Centre for Coins, Culture and Religious History Foundation

Category: Blog

  • Roman nail and spear

    The selection of artefacts on display as part of the Cathedral Coins exhibition at St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane has recently been refreshed with two temporary exhibits that invite reflection on the significance of Holy Week and Easter.

    First century Roman Nails
    Roman spear

    The Cathedral Coins
    This is a permanent display at the Anglican Cathedral in Ann Street, Brisbane. It features coins relevant to biblical studies and church history. Admission is free of charge when the Cathedral is open. An information booklet about the collection is available for purchase at the Cathedral Shop

  • Early missionary societies

    The Anglican Focus magazine of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland has recently published an essay by CCCRH researcher, Dr Peter Lewis, on the commemoration of early British missionary activities on medallions and banknotes.

    You can read the essay here.

  • London Polyglot

    London Polyglot

    One of the many delights in my role as the Executive Director for the CCCRH Foundation is to see with my eyes and touch with my hands (cf 1 John 1:1) an amazing variety of artefacts from the past. Some, like this leaf from the seventeenth-century London Polyglot Bible edited by Brian Walton, remind us of the intellectual labour by those who mastered several languages for the sake of checking the accuracy or otherwise of the biblical text: line by line, and word by word.

    The following description comes the digital exhibit for another leaf from the same volume, in the care of Loyola MaryMount University:

    Leaf from the London Polyglot Bible Old Testament, 1655 A.D., Londini: Imprime Thomas Roycroft; The fourth and most accurate of the great polyglots edited by Dr. Brian Walton. One of the first English books to be sold by subscription (£10.). Nine hundred orders were received during the first two months. This leaf from the Old Testament contains the text in Hebrew; the Latin Vulgate; the Greek Septuagint; the Chaldee Paraphrase; the Syriac and Arabic versions, each with a Latin translation. The type characters for the nine languages used in this Bible were all of English make. It was the typographical achievement of the century, and for it Charles II made Roycroft the ‘King’s Printer of Oriental languages’ (Darlow and Moule 1446).

  • Albert Schweitzer on the Road

    Schweitzer

    Albert Schweitzer is not such a familiar name among younger people these days, but the students at Emmaus College at Jimboomba were enthralled by a recent CCCRH travelling exhibition that featured his amazing life and work.

    Schweitzer was born on 14 January 1875 and died—more than 90 years later—on 4 September 1965). Coming from the French-German border areas, Schweitzer represented the best of the cultural currents of his day. He excelled as a theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 and his contribution to biblical scholarship remain of interest to new generations of students, even if they no longer shape the field.

    Books, medallions, coins and stamps were on display at Emma’s College for students and staff to experience first-hand. In addition, there was a letter and a signed postcard written by the man himself. The visiting collection had a big impact on many in the school community.

    Emmaus-Scweitzer

    Assistant Principal Religious Education Tony Bourke noted, “it was a privilege to be able to share the Schweitzer story with our students”.

    There was an overwhelmingly positive response with over 500 students viewing the display. Students volunteered feeling in awe of being so close to such a display of historical artefacts, and even being allowed to pick them up.

    I loved the coin and the stamps!
    Jack M 7FLEA

    The display was really good. The medals and the stamps are really amazing. Talia A 7FLEA

    I can’t believe we have a display like this in our school.
    Harrison D 9COAR

    Students understood the huge privilege they had been granted and were justifiably impressed; many noting that they couldn’t believe that someone had shared their treasures so generously.

    The Schweitzer Exhibition is now available for loan to other schools and churches wishing to host the material for a week or two at a time.

    Enquiries to the Executive Director, Dr Gregory C. Jenks: 0426067344

  • American Numismatic Society eBooks

    American Numismatic Society eBooks

    ANS_Header

    Over its 150-year history, the American Numismatic Society has published hundreds of monographs. Many of these were scanned by the Google Books project and are now openly accessible through HathiTrust. However, these scanned books provide little functionality for keyword searches or linking to related resources in the archives or numismatic collection of the ANS. As a result, we are publishing fully functional Open Access ebooks through our Digital Library, including EPUB and PDF derivatives for mobile devices.

    –> eBooks

  • Why “Isaiah” of the Isaiah Bulla is not the Prophet Isaiah

    isaiah-bulla-drawing

    A timely and informed comment on the alleged “Isaiah” seal from the recovery excavations being undertaken in East Jerusalem by Israeli archaeologists as they sift through materials removed from below the Haram alSharif (‘Temple Mount’) by the Islamic Waqf (‘Trust’) that controls the site.

    Read the full article here …