & Blood: Sacred Treasures of the Bible," on its opening day.

"I'm not sure that people today would sacrifice" to the extent that their ancestors did, said Sherri Bond, attending with her husband, Ellis. He is pastor of First Baptist Church in New Port Richey.

William Tyndale, who published the first Bible in English, was strangled and burned at the stake. John Wyclif, who arranged the first English translation of the Bible from Latin, so enraged Rome that 44 years after he died, Pope Martin V had Wyclif's bones dug up and burned.

"Ink & Blood" includes numerous artifacts, among them ancient clay tablets, Hebrew manuscripts on papyrus and fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls. It also traces the long and bloody political history that often accompanied the Scriptures.

Rusty Maisel, associate curator of the exhibit, led Friday's tour and built a replica of the Gutenberg press that is a focal point of the exhibition, which was curated by Dr. William H. Noah.

The museum opened in new headquarters in October with a show that focused on the Beatles. Museum executive director Kathy Oathout did not have attendance figures for that show on Friday, nor did she wish to predict how many visitors would attend the new one.

"This is a landmark exhibit," she said in a written statement. It's "a rare opportunity to see and experience the story of how the modern English Bible evolved from ancient Hebrew text and learn how so many fought and died for the Bible."

"Ink and Blood: Sacred Treasures of the Bible" is at the Florida International Museum, 244 Second Ave. N, St. Petersburg, through May 13. Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $16 adults, $14 seniors and military, $9 students and free for children 6 and younger. Group and school rates are available, and audio tours can be rented. Information: 727 341-7901; www.floridamuseum.org

[Last modified January 14, 2006, 01:38:14]