I am delighted to share some exciting news that has been a great blessing to my team and me at the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM)! Through the generosity of a valued donor, the Center has received a remarkable $150,000 matching grant for our Year-End campaign. This means that every dollar contributed during the fundraising period (Nov. 1st – Dec.31st) will be doubled, presenting an incredible opportunity for us to advance in our fundraising goals, and an opportunity for you to join us in this noble task.

This grant has been designated specifically for our project at Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, where my team and I are preparing more than 100 manuscripts for digitization. Since returning from the initial phase of this expedition, we have been eager to return to these manuscripts, as we have discovered a few unidentified palimpsests (a manuscript whose text was erased, with another layer of text written over the previous one) that require multispectral imaging to bring up the undertext clearly for reading. 

In order to receive adequate funds to move forward in this project, CSNTM is anticipating meeting this matching grant through Year-End contributions.

The support that we have received throughout this past year has been invaluable to us, and we cannot thank our supporters enough for the integral role that each plays in advancing our mission and fueling our passion. 

I invite you to join CSNTM in this centuries-long mission to preserve ancient manuscripts and make them accessible for research and translation, by contributing to this match grant goal. Every dollar that you donate will be doubled, and thus, will double the impact that you will have on our efforts at the Bodleian Library, as well as on other crucial projects that are in process. 

There is an urgency for these projects to get fully funded; all handwritten manuscripts—regardless of age, material, or care—are deteriorating. We are in a race against time to preserve them before the deterioration is so bad that these codices literally fall apart in one’s hands.

CSNTM is committed to following in the footsteps of the countless scribes who copied the New Testament for later generations—or, as one scribe wrote at the end of his manuscript more than one thousand years ago, “the hand that wrote this is rotting in the grave, but the letters remain until the fulness of the times.”

As we close out this year, I find myself reflecting with gratitude for all that we—the CSNTM staff and you, our partners—have accomplished as a community of people dedicated to the preservation of Scripture. I am eagerly anticipating the promise that this coming year holds for CSNTM and our mission. Thank you for joining us in this endeavor!

Daniel B. Wallace
Executive Director
The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts