'Book of Books' Exhibit Emphasized the Jewish Roots of Christianity

JERUSALEM, Israel – Four years ago, long before construction crews had broken ground for the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., the Green family loaned most of the material for a unique year-long exhibit on the Bible in Jerusalem.

At Jerusalem's Bible Lands Museum, they called the exhibit the "Book of Books." The exhibition traced the history of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, showing the Jewish roots of Christianity and tracking the story of God's written word from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Gutenberg Bible and beyond.

"It's the first presentation of this collection of rare and important Bibles and manuscripts and biblical texts, looking at the Old Testament as the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament as the Christian Bible, together in one exhibition here in Jerusalem," Bible Lands Museum Director Amanda Weiss told CBN News at the time.

Cary Summers, then chief executive of the Green family collection and the traveling exhibitions and now president of the MOTB, said the significance they were trying to show was the Jewish roots of Christianity, which, he said "is for all audiences to see."

Weiss said there was no more appropriate city than Jerusalem to host such an exhibit.  

"We've put in added effort to make it an equally balanced and important exhibition for both a Jewish audience and the Christian world," Weiss said.

Museum of the Bible founder Steve Green told CBN News they wanted to be able to tell the story of the Bible before the museum was actually built and that's why they did the traveling exhibits like the one in Jerusalem featured in this video.

"We're excited about being able to be here in Israel where a lot of the roots for the book started," Green said.

"Because of the fact that so much of the history does come from right here in Israel, to be able to show some of the artifacts right here in Jerusalem was a thrill for the team," he added.