File this under "history." The British Museum has scanned and is placing online images of world's oldest Bible. The Codex Sinaiticus is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, written between 330–350 A.D. It was discovered in the 19th century.
Very few people have seen this Bible due to its fragile condition. The British Museum keeps it under lock and key and and in the dark in a sealed container. It was removed from its storage case, carefully scanned and then replaced. The purpose of the scanning is to allow millions of people to view the important work without requiring any handling that would quickly ruin the remaining Bible.
Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. The Bible obviously is not the King James version (started in 1604 and first published in 1611). This Bible is important to Christian scholars for many reasons. For one, it makes no mention of the resurrection.
The online site will contain images of the original Bible, along with modern-day translations in several languages as well as interpretations and supplemental information written by several of today's leading Biblical scholars.
Part of the Codex Sinaiticus will go online on Thursday (July 24), including the Book of Psalms and the Gospel According to Mark. The plan is to have all of the Bible available online within a year.
The online images will be available on July 24 at http://www.codexsinaiticus.org.
