The Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center in Mobile will host one of the largest exhibits of the Dead Sea Scrolls ever to come to the United States.
Considered one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century, the exhibit includes 12 scrolls from a collection of more than 100,000 fragments excavated from the caves surrounding Qumran, near the Dead Sea.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) selected the Exploreum to host the traveling exhibit from Jan. 20 till April 24, 2005.
Shannon Lipscomb, public relations director for the Gulf Exploreum, said, “Seven of the 12 scrolls are biblical scrolls, making the Mobile exhibition the largest collection of biblical scrolls to ever travel to the United States at one time.
“Five of the 12 scrolls have never been released from Israel before. (Deuteronomy is one of them.) For many [visitors], this will be their pilgrimage to the Holy Land.”
The Bible scrolls are the oldest surviving texts of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah and Jeremiah.
One of 29 Deuteronomy fragments found at Qumran is the only one to include all Ten Commandments.
The 2,000-year-old documents were discovered in 1947 by a shepherd boy.
The pieces for display in Mobile range in size from one-inch fragments to the largest fragment measuring more than three feet long.
The centerpiece will be the scroll fragments, but the exhibition will interpret the full story of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In addition to the scroll fragments, the exhibition uses images, maps and charts, a scale model of the Qumran site and audio-visual techniques to educate visitors.
The Mobile exhibit will also show the life and beliefs of the Qumran community thought to have written the scrolls.
Some of the exhibit’s artifacts are being supplied by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS). Steven Ortiz is the assistant professor of archaeology and director of the center for archaeological research at NOBTS.
“The scrolls provide tangible evidence for the historicity of the Bible,” said Ortiz, a member of Calvary Baptist Church, New Orleans. “The Christian faith is based on historical events … God acting in a particular time, at a particular place, throughout a particular people.”
Seeing Jesus’ world
“The Dead Sea Scrolls and the archaeology of Qumran give us a glimpse of how the world of Jesus looked during the first century A.D,” Ortiz said.
The Public Museum of Grand Rapids, Mich., was the site of the 2003 showing of the scrolls.
Ellen Herron, project coordinator for the exhibit, said 237,000 people viewed the exhibit in three and a half months.
“It was an amazing experience that brought people of all faiths in the community together,” she said.
Ortiz encouraged Southern Baptists to take advantage of the chance to view the scrolls exhibit in Mobile.
“Southern Baptists are considered people of the Book. We place primacy on God’s Word. We now have the opportunity to see the oldest Bible in the world in our own back yard,” Ortiz said.
He said the exhibit’s arrival in the United States coincided well with this year’s national Southern Baptist Convention meeting.
“I think it is providential that the messengers to the recent Southern Baptist Convention declared 2005 as the year of the Bible and now Baptists are going to have the opportunity to see the oldest surviving texts of the Bible,” Ortiz said.
Some churches are already making plans to experience the exhibit as a group, according to the Exploreum’s Lipscomb.
Charles Strong, associate pastor of education and administration at First Baptist Church, Bay Minette, said, “I cannot wait to see how our Bible originated.
“We are taking 50 senior adults in February and 50 of our youth in March. The impact of viewing the scrolls will last a lifetime.”
Along with the exhibit, the Exploreum is offering a lecture series about the scrolls from 10 of the world’s leading Dead Sea Scroll scholars.
Ortiz will be speaking March 29, 2005, on “The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
For ticket information call 1-877-DSS-SHOW or 251-208-6808 or visit www.scrollsmobile.com.
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