Happy Birthday! Χρονια Πολλα! Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag!
September 13, 2002. It seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it? CSNTM’s birthday leads me to reflect on what we set out to do 17 years ago. I founded the Center with a few goals in mind:
- Capturing high-resolution, color images of every Greek New Testament manuscript in the world;
- Making sure that these manuscripts could be studied online;
- Developing computer-based tools to increase the efficiency and accuracy of studies on the text of the New Testament.
After personally visiting Greece more than 30 times—I stopped counting after 30—and scores of trips to other countries around the world, we’ve come a long way.
- CSNTM has digitized more Greek New Testament manuscripts than any other institute in the world. Our digitizers have preserved nearly 700 manuscripts and captured over 300,000 pictures—one page at a time.
- Among that number are 75 discoveries previously unknown to scholars, adding to the “embarrassment of riches” that is the plethora of New Testament manuscripts around the world.
- Our website hosts all the manuscript images we’ve captured and hundreds more that were digitized or microfilmed by others. Right now, there are 1,766 manuscript entries at csntm.org!
- The robust search features on our website make research easier than at any time before. And we are working behind the scenes to develop the advanced tools of tomorrow.
The last 17 years have seen tremendous changes in the way we interact with and examine the ancient copies of the Bible. They are digital. They are accessible. And they are being studied anew.
We can’t predict exactly what remarkable things will take place in the next 17 years. But I can tell you that CSNTM will be a part of it and that the images we have already captured will continue to bear fruit.
Will you make a gift today to help us continue our work this year? Right now all gifts count toward our $100,000 giving challenge. So far, you’ve given more than $68,000! That’s much more than half of the goal in 43 days! We can finish this challenge in the next few weeks with your help!
Another way you can help us with this challenge and ensure that our 18th year starts off strong is by initiating a monthly donation. Our monthly donors—the Circle of Friends—are the faithful people who sustain the Center and support everything we do. Scheduled monthly contributions helps you budget your giving, and they help us budget our projects throughout the year.
Thanks for partnering with CSNTM to preserve ancient New Testament manuscripts for the modern world.
CSNTM’s staff: Kelsey Hart, Leigh Ann Thompson, Andrew Patton, Robert Marcello,
Jacob Peterson, Stephen Clardy, Daniel B. Wallace, Stratton Ladewig
Three cheers to another year!
Dan Wallace
Executive Director
Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts