Rare, priceless Bibles on display at Baylor - kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and Killeen

They're some of the rarest, most priceless bibles in the world, and through Saturday they are on display at Baylor University.

The exhibit is part of The King James Bible and the World It Made, 1611-2011, a conference at Baylor running Thursday through Saturday to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.

The collection on display at Baylor's Armstrong Browning Library is more than 100 pieces of the Green Collection, a group of rare biblical works compiled by the founders of Hobby Lobby stores.

It's a treasure trove.  Literally.

Collection Director Dr. Scott Carroll said, "This exhibition is a literal...tour de force of how we got the bible, and it places the King James in it's context."

Some of the rarest, oldest, and most unique bibles in the world make up the display.

Carroll said, "So you see in one room literally things you'd have to travel around the world to see."

They include a number of different rare versions of the King James Bible, from bibles for royalty, to bibles for the commoner.

Also on display, Carroll said, is, "In Jesus dialect, Aramaic, are the earliest surviving gospels in Jesus' dialect."

The collection includes medieval bibles, and one of the earliest English translations of the Psalms.

Carroll opened the book and said, "This is the earliest translation of Psalm 23 in Middle English. 'And Your Mercy Shall Follow Me All the Days of My Life'."

The display even includes a piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls with verses from Genesis.

While this display will only stay at Baylor through Saturday, it won't be the last of these priceless bibles to make their way on campus.

Baylor has a scholarly agreement with the Green Collection to continue studying these works, and Carroll is now a Baylor professor.

Conference Director Thomas Kidd said, "Students at Baylor are going to have an opportunity to study manuscripts that no one else, no scholars anywhere else in the world, are going to be able to study."

It's a perfect fit for Baylor, already a leader in the world in theological and Biblical studies.

Kidd said, "Baylor is going to be the main place that studies these unstudied manuscripts, and students are going to be involved in studying these priceless manuscripts."

Meaning more amazing opportunities for Baylor students to see these rare works, that make up the roots of Christianity.

The exhibit is open at the Armstrong Browning Library at 7th St. and Speight Ave. on the Baylor University campus Thursday and Friday from 9am - 5pm, and on Saturday from 10am-2pm.

Reporter:Matthew LeBlanc/Photographer:Chris Buford