Green Scholars Initiative

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About Green Scholars Initiative

Formed in the summer of 2010, the Green Scholars Initiative brings established and young scholars together to pioneer groundbreaking research on items in The Green Collection, the world’s newest and largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts.

The Green Scholars Initiative allows the world’s leading textual scholars to research and produce scholarship around items in The Green Collection while mentoring students in their respective fields of expertise:

Senior Scholars oversee a research project area involving scholars from various institutions working with their students.
Distinguished Scholars provide expertise in their main language or unique scholarly competency—assisting with a variety of aspects with the GSI and the Green Collection.
Scholar-Mentors work under the auspices of a Senior Scholar to conduct research and mentor undergraduate and graduate students (Junior Scholars), helping to enrich their education and to augment their preparation for graduate schools and career interests.

"While movies like National Treasure, The Da Vinci Code and Indiana Jones tell of quests for fictional treasures, the real-life treasure hunters of the Green Scholars Initiative are uncovering new scientific mysteries in ancient biblical texts and manuscripts."
Dr. Jerry Pattengale
Executive Director of the Green Scholars Initiative

Over 30 universities committed to participate in the Green Scholars Initiative within its first three years, and others are in the process of joining. For inclusion, at least one scholar at a university must be selected by the Green Scholars Initiative team for a project (e.g., papyri, KJV, etc.), and

Click for Participating Universities

each project is placed internationally under a Senior Scholar. Each of the professors (Scholar-Mentors) must commit to working with Junior Scholars at their university, mentoring them along the way and giving them direct access to selected items from The Green Collection. The Senior Scholars will subsequently provide ongoing assistance for those selected in their areas.

While the Green Scholars Initiative remains independent of any one institution of higher learning or religious tradition, the initiative’s main undergraduate program has an academic home at Baylor University. Over a dozen GSI projects are underway at Baylor, and occasional workshops and meetings accent these endeavors.

Ten areas for research are targeted, with three being launched during the first phase. These include research clusters around the expansive papyri collection, the Richard Rolle manuscript, and the King James Bible.

"Speaking as an academic who has for more than four decades taught and done research on the influence of the Bible and biblical tradition on literature and the arts, I can say without qualification that the GSI project brings unparalleled intellectual and cultural resources to the American scholarly community. At Baylor, we are ecstatic about the research opportunities this collection opens up for our undergraduates as well as for our graduates students and faculty. We consider it a supreme honor to cooperate with Dr Jerry Pattengale and the Green family in whatever way we can."

David Lyle Jeffrey, FRSC
Distinguished Professor of Literature and the Humanities
Baylor University, Waco, TX

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte serves as the academic home for U.S. seminary students. Like the role of Baylor for traditional programs, the Charlotte campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary will facilitate aspects of the Green Scholars Initiative as it expands into seminary programs. GCTS-C has a robust faculty steeped in scholarly habits. Dr. Robert Cooley, president emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Seminary, has been very involved in the Green Collection and serves on the board for the yet-to-be-named museum, which will house The Green Collection. He also has connections through his decades of scholarship with Dr. Pattengale, whose first introduction to actual archeological artifacts was with items from Dr. Cooley's Dothan excavations stored at The Institute of Holy Land Studies (now Jerusalem University College).

About The Green Collection
The world’s newest and largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts, The Green Collection is an ever-growing, non-sectarian compilation of more than 40,000 biblical antiquities. Named for the family who founded national arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby, the collection “has created a buzz” (FOXNews.com, 2011) and is “a sampler of Jewish, Roman Catholic and Protestant treasures” (USA Today, 2011). Hobby Lobby President Steve Green oversees the expansion of the Green Collection, which is systematically being donated to the national museum. The COO of the museum is Cary Summers, founder of Nazareth Village in Israel, and former executive at Bass Pros and Abercrombie and Fitch. The anticipated opening of the museum will be early in 2017.