Mandeville, Manchester – A number of prominent theologians are hailing Northern Caribbean University’s (NCU’s) historic move to open a Biblical Manuscript Research Centre, which houses copies of biblical manuscripts dating back to as early as 200 years after Christ, as a defining moment in the history of Old and New Testament Studies not just in Jamaica, but in all of the Caribbean and Latin America.

The centre, the first of its kind in the region, is expected to attract biblical scholars, lecturers, students and lay persons, particularly those interested in studying the original Greek manuscripts from which the New Testament we now have was written.

Scores of local and international theologians flocked to the university’s main auditorium on Wednesday, November 25 for the opening of the Centre which, they say, could fast-track the local translations now taking place and provide increased opportunity for scholars to make better comparisons of the translations currently available.

The centre, which will operate out of the university’s School of Religion and Theology, will house copies of over 300 ancient manuscripts, including more than 100 copies of the Greek New Testament and the now world-famous Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered hidden in caves in 1947. The scrolls, considered the most ancient copy of the book of Isaiah, were a landmark discovery for Christianity, as they provided the greatest evidence yet of the validity of sections of the Old Testament scriptures.

Assistant professor in the School of Religion, Dr Clinton Baldwin, who initiated the project, said without the study of the ancient manuscripts, Christians today would not have a cohesive Bible. “Without the discipline of textual criticism, our Bible would’ve been in confusion today. this discipline has been working behind the scenes, so that our Bible is cohesive. this discipline has been eliminating the errors,” he told the Observer.

Dean of the School, Dr Newton Cleghorne, said the centre will increase the opportunity for local studies in textual criticism, that is, studying the validity of the current texts in the Bible against the manuscripts from which they were written.

“People who are seeking validity and credibility, you can find it, once you have the tools, you can come to text with an open mind and the text can speak to you,” he said, adding that persons would not be able to remove the manuscripts, but could visit the centre and review them.

President of the Bethel Bible College, Dr Roy Notice, said the centre will help Christians to better defend their faith. “The world is calling upon us as a church to look at our public witness,” he said. “People are questioning. they see the church as irrelevant, archaic. so we can give an answer to those who question our faith.”

He hailed the move as a “growing partnership between church and university”, noting it was not often that the church and the academic community could partner.

President of the Jamaica Theological Seminary and talk show host Rev Garnet Roper, said more often than not, persons found interest in studying everything else, except the Bible, which he called the “mother” of all books. Dr David Cooke, of the United Theological College of the West Indies, said the opening of the Biblical Manuscript Research Centre was a signal moment in scriptural studies in the region.

Director of the Centre for New Testament Textual Studies at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr William Warren, who was instrumental in helping NCU obtain the manuscripts, said readers of the Bible should take an interest in textual criticism, as the changes made in different Bible translations will show up in their Bibles in the future.

“Some of the minor changes that are made to clarify and improve the text and bring it closer to the earliest forms, come out of this type of study,” Dr Warren told the Observer. “So their Bibles will show the direct result.”

There are now over 5,700 manuscripts of the

New Testament.