By: Bella Lagos
Filling two full shelves in Barry Tryon’s office at Hackman Hall lies a rare literary
archive: an entire Bible, handwritten by more than 1,100 college students in more than seventeen
languages.
What started as an experimental classroom assignment fifteen years ago is officially
wrapping up its final pages this semester. For Tryon, a professor in the School of Religion, the
goal was never to just begin a student project, but rather to force a fast-paced generation to
pause, pull out a pen and engage with ancient text in a deeply personal way.
“I think it slows us down,” Tryon said. “When you’re copying it, you have to look word
for word and check your sentence structure. It’s one small way of forcing you to slow down as
you’re working with the Word of God.”
The inspiration for the project originated back in Tryon’s high school days, when he
attended a youth festival where thousands of teenagers transcribed the entire Bible in two-and-a-half days.
Years later, while teaching general education religion courses, he decided to adapt the
concept to help students appreciate how scripture was preserved over centuries. Each semester,
Tryon divides chapters from a book of the Bible among his students from Life and Teachings of
Jesus and Christian Spirituality.
To help students stay organized while writing, Tryon provided custom lined paper with
dedicated margin space for verse numbers. Students were told to begin each new verse on a new
line and sign their name to the chapter. Tryon drew inspiration from “The Book of Kells,” a
famous 9th-century illuminated manuscript. He also had students illustrate their designated
chapter with their own artwork, reflecting its passage.
“I wanted students to use both sides of their brain…the artistic side and the logical side,
and drawing would do that,” Tryon said. “…it would just add a little color and diversity to their
project.”
This semester, students in Tryon’s classes are writing 2 Kings, the final pages of the
handwritten Bible.
The assignment permitted students to write in any Bible translation or language. Over the
years, the pages have accumulated text in Latvian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and
Portuguese, among others.
For students like Keren Sampaio, a sophomore double majoring in culinary arts and fine
arts, the project was a chance to connect with scripture in her native language.
“I believe writing everything down by hand really helped my brain process,” Sampaio
said. “I could actually process and think [about] my words and actually review what I learned in
that chapter… It was a great experience.”
For Sampaio, contributing in her native language made the experience more meaningful.
“I was able to do it in my native language,” Sampaio said. “I wrote it in Portuguese. So, I
feel like I was able to contribute, but also leave a special mark in that Bible, and I’m so excited.”
Though writing errors were common, Tryon treated any mistake as a teaching moment
rather than a flaw.
“I want them to experience it,” Tryon said. “I show them how to correct it by putting a
line through it. There are mistakes, but it doesn’t change the content of their chapter. They may
get a couple words mixed up or [I may] have to draw a line through because they got a word out
of order, but it doesn’t change the meaning of their passage.”
This semester, the final chapters will be turned in, completing the long-term project. The
plans for preservation are still being finalized, with thoughts of digitizing it upon completion. For
now, the project’s legacy remains in the quiet hours students spent putting pen to paper.
