Texas
Episodes in U.S. Bible History
Texas was approved to enter the union on 29 December 1845, but their government’s formal transfer happened later: 19 February 1846.[i] Six flags have flown over the territory, creating rich layers of associations. This region’s complex past inspired my article’s focus on meaningful connections that influenced Biblical sources treasured here and disseminated to a constantly widening circle.
Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts has a Latin-language Bible folio (illustrated above).[ii] It preserves an earlier version of St Jerome’s Vulgate than would have been used while their state was under the control of Spain, France, and Mexico. Part of the first column contains this verse: “a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. … [N]o one will be justified by the works of the law” (Galatians 2:16a and c, NRSV).[iii]
Biblical scholars have historically linked many verses from the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament. In the latter part of Galatians 2:16, the Apostle Paul himself made an allusion to King David’s ancient song: “for in thy sight no man living shall be justified” (Psalm 143:2b, DRV).[iv] A contemporary translation vividly rendered his plea in that verse’s first half: “Don’t put your servant on trial” (Psalm 143:2a, NLT). On view in the same building as this Galatians manuscript leaf, museum visitors can sense the Psalmist’s earnest search for communion with God in King David Writing the Psalms by Nicolas Tournier (1590-c. 1636; see above).[v]
Years after the Republic of Texas ceased to exist, its last president, Anson Jones (1798-1858), owned and inscribed a Bible published by Lippincott, Grambo, & Company of Philadelphia in 1851 (image above).[vi] This fact displays the ongoing strength of Pennsylvania’s share in our country’s book market. Jones had been born in Massachusetts, spending time in New York and Philadelphia before he “drifted” to Texas during 1833.[vii] He eventually rose to political power, serving as the republic’s senator and secretary of state before election to their highest office in 1844. Jones, now known as the Architect of Annexation, did not hold public office again. Determined to continue making contributions, he founded his state’s first Masonic lodge and helped start the Medical Association of Texas.[viii]
Trade connections were not only maintained to other areas with ocean ports. Accessible via the northern Mississippi River, the Chicago publisher J. Wesley Dickson and Company forged a partnership that brought copies of Scripture to readers in San Antonio. The frontispiece for their Master Bible of 1926 advertised this volume as “two books in one.” Its study aids featured: “Biblical archaeology, history, biography, chronology, geography, … Bible dictionary, Scriptural digest of the laws in the Bible, most loved and most used verses, … oratory, … jewels, … [and] Christian moral philosophy” (note above left).[ix] Complex layouts juxtaposing parallel passages among the Gospels reveal this printing’s sophistication (photograph above right).[x]
Dallas International University is home to SIL International. Formerly the Summer Institute of Linguistics, it focuses on language research that ultimately supports Bible translation.[xi] Since William Cameron Townsend (1896-1982) founded SIL in 1934, their impact has grown exponentially, especially through collaboration with Wycliffe Bible Translators, also started by Townsend.[xii] One introduction characterized their coordinated reach as: “the single most productive force in Bible translation history, contributing to translations in well over 1,000 languages. … [B]oth organizations have shifted toward partnership models that emphasize local leadership and reduce dependence on Western missionaries.”[xiii] SIL’s more recent statistics provide a snapshot of additional progress toward their combined objectives: Scripture translation for any language group across the globe with an established need. They are active among 1,420 linguistic communities, reaching over 855 million souls in 105 countries.[xiv] I invite you to post other examples from Texas Bible history in the comments. Or, please share your reflections on this material.
[i] https://www.texasalmanac.com/articles/annexation-and-statehood, accessed July 2026.
[ii] Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Biblia Latina, folio produced in Paris and given to England’s St Albans Abbey, c. 1330, ac. no. 2022.96. Information cited from the HMFA wall label. Photograph by the author, May 2026.
[iii] Please see lines 5-7 and 9-10: “… non justificatur homo ex operibus legis, nisi per fidem Jesu Christi … propter quod ex operibus legis non justificabitur omnis caro.” See https://biblehub.com/vul/galatians/2.htm, accessed July 2026.
[iv] The Septuagint’s important role deserves mention here: https://intertextual.bible/text/lxx-psalm-142.2/galatians-2.16 and https://biblehub.com/q/What_history_shaped_Psalm_143_2_s_message.htm, accessed July 2026.
[v] France, c. 1620, private collection. Photograph of this public domain work by the author in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts galleries, May 2026.
[vi] Houston Christian University’s Bible Museum exhibit marked this as a KJV version, shown open to the New Testament’s title page, facing handwritten records with the birth dates and places of Jones (20 January 1798, Great Barrington, MA) and his wife. Photo by the author, May 2026.
[vii] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/jones-anson, accessed July 2026.
[viii] Ibid.
[ix] Grateful for photographs of this public domain work at: https://www.ebay.com/itm/165615502575, accessed July 2026.
[x] Ibid.
[xi] SIL also maintains an excellent global language website: https://www.ethnologue.com/; https://www.ethnologue.com/history/; and https://us.sil.org/, accessed July 2026.
[xii] For more information about Townsend’s life, read: https://townsend.sil.org/william-cameron-townsend-1896-1982. To review other references to WBT on my Substack, please see this article’s note eleven: https://vernacularbibleexplorer.substack.com/p/florida, accessed July 2026.
[xiii] https://workingfortheword.com/hub-chirho/bible-translation-organizations-chirho, accessed July 2026.
[xiv] https://us.sil.org/, accessed July 2026.
I feel grateful to have visited several of Texas's museums this past May. Along with those represented by my article’s photographs, especially the Dunham Bible Museum (https://hc.edu/museums/dunham-bible-museum/), I recommend making time for the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Alamo Church, or Mission San Antonio de Valero chapel.