Introducing the Lanier Theological Library

By: Mark Lanier

What do Madame Gertrude Bell, Cappadocian Fathers, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Nuzi tablets, Dead Sea Scroll fragments, Moshe Goshen-Gottstein, and William Hallo have in common? They have all found a home, of sorts, at the Lanier Theological Library (“LTL”) in Houston, Texas.

Opening its doors six years ago, the LTL is a foundation-driven research facility with over 100,000 volumes. Each day, an average of 30-40 patrons visit and work in the library, coming from well over a dozen graduate schools and seminaries. The library is open to all, and the atmosphere is so conducive to study and writing, you occasionally even find medical students in a cubbyhole working feverishly.

The library was built to provide a complete set of primary research materials for scholars and laymen alike. The hope was to see serious scholastic work aided and generated from the library. The scope of influence was hoped to reach from the local level, where academia, clergy, and students could find resources for their endeavors, to international levels where scholars in residence could come and put into the library as well as get useful research from it. So scholars ranging from Israeli Emanuel Tov to Anglican vicar Melvin Tinker have taken up residence for research and writing, all the while teaching classes in the library (Tov on Hebrew reading, Tinker on church history).

The library resources are targeted to seven areas of study: ancient near-eastern studies (including the languages and archaeology); Judaic studies; Biblical studies; theology; classics; philosophy; and, church history. In addition to current books in print the library has acquired select libraries from scholars to infuse the resources with the rare items useful for research. (Think Kathleen Kenyon’s 5 volume Jericho dig reports from 1959).

The scholars whose collections are now housed at the library include: David Bivin, Alan Crown, Trude Dothan, Peter Flint, Florentino Garcia-Martinez, Moshe Goshen-Gottstein, William W. Hallo, Robert Lindsey, Abraham Malamat, and Alan Segal. Many of these and other scholars have placed their research and papers at the library as well.

Besides a first-rate collection of research material, the library also sponsors five to six public lectures each academic year. The public lectures are generally on Saturday night, but are part of a larger weekend academic-focus that brings in noted scholars for a colloquium on the weekend’s subject, usually with a panel discussion on Fridays. These all get posted on the Internet, and have become popular viewing. Lecturers have included Justice Antonin Scalia, Father Justin (the librarian from St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai), Simon Conway-Morris, Rabbi Ben Scolnic, Alister McGrath, N.T. Wright, D. A. Carson, and many more.

The lectures are held in a replica of a 6th century Cappadocian chapel, complete with two-foot thick stone walls, and a dome that sits 50 feet high. The chapel’s ceilings are painting in original frescoes replicating stories from the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. The chapel was built off of 29 black & white photographs taken by Gertrude Bell when exploring Turkey with William Ramsey at the turn of the 19th/20th century.

The library also has notable holdings, many which are original, and a number that are facsimiles. Among the facsimiles are a set of core Dead Sea Scrolls, including the great Isaiah scroll and the Manual of Discipline. There is also a set of Nuzi casts, many of which are the only remaining ones left in existence, the originals being lost over the last few decades. The originals found in the library include a Dead Sea Scroll fragment from Amos, original First edition of the King James Bible, a Robert Estienne Bible, and an Erasmus Bible.

The library contains a notable C.S. Lewis collection. This collection features a British first edition of all works of C.S. Lewis. There are also hand-written letters and notes, Lewis’s handwritten address given to incoming freshmen at Oxford in 1939 speaking to the importance of studying for a University degree during wartime. This collection also has several original drawings used in the Chronicles of Narnia and notes by Lewis’s brother.

Multiple times each year, notable scholars from around the world, with various specialties, have come to the library for extended periods as either a scholar-in-residence, or simply someone who has taken a sabbatical to have uninterrupted time for a research project. Scholars appreciate the library’s resource, but also of the library’s commitment to acquire any book needed but not available, generally within 24 to 48 hours.

Much of the accolades accorded the library stem from its architecture and the atmosphere evoked. The library building is a mash up from favorite features of seven Oxford libraries, and the result is an old world charm nestled on 40 acres found in the bustling international city of Houston. But the true riches lie within, in the work of scholars past, present and future.

More information can be gleaned from the library website: www.Laniertheologicallibrary.org.

Mark Lanier is an attorney and the founder of the Lanier Theological Library. He serves on the board of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the Albright Institute.