Hong Kong architect and church builder Anthony S.O. Wong presented a genuine, original 1613/1614 King James Bible to Northwest Christian University’s President Joseph Womack, Ed.D. and the university trustees during a special pre-commencement breakfast on Sat., May 7, 2016.
“NCU is a highly-regarded Christian academic institution where the Gospel is tightly woven into a student’s educational experience in the classroom and through mission work, internships, and eventually their careers,” Wong said. “It is an honor to present this original 1613/1614 King James Bible to Northwest Christian University.”
In a letter accompanying the Wong’s gift, Dr. Craig Lampe, Ph.D., curator of the Bible Museum wrote, “The printings of the King James Bibles in the 1600’s and 1700’s are so strikingly different than the “King James Version” Bibles being published in modern times, it is a wonderful recapturing of our Christian heritage to actually own one of the precious ancient copies that were among the first to come off a press.”
“On behalf of the students, faculty, staff and trustees, I am blessed to accept this most generous and heartfelt gift from Anthony Wong to our University’s prestigious rare bible collection,” Womack said. “This original 1613/1614 King James Bible is now part of the growing Sara Bushnell Rare Book and Bible Collection in the archives of our Kellenberger Library that are used for research by Bible scholars from throughout the world as well as by NCU’s undergraduate and graduate students.”
The King James Bible has a unique significance in NCU’s storied history. This year marks the 105th anniversary of a special trip to England made by the University’s first president Eugene Sanderson and the chair of the board of trustees J.A. Bushnell and his wife Sara, to purchase Bibles for students attending Eugene Bible University, now NCU. The Bibles acquired during the trip are the foundation of the Sara Bushnell Rare Book and Bible Collection that is considered by many Bible scholars to be one of the best in the Western United States.