THE world’s greatest collection of Jewish, Christian and Islamic holy texts is coming to... a prison.
A scaled down multi-media version of the British Library’s celebrated Sacred Texts exhibition is stopping off at the Portland Young Offender Institution (YOI) between May 18-22.
The chaplaincy team at the YOI believe the exhibition could be a way to help prisoner relations.
Material is presented in such a way that the exhibition demonstrates how faiths have interacted and influenced one another throughout history.
The young inmates come from a range of backgrounds and faiths and seeing what they have in common may help them to understand one another better, said the Rev Paul Thompson who co-ordinates the chaplaincy team.
He made a bid to host the exhibition with his fellow Church of England chaplain Mike Steer, Catholic chaplain Kath Smith, Muslim chaplain Mohammad Saeid and Jewish chaplain Brian Weisman.
Kath Smith said: “It is an excellent project which will educate and hopefully help inmates from different faiths engage with one another.”
The YOI is one of only 10 prisons in the country to secure the exhibition.
It was launched to critical acclaim over two years ago with the aim of informing the public of the origins, similarities and differences between the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths. The exhibition includes lavishly illustrated and decorated books and manuscripts as well as some exotic private loans.
They include a scrap of a Dead Sea scroll, an Ethiopian bible, and examples of the Christian New Testament written in Arabic using the calligraphy and styles of the Qu’ran.
Mr Thompson said the touring exhibition does not include the artefacts themselves but rather comes in the form of a multi-media presentation featuring a touch-activated kiosk.
Mr Thompson said: “An exhibition such as this will assist people to both value their own religious faith but also to appreciate that of others as well as lead to an understanding of the common stories shared by all.”
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