About The Gallery

The Gallery had its physical beginning in 2006 in the plans for the Center for Biblical and Theological Studies, where it is now housed. But its conceptual beginnings can be sourced to the development of the Bible Heritage Collection of the Centennial Library beginning in the mid-1990's. The core of that collection is a group of early English printed bibles and individual pages which gives a complete history of the translation of the Bible into English in the 16th and early 17th centuries, beginning with Tyndale and climaxing with the King James Version. In the past, that core collection and other items added to it have been displayed on campus, in churches, at Christian schools, and at church conferences, but now have a home in the Biblical Heritage Gallery. Focused exhibits, using items from this collection, now rotate through the gallery.

Future exhibits in the Gallery could also include traveling exhibits from other collections that give a sense of God's faithfulness to His written Word as it has been produced , preserved, and defended through the ages.

The open floor plan of the Gallery allows for wandering through, brief stops, moments of contemplation, or focused interaction with the items and explanations in each exhibit. The contents of the exhibits are intended to challenge, to provoke, and to encourage.

A unique feature of the Gallery is the daily reading of God's Word. The Bible text can be seen and heard on a large plasma screen from early in the morning to late at night, six days a week. Some students can be seen regularly stopping for a moment to listen to a portion of God's Word. The spoken word gives an important "present" to the heritage of the past.