Tennessee

Episodes in U.S. Bible History

Tennessee entered the union on 1 June 1796.[i] The state’s rich collections and printing history provide an opportunity to focus on examples from Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant traditions now kept in museums. These Biblical manuscripts, fragments, and a rare printed volume all relate to the theme of displacement from different continents or around our country.

East of the Mississippi River in Overton Park, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (MBMA) has gathered a sampling of manuscripts and leaves conserving historic translations of the Bible.[ii] Their nineteenth-century Ethiopian Gospel Book is stunning (image above).[iii] Intense color, expressive glances, and figures arranged close to the picture plane capture viewers’ attention. Starlight streaming directly onto Baby Jesus’ face illustrates the Magi’s wayfinding sign: “the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the Child was” (Matthew 2:9b, MSB).[iv] Although extensive, the wise men’s journey was much shorter than this book’s own movement across an ocean.

One of multiple Russian-language leaves kept in the MBMA print room has a full-page miniature (see below).[v] The architectural backdrop’s unbroken square frame, left of the central double door, seems to depict an icon of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child on gold. Another frame, at center right, displays a half-figure Christ, whose cross nimbus overlaps the top of this pictorial window into another space. Men standing nearby have been identified as eleven apostles. Several of them touch their faces in what could be gestures of surprise or grief. None of the figures standing in the fore- and middle-ground have halos.

The right center frame’s mature rendering of Jesus features a closed book, while the nearest man looks away from an open codex to gaze at Christ. Flanking the Lord’s image, His name is inscribed using an abbreviation for “Jesus Christ.” This phrase appeared in the opening sections of multiple New Testament books.[vi] Evangelist Mark wrote: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1, NKJV). Apostle Peter’s Pentecost sermon encouraged his listeners: “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38, NASB). Biblical references to the Lord’s name help expand the variety of potential interpretations associated with this complex miniature.

A French burial is represented at the opening of traditional mourning prayers with Latin-language Scripture passages, known as the Office of the Dead (photograph above).[vii] MBMA’s fragmentary text is drawn from the Bible’s longest book: “I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. … I walk before the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 116:1 and 9, NRSV).[viii] On the right, an angel uses a gold staff to free the deceased person’s incorporeal manifestation from a demon’s temporary clutches. This soul’s ultimate flight toward heaven contrasts with instances of terrestrial displacement already mentioned in my short survey.

During the Civil War (1861-65), the Union maintained a blockade of Southern harbors, and Bibles were not imported. Nashville printers furnished New Testaments to Confederate soldiers, who were no longer able to consult their families’ household Scriptures. The Tennessee Bible Society (illustrated above) and Bible Board of the Southern Baptist Convention both published editions in 1861.[ix] Notes in rare, extant copies offer clues to places these books travelled with their owners.[x] I encourage you to add other examples from Tennessee Bible history to this discussion. Please post a comment to share your thoughts about this topic.

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[i] Tennessee has a long and impactful track record of producing Scripture books and Biblical resources. For instance, Thomas Nelson Publishers—started in Edinburgh, Scotland (1798)—moved to Nashville during the twentieth century, so their NKJV was produced in Tennessee; https://religionnews.com/1998/01/01/news-sidebar-a-brief-history-of-thomas-nelson-publishers/ and https://www.thomasnelsonbibles.com/about-us/, accessed April 2026.

[ii] This encyclopedic museum is dedicated to offering educational programs that utilize their on-site classrooms, research library, and print study space. Over ten thousand school children visit each year. For more information, read: https://www.brooksmuseum.org/about, accessed April 2026.

[iii] Thankful for the photograph of this public domain work at: https://emuseum.brooksmuseum.org/objects/837/gospel-book, accessed April 2026.

[iv] Note the Star of David form used and compare this with background featured in one of my October 2025 newsletters: https://vernacularbibleexplorer.substack.com/p/early-ethiopian-witnesses, accessed April 2026.

[v] Please note two other digitized leaves with similar accession numbers on their website that probably come from the same book: https://emuseum.brooksmuseum.org/objects/1741/leaf-from-a-book-of-bible-stories and https://emuseum.brooksmuseum.org/objects/2377/leaf-from-a-book-of-bible-stories. Grateful for an image of this public domain object online: https://emuseum.brooksmuseum.org/objects/1742/leaf-from-a-book-of-bible-stories--verso-christ-and-the-apo, accessed April 2026.

[vi] See also Matthew 1:1, I Thessalonians 1:1, James 1:1, I Peter 1:1, Jude 1:1, and Revelation 1:1.

[vii] An October calendar folio appears to come from this or a similar fifteenth-century French Book of Hours at: https://emuseum.brooksmuseum.org/objects/2374/leaf-from-a-book-of-hours-october-calender. Appreciate the image of this public domain work online: https://emuseum.brooksmuseum.org/objects/2373/leaf-from-a-book-of-hours-service-for-the-dead, accessed April 2026.

[viii] The scribe referred to verse nine by its first word on the line where the large initial ‘D’ highlights verse one: “Dilexi, quoniam exaudiet Dominus vocem orationis meæ. … Placebo Domino in regione vivorum” (Psalm 116[114]:1 and 9, Vulgate).

[ix] Note numbers 1752 and 1753 in Margaret Hills, ed., The English Bible in America (New York: American Bible Society and New York Public Library, 1961) p. 258. Many thanks for the public domain scan at: https://archive.org/details/newtestamentofou00tenn/page/n5/mode/2up. For the BBSBC edition, see: https://search.worldcat.org/title/960054573, accessed April 2026.

[x] Note the inscriptions that suggest a copy was used in Virginia: https://collections.museumofthebible.org/artifacts/19358-confederate-new-testament?theme=american-bibles-2, accessed April 2026.