How well do you know your bible?
No matter how well a person knows their bible verses, Alcina Scratch, Barrhead Museum curator, says there is a book at the museum, which has questions on scripture that could challenge the most knowledgeable biblical scholars.
The book is called Watt’s Scripture History published in 1856 and it is one of the books the museum currently has on display as part of its exhibit on bibles.
“It is written in Q and A all about testing people about how well they know their scripture,” she said, giving an example from the section about Jewish government under the Maccabees. “What valiant action did Judas and his brethren do in defense of the law and against their persecutors?”
The answer according to the book’s author, Issac Watts, is that ‘He won many battles against king Antiochus and his generals, and encouraged himself and his soldiers in the name of God, whenever they began to faint.’
Scratch said the book, in all likelihood, would have been used as an early type of entertainment.
“An early version of Trivial Pursuit,” she said, adding the book would have also been used when people professed their faith. “Sometimes people had to pass an oral exam and the minister would pick questions out of the book that would suit their level of knowledge.”
Scratch said one of the reasons why she decided to put on an exhibit of bibles at the museum was because they have a large collection of books and other published materials that the public never gets to see.
“And just because of the area where we live are many of the works religious in theme or purpose, so I thought I’d pull out some of the ones that they have never seen before,” she said.
Among the works on display are a large number of foreign print bibles including Dutch, Lithuanian, Russian, Greek, and German.
One of the bibles that intrigues Scratch the most is a 70 to 80 year-old Welsh bible.
She said like most of the other artifacts the majority of the bibles were gifted to the museum by local area residents.
“That probably means there was at least at one time a Welsh group or population in Barrhead,” Scratch said.
As for the oldest bible on display, it is a Brown’s Bible, which is on loan to the museum, and estimated to be over 200 years old.
“Unfortunately, the first few pages are missing, so we are guessing a little bit, but I would say it is in the neighbourhood of 213 years old,” she said, adding they are dating it by the engravings on the illustrations in the bible.
Scratch said she finds the illustrations and, more specifically the maps, to be especially interesting.
Many of the bibles in the collection include pull out maps of Palestine and the Holy Land that are very detailed and artistic in nature.
“For many people, this would have been their first introduction to fine art as well as literature,” she said, adding many families learned how to read thanks to their family bibles. “Often that was the only book people had available.”
In addition to the collection of bibles, the exhibit includes a number of other religious themed books, from bible study guides, songbooks and a Royal Canadian Air Force’s service guide. Canadian military branches, Scratch said, would use the latter as a framework to conduct any religious service or ceremony that wasn’t a regular church service.
“We also have guides that were used for raising children, for little girls in particular. For example, The Life of the Ever Blessed Virgin, a Catholic Guide to the Parenting of Young Women,” Scratch said. “For some reason there doesn’t seem to have been a lot of parenting guides for young men. I guess young women had a lot of roles to conform to.”
Another one of her favourite books in the exhibit is a 1851 German copy of Dr. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.
Due to the age and condition of some of the publications, the only way the public will get to see them is through the glass display. However, Scratch said the public will have opportunities to read and page through many other publications.
The exhibit will be on display until Aug. 16.
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