Museum of the Bible - Part VII - The Impact of the Bible in America

After lunch we headed down to the second floor to go through The Impact of the Bible exhibit.

This floor was a bit different from the rest of the museum.  It still contained a large number of artifacts and technological connections to engage the guests.  However, the nature of the artifacts and exhibits were different.  Instead of being hundreds or thousands of years old many of the artifacts were contemporaneous with many of the people who could visit the Museum (once you get past the early American history portion that is.

The area began with America and then moved to the world.  As I walked up to the doors I took the photo above.

Then I noticed that the letters of the word BIBLE were visible on the glass, so I took a second picture that captured the entire word.

Below is a short video from Museum of the Bible exploring the American section.

 Here was the start of the gallery.

 The first exhibits talked about the Mayflower Compact and the arrival of early European settlers.

 I especially enjoy old maps.  This one points out that Rhode Island was quite different, thanks to the impact of Roger Williams.  Arguing from a biblical perspective he made a case for tolerance of other belief systems in the general populace, quite a difference from the established traditions of the day.  Even the Puritans who are often described as "fleeing oppression" were very quick to oppress those that believed differently.  Yet in contrast to many Roger Williams didn't believe all belief systems were equal--he was clearly a Christian--he simply believed that all had a right to exist.

What a title, The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody.  I also find it amusing how titles used to cover at least half of the title page of a book.

 The Middle Colonies were somewhat diverse as Maryland was originally Catholic, Pennsylvania was controlled by Quakers, and New Amsterdam (Dutch until conquered by the Duke of York) had Jewish settlements.

 As noted here the Southern colonies were fairly homogeneous on the religious front, all supporting Anglican congregations and not being too tolerant of others.

A video explained the history and significance of George Whitfield and the Great Awakening.  I think I managed to photograph the only moment of the film where nothing was going on.  The video consisted mainly of quotes and descriptions of events.  The images where outlines projected upon this background.  It made for a simple but powerful presentation.

Here is another video that Museum of the Bible recently posted about Whitfield.

The three video monitors visible here contained segments of actors reading historical dialogue from personages who were influential in early America.  It was a neat way to bring the words to life and to be interactive also (the videos didn't start playing until you'd stepped into the black circle in front of the screen).

Also on display was a copy of Thomas Jefferson's edit of the Gospel (done to remove all miracles and other supernatural events).

At this point you rounded the corner and the exhibit transitioned to the Bible's impact on world culture.  We'll pick up at that point tomorrow.

~Matt