Mississippi

Episodes in U.S. Bible History

Mississippi entered the union on 10 December 1817. Histories of the Bible typically remain silent about their state, because it is not associated with either producing unique translations or original publications of Scripture.[i] Similar to a few other case studies from my series on regional Biblical sources, this newsletter will highlight extant manuscripts in area collections and institutions focused on distributing the Scriptures.

Ole Miss, their main public university since the 1840s, conserves several medieval manuscript leaves in the Priscian Fragments Collection. One is a glossed copy of John’s Gospel that integrates notes made by multiple commentators (see below).[ii] Large-scale letters and extra room in its central text block distinguished the Biblical passage. Interpretations, written using a significantly smaller script, surround these verses. The practice of juxtaposing various commentaries can be compared to hypertext links for contemporary digital editions.

An excerpt of this folio’s complex comparison among Latin-language texts centers on Jesus’ response to the Apostle Thomas’s doubts: “Venit Jesus januis clausis, et stetit in medio, et dixit: Pax vobis. Deinde dicit Thomæ: Infer digitum tuum huc, et vide manus meas, et affer manum tuam, et mitte in latus meum: et noli esse incredulus, sed fidelis” (John 20:26b-27, Vulgate). The English translation reads: “Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you. Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’” (NRSV).

The Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson keeps a leaf with medieval Church music that has an elaborately decorated initial “C” (illustrated above).[iii] This letter begins a liturgical sequence, “Caelorum candor splenduit …,” traditionally used during the octave of a feast remembering St Francis.[iv] The last four letters of a familiar Biblical praise term, Alleluya [sic] or Hallelujah, are found immediately before the rubric. Although its more specific liturgical context was severed when somebody cut the manuscript apart, this text brings to mind how heaven’s multitude praises God: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns” (Revelation 19:6b, MSB).

Since 1997, the Bible Education and Missionary Service (BEAMS) has given away hardcover copies of King James Version Scriptures to people in over 150 countries.[v] After operating in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, they chose Gulfport for their headquarters. This facility’s Biblical Heritage Exhibit displays facsimiles available to consult, along with historic copies of Scripture. Its web page, including photographs and a video, explains their English-language translation preferences and staunch Protestant viewpoint.[vi]

Gulfport is located between New Orleans and Biloxi, which was founded in 1699 as the first capital of France’s Louisiana colony. Perhaps adding a discussion of French-language Bible history would be meaningful for certain inhabitants of their region. An even more contextually-conscious choice could involve featuring Scripture translations from 1854 through 2005 into the Choctaw language, which has been spoken in this area from prehistoric times (photographs above).[vii] Please share your impressions of this material and post other discussion topics related to Mississippi’s Bible history.

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[i] If you are aware of U.S. Bible histories that have comprehensively studied sources connected to Mississippi, please cite them in the comments. Printing experts appear systematically to have left this region unexplored, but I will mention a few wide-ranging examples because the literature is too vast to post a complete survey here. Mississippi does not feature in John Madison, “English Versions of the New Testament: A Bibliographical List,” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 44, No. 3/4 (1925) pp. 261-88. No references are found in Margaret Hills, ed., The English Bible in America (New York: American Bible Society and New York Public Library, 1961). A useful site surveying American Bibles in honor of the country’s 250^th anniversary also does not include the word Mississippi: https://celebratethebible250.com/. Previous work by manuscript specialists helped me locate one relevant, historic example. Please search Mississippi’s representation in Melissa Conway and Lisa Fagin Davis’s survey, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/682342#, and the latter’s research travel blog at: https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/manuscript-road-trip-graceland-and-ole-miss/, accessed May 2026.

[ii] Their catalogue mentions Bede, Gregory, and Jerome. Oxford, University of Mississippi, Archives and Special Collections, Priscian Fragments Collection (MUM01753), MS no. 6, or Priscian_b1f06, recto, 1100s, Switzerland. Many thanks for the image of this public domain work at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/medieval/6/, accessed May 2026.

[iii] Jackson, Mississippi Museum of Art, ac. no. 1990.007. The folio is not currently localized or dated in their catalogue entry. Grateful for the photograph of this public domain object online: https://mma.emuseum.com/objects/2566/illuminated-sheet-music, accessed May 2026.

[iv] This phrase is translated, “The brightness of the heavens ….” Note corresponding text and music preserved in a Missouri manuscript that has been posted on the Cantus Database: https://cantusdatabase.org/chant/701346, accessed May 2026.

[v] https://beamsbibles.com/the-history-of-beams/, accessed May 2026.

[vi] https://beamsbibles.com/biblical-heritage-exhibit/, accessed May 2026.

[vii] Matthew 1 is shown at right. Choctaw experts could be consulted on the topic; their community’s website is: https://www.choctaw.org/. Multiple Scriptural sources in Choctaw are listed online: https://find.bible/languages/cho/. Many thanks for the public domain scan at: https://dn720006.ca.archive.org/0/items/CHOCNT_DBS_HS/Choctaw-(1854)-New-Testament-(Pin-chitokaka-pi-okchalinchi-Chisvs-Klaist-in-testament-himona).pdf, accessed May 2026.