Hobby Lobby’s Green Family Announces ‘Museum of the Bible’

Details have been released surrounding the launch of a new Bible museum on the National Mall in Washington D.C., a project founded and funded by David Green, president of arts-and-crafts retailer Hobby Lobby.

Museum of the Bible will open in 2017, displaying artifacts from the Green Collection, “one of the world’s largest private collections of rare biblical texts and artifacts,” along with other antiquities, replicas, and various exhibits.

“Washington, D.C., is the museum capital of the world,” says Green, “So, it’s only fitting that our board selected Washington as the home for this international museum. We invite everyone—adults and children, the intellectually curious and most seasoned of scholars alike—to Museum of the Bible to explore the most important and influential book ever written.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WFH70N_I54

Although the Green family is known for proudly promoting its evangelical beliefs and openly standing athwart the HHS contraception mandate, the museum will not take an overtly evangelistic approach, relying on academic scholarship and telling its stories for believers and skeptics alike. As Green told Religion News Service, “”The Bible can speak for itself, explain itself.”

And indeed, based on the range of artifacts in the collection and the professionalism of the team they’ve assembled—including experts in architectural, interior, and environmental design from some of the greatest museum projects in the world (listed here)—this is not likely to be another Holy Land Experience.

The project is rather extraordinary in and of itself, but the involvement of the Green family makes it all the more noteworthy, further amplifying their consistent example of stewardship done well.

This is a family that truly believes “God owns it”—all of it—and they have proceeded by building a successful and life-giving business, donating to countless causes and ministries, and now, this museum. What a remarkable witness for the rest of us, demonstrating how powerful it is to take the talents we’re given and put them in the active and obedient service of spreading the Gospel and contributing to the common good.

Learn more about the Museum of the Bible and the Green Collection here, and follow them on Facebook for updates.