“I love considering all the people who might have owned this book, who have had their lives transformed by God’s word personally,” says Dr Mark Earngey, Moore College’s head of Church History, as he looks down at a leather-bound Zurich Latin Bible printed in 1543.
“It’s God’s word… ministers would have used it to preach from, read it themselves, shared it with their family.”
The Bible, with Biblia sacrosancta Testamenti Veteris & Noui on the title page, is the latest acquisition for the rare books collection in the college’s Donald Robinson Library. The collection holds many Reformation-era works, including a 1550 English Bible translation, and prayer books from every English monarch since the teenage Edward VI.
“The rare book collection of our library has grown considerably in recent years and the latest acquisition is a real gem,” said Moore’s principal Dr Mark Thompson, who is thrilled by the new arrival.
Above: The leather bound volume with brass clasps
“It is a Latin translation of the Bible produced in Zurich during the ministry of Heinrich Bullinger, in either 1543 or 1544. Almost as valuable as the work itself are the marginal annotations by one of the book’s original owners.
“This volume is incredibly rare and it provides us with a further glimpse into an important centre of Reformation ministry and thinking in the 16th and early 17th centuries.”
Dr Thompson says the collection of rare Reformation works supports the college’s long-standing commitment to serious Reformation scholarship.
The Bible has been rebound, has brass clasps and is heavily annotated with at least three different handwriting styles. It also bears the stamp of an Augustinian library from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The single volume version is believed to be the only one of its type in Australia.
“This Bible has changed lives,” Dr Earngey says, as he carefully turns the well-worn pages. “Maybe lay people, men and women, have had their lives transformed and their eternities changed through this Bible.”
