Review of Washington DC's Museum of the Bible

The Museum of the Bible entrance doors

This winter, during a long stay in Washington, DC, I had the chance to visit the new Museum of the Bible, just off the National Mall.  While free timed entry tickets were assigned online, those times were not being observed at the museum.  Instead, people lined up outside in the cold and simply waited, sometimes for over an hour, to be allowed in.  This was very poorly done, as only one of the security entrances was being utilized.

However, after a long, cold wait, we finally were allowed inside, and our explorations began.  There weren't any signs saying, "Historical artifacts, this way!," or, "This way to see the Bible collection," so we decided to start at the top floor and work our way down.  This resulted in us not actually seeing the collection of old Bibles till our second visit, the next day.  (We actually left the first time believing the museum didn't have any Bibles!)

We enjoyed the special exhibits, The Living Dead: Ecclesiastes Through Art, and Christmas Illuminated (an exhibit put on by the Bavarian State Library).  There was also an exhibit from the Vatican Museums and Vatican Library, but compared to the others, it was underwhelming and disappointing, consisting of merely large print copies of works, while the other exhibit displayed actual art.

Pickled lemons and single-texture food, anyone?

The views from the rooftop promenade are beautiful, and the Manna restaurant offers additional seating in an outdoor rooftop garden.  The food at the restaurant left much to be desired, though.  It wasn't that great, and the titles of the entrees tried too hard to be relevant to the museum's theme (I mean, honestly, who wants to eat a "Scholar's Initiative?")  The cafe, Milk + Honey + Coffee + Tea, on a lower floor, offers snacks and coffee, and is more reasonably priced.

On the third floor, we very much enjoyed the walkthru exhibits depicting the stories of the Bible. The Old Testament is a 30 minute experience with smoked lights and short narrated videos telling the story of the Hebrew Scriptures. One part has a burning bush and God's voice is unfortunately a bit Sauron-like. (This exhibit is NOT for sensitive children.) It plays like a walk through haunted house, with moving walls, strange noises and lights,and fog machines. This is probably one the BEST and most enjoyable experiences in the museum. It may sound strange from the description, bu it must not be missed.  We could tell a lot of Jewish scholars had worked on it, since the stories had a lot of great Hebrew flair.  It was amazing, and very well done.

 

The New Testament walkthru wasn't as impressive, probably since the walls didn't move and there wasn't any smoke, but the art in the entrance was very innovative and interesting.  I enjoyed comparing the imitation movie posters to the actual Biblical stories, and was surprised at the level of imagery and meaning included.

The World of Jesus of Nazareth is a really cool replica village, with actors telling stories, "interpreters," and interactive rooms.  It reminded me very strongly of the Holy Land theme park in Orlando, with lots of picture taking spots.  The museum guide actually highlights "Selfie spots" on the map!

There's a ride visitors must pay extra to enjoy, the Washington Revelations Flyboard Ride.  It's $8, plus tax, per rider.  I was the only guest on the ride when I went. Riders stand on a platform, leaning on supports, while the platform moves, simulating the feeling of flying. On the screen, a computer simulated video plays, making one feel like she's flying over the National Mall, looking at spots where Scripture is written or has brought inspiration. Wind blows and water droplets mist the riders' faces.  The flyover is dizzy, and the film is disappointingly reminiscent of a computer generated Sims game, with very few of the shots being actual photographic film. Not worth the 8 dollars, in my opinion.

           

The second day, we finally discovered the floor that contains all the old Bibles, and it was as amazing as I'd hoped.  I only wish we'd been given better directions to find it in the first place, because we left the first day thinking the museum simply didn't have any old Bibles to display.  Many of the artifacts (a lot of pottery shards and parchment fragments) are on loan from other museums or individual collectors.

But the Bible room is amazing. THIS is what it's all about. Throughout, instead of background music, there are people's voices reading snippets of the Bible in different languages. Some parts of the exhibit, on the fourth floor, are like walking into a Renaissance church, with medievally garbed interpreters telling stories from large screens.  There's a large display about the King James Bible, complete with different copies of many of the editions, as well as a page from the Gutenberg Bible, and an edition of Luther's Bible.

I wanted to stay all day in the Bible collection, and I highly recommend this floor to anyone who visits the museum.  Go here FIRST!  If you don't have time to see any other parts of the museum, this is the exhibit you should see.

The second floor, the Impact of the Bible, has a lot of displays that highlighted ways the Bible has been influential through history, from a replica of the printing press, to fashion, to colloquial sayings we use.  This exhibit is large, and one could spend hours in here.

One feature of the Museum of the Bible that most of the other museums in the area don't have is the dedicated children's area. While several of the games aren't working, and there are no activity guides at the door, the play area and the arcade type games are great! The lighting is strange and not conducive to picture taking (and parents love taking pics of their kids playing), but this would make a great spot for storytime or guided activities for kids. During the summer, I imagine they'll resort to timed entry, since it would get over crowded. A permanent docent or two for this space is also a good idea. 

              

The bookstore is about on par with other National Mall museum gift shops.  However, since this is the Museum of the Bible, I expected a lot more Bibles on sale.  There were very few, and even as far as art or things inscribed or printed with actual Scripture, there was very little.  That was disappointing.  If there's one place where those sorts of things would be acceptable, THIS is it!

This is all the Bibles on sale. That's it.

Overall, I enjoyed our visit, but the overwhelming feeling I had was that the museum is very schizophrenic, not unified.  The main theme is Bible, but there's not much else to link each exhibit.  When taken one floor at a time, it's not as overwhelming, but who has time, when on a short visit to DC, to return to the Museum of the Bible four or five times?  It's almost too much for one museum.  The styles of the different exhibits and floors vary widely, and it's obvious different people designed and curated throughout, since the experience changes so dramatically from exhibit to exhibit.  There isn't one style used throughout, and it kind of makes me think if one single font were used, it would have a massive impact on the unity of the place.  As it is, each floor is like a single self-contained museum, with it's own artistic style, font, and feel.

I'd like to see self-guided journeys offered.  For instance, if you're there specifically because you want to see old Bibles, being pointed primarily to that section of the museum makes sense.  If you're interested in being immersed in the stories of the Bible, being directed to the Old Testament and village of Nazareth experiences would be best.  If you're visiting with young children, being informed about the Children's Experience should be paramount, especially if timed entry of that space does eventually get established, like at the Building Museum's popular play area.

I'll definitely visit again, and I hope that, over time, the hiccups in timed entry and museum visitor flow will be smoothed over.  If not, then maybe by then the cafe will offer fine Israeli wines to calm the stress of getting in!

Lenten Project: Day Thirty-five

We used to have lots of kids' clubs for spiritual instruction in Grenada.  Not only did our mom teach all the boys and girls, but we kids, especially me and my sister Mary, were teachers.  We'd walk through a village and invite all the kids we saw on the street playing cricket to come on out to our kids' club under the mango tree up the road every week. Dozens of kids would come regularly, and we eventually started having these in our church, or in the other IFB churches on the island.

We used Kings Kids curriculum in Grenada because it was cheaper than Awana, plus it was KJV-only (even though we weren't--yeah, I never quite understood it either).  We had flannel graph, of course, and lots of stories of missionaries or kids who almost died, but got miraculously saved at the last minute.

Because I had to be a teacher, I was supposed to always have all the spiritual answers. But I didn't.  I could lead the songs (Stop! And let me tell you... and My God is so Big and Who's the King of the Jungle?) with lots of enthusiasm. Tell the stories using all the voices so that the kids were hanging off the edges of their seats, anxious to hear what would happen next.  I could lead kids to the Lord using the Wordless Book faster than Dad could shimmy up a coconut tree.  But in my heart I had so many questions and doubts that I felt like nothing but a faker.

There was little room in our ministry for a daughter who wanted to ask tough questions or be free to reject what she didn't believe.  I knew better than to rock the boat too much, because when I did, the whole island erupted.  And my questions never did get answered. So I learned to just keep on teaching, keep on leading songs, keep on acting out missionary stories during storytelling, and turn off my brain.

In Singapore, I was a Sunday School teacher.  Just a teenager, teaching other kids.  Nowadays I get uncomfortable with the very idea of untrained Sunday School teachers, and I prefer that my kids' church class leaders all have background checks and lots of training.

Lenten Project: Day Eleven

In the late 1990s, the Independent Baptist community in Grenada, West Indies, suffered a terrible split over the KJV Only issue.  And it was partially my fault.

In the States, Pensacola Christian College, my parents' alma mater, and Bob Jones University, where Dad went to seminary, were bitterly butting heads over the KJV issue.  In the islands, we IFB missionaries pretty much all used and loved the KJV, but didn't waste much time calling down hellfire on other versions (that is to say, we didn't have any Bible burning services for NIVs).

Dad, in his role as teacher at the Bible school we had connected to our church, wrote a paper on the issue for a student who started asking difficult questions about translations and inerrancy.  That student copied the paper and passed it around to his friends, who passed it around to their pastors, and all of a sudden, the country was embroiled in a fight.

Only, I didn't know about that student's stupid move at the time.  I only knew that Dad had written a paper, and, when overhearing my parents talking about it, asked for a copy and read it myself.  A lot of it went over my head, but the main points I gleaned were that the KJV had mistakes in translation, and that anyone who claimed that the English translation was re-inspired was an idiot.

I was pretty shocked that the Bible translation I used and memorised had errors in it.  I looked up the verses that appeared contradictory and problematic, and got more and more concerned.  If the KJV had mistakes in it, why were we using it?!

I tried talking to an MK best friend about it, but she didn't seem interested.  So I called my other MK best friend and spilled my guts and read verses and generally freaked out to her.  I made her promise not to tell her dad, because I was worried everybody's ministry would collapse if we didn't have an error-free KJV as our foundation.

As a side note, it's really interesting that Fundamentalist elevate Scripture to almost an idolatry.  It's always placed first in their lists of beliefs, before anything about God or Christ or the Gospel.  So it isn't that far out of the realm of possibility that Fundamentalism would collapse without the Bible, as though God's very existence is tied to a book.  That's the way we viewed the Bible, anyhow.

Well, my friend couldn't give me the reassurance I needed to shore up my shaken faith in the KJV, and instead got scared by my being scared. She went to her dad and asked him the same questions I'd asked her.  He figured out the source and called MY dad to berate him for letting me corrupt his daughter with anti-KJV propaganda.

I was even more scared after that, because I thought I was the cause and reason for the "discord between brethren."  Amazingly, I wasn't punished, but Dad admonished me to not say anything else about the issue.  He didn't bother to reassure me.  Maybe there was no reassurance to be had.

After a special evening meeting at a fellow pastor's church, people were gathered and chatting in the church courtyard when another national pastor came up and started yelling at my dad.  I was standing right beside him as this man ranted and raved and shook his finger under my dad's nose, accusing him of crazy things like dad's supposedly encouraging his students to quit using the KJV, and not preaching from the KJV anymore, etc.  Dad just stood there with a fixed smile on his face and didn't say much.  Meanwhile, my breathing was accelerating and a panic attack was imminent.  I couldn't understand why Dad didn't say something, anything!  He was letting this other pastor say hateful untruths about him, and he wasn't even defending himself, or, at the very least, moving the discussion to a private place.  I heard, "Get thee behind me, Satan," at one point, but little else.

Finally, I couldn't hold back my own fear-induced anger, and shouted at the pastor, "Who told you that?!" when he paused for breath.

I wasn't really looking for an answer, and I remember I said it at a point in the diatribe that didn't really match my question. But that's all I could think at the moment.  Who had told this pastor all these lies about my dad?  I knew it had been my best friend's father, and that he'd gotten his information indirectly from me, and somehow, it had all gotten twisted up and changed in the retelling, because now none of the accusations resembled anything I'd said.  I just knew it was all my fault, and that really, this pastor should have been yelling at me.

The pastor stopped yelling for a moment, and our fellow pastor's wife came and dragged me away.  I suppose it was obvious to her that this sort of fight shouldn't be taking place in front of children.  I was never more thankful for her in my life.  She recognised my fear and flew to the rescue, assuring me that my dad would be okay and that everything was all right.  I so desperately needed to hear those words.

The result of that confrontation was that a clear divide emerged among the island's IFB congregations and pastors.  Those with my dad, and those who remained KJV-Only.  Of course, Dad was still using and clearly preferring the KJV as well, but that didn't matter to these folks.  One had to be KJV-Only to count.

One way to identify KJV-Only churches is to notice if they refer to their Bible as the 1611 version.

After that, our missionary friends had to choose: were they with us or against us.  One fellow missionary's mission board instructed him to to have nothing to do with our family, to cease participating in joint church services and ministries (like my baptism), to go to the other side of the street if he saw my dad, to urge others to shun us.  But he refused, because he knew we'd done nothing wrong.  (To illustrate in how small a world the Fundamentalists live, that same mission board chairman later officiated my first wedding, not remembering the sordid past associated with my last name.)

The furor eventually died down, but when the dust settled, I'd lost my two best friends to the KJV-Only split. Their families were on the opposite side of the line in the sand.  The father of one of those former friends wrote to my parents' alma mater and told them we were wickedly burning KJVs or something, and the Campus Church dropped our support. That really devastated my mom.  She wrote a long tearful letter to the Hortons, but as far as I know they didn't deign to reply.

As a result, another missionary family became a lot closer and dearer to us, since we really had no one else. We kids needed our MK friends, and this family had seven kids!  Thus, my two best friends were now boys, because that's all that was available.  Good thing they were pretty awesome.  To this day I still think of them as brothers.

Michael and Daniel are a lot less weird than they appear.

As for me, me trust in Fundamentalists and their Bible remained shaky, and I'd lost all respect for the national pastors and other missionaries.  I realised that questioning discrepancies in the Bible was as off limits as questioning ridiculous unBiblical rules, and that the safest policy was keeping one's head down in compliance.