David Trobisch lends Green familyâs Bible Museum a scholarly edge
David Trobisch
In 2006  New Testament scholar David Trobisch abandoned such lofty outlets as Oxford Press and the Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy for a more mainstream venue: Free Inquiry.
In that feisty secular humanist journal   Trobisch  identified the likely editor of the New Testament as second-century Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna and suggested that Polycarp  not Luke  wrote much of the book of Acts.
 Trobisch  shared the magazineâs cover billing with Christopher Hitchens and the atheist animal rights theorist Peter Singer.
None of this would be unusual â serious New Testament scholars constantly probe its cloudy origins  wherever that leads â if  Trobisch  were not now prominently employed by one of the most famously conservative Christian families in America.
It will showcase biblical artifacts from the 40 000-piece Green collection  one of the largest in private hands. As director of the collection   Trobisch  does not run the museum ( its  director is Cary Summers)  but in addition to enlarging  curating and cataloging the trove  he participates in the crucial conversation about which items will go into the museum  and how.
A former Heidelberg University professor   Trobisch  also acts as roving ambassador to the worlds of high academia and top-rate museums. His presence poses a conundrum to the Greensâ many critics: As believers that the Bible is God-given and inerrant  could the family â and the museum that is their brainchild â be more open to dispassionate scholarship than previously assumed?
A tall  gently spoken 56-year-old whose russet hair is now mostly gray   Trobisch  splits  his  time between Germany  where  his  wife  son and two grandchildren live  and a home in Springfield  Mo. In the U.S. he considers himself part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America  a mainline denomination that allows gay clergy.
 Trobisch  eventually gravitated to New Testament criticism  the close study of ancient manuscripts for clues as to how the 27-book New Testament came together.
 He  met the Greens when  he  asked permission to look at their 850 ancient New Testament documents. Soon   he  was advising the family on acquisitions (âMy strategy was to buy fewer items but only the highest qualityâ). In February   he  was hired as director.
 Trobisch âs responsibilities extend beyond researching and caring for the collection.  He  recently revamped the content in the Greensâ 1 000- item Bible exhibition âPassages.â  He  also created one-off exhibits in places such as the Vatican  Jerusalem and (very quietly) Cuba. Next up? Philadelphia (in time for Pope Francisâ visit)  Berlin  Beijing and Moscow.
One day in early April   Trobisch  was alighting in New York after a three-week trip involving at least six countries on four continents  having discussed Green extension museums with professionals from Africa and Asia.  He  considered a Bible for sale in Istanbul  hired a curator in Germany and helped open the latest Passages in Santa Clarita  Calif.
The museumâs burgeoning relationship with blue-chip institutions is partly attributable to Trobischâs prestige and contact list. When Cambridge University Library wanted to auction some treasured goods  the Greens bought them â and left them with Cambridge. There was no quid quo pro  but Cambridge owns the Codex Bezae  which  Trobisch  calls âthe fourth most important manuscript of the New Testament.â The strengthened relationship increases the chances the Washington museum might someday show it.
 Trobisch  might have expected some philosophical friction with the Greens  who famously turn to the Bible for everything  including business decisions. But  he  says Hobby Lobby chain president Steve Green is open to new scholarship.
âWe agreed that if I say something about the Bible  he  disagrees with and I can show  him  the quote   he  will concede. If I cannot support it by a quote  I will concede.â
â He âs a Bible freak â  Trobisch  said. âLike me.â
 Trobisch  disagrees with some in âthe media and my scholarly peersâ that  his  employment by the museum represents a faceoff of âfundamentalism against sound scholarship.â Instead   he  said  it constitutes âtwo parties standing at opposite ends of the Christian spectrum talking to each other and working together. This almost never happens in the U.S.â
In 2006   [TGT]  abandoned such lofty outlets as Oxford Press and the Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy for a more mainstream venue: Free Inquiry.
In that feisty secular humanist journal   Trobisch  identified the likely editor of the New Testament as second-century Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna and suggested that Polycarp  not Luke  wrote much of the book of Acts.
  [TGT] shared the magazineâs cover billing with Christopher Hitchens and the atheist animal rights theorist Peter Singer.
None of this would be unusual â serious New Testament scholars constantly probe its cloudy origins  wherever that leads â if   [TGT] were not now prominently employed by one of the most famously conservative Christian families in America.
 [TGT]  will showcase biblical artifacts from the 40 000-piece Green collection  one of the largest in private hands. As director of the collection    [TGT] does not run the museum (  [TGT]   director is Cary Summers)  but in addition to enlarging  curating and cataloging the trove  he participates in the crucial conversation about which items will go into the museum  and how.
A former Heidelberg University professor    [TGT] also acts as roving ambassador to the worlds of high academia and top-rate museums. His presence poses a conundrum to the Greensâ many critics: As believers that the Bible is God-given and inerrant  could the family â and the museum that is their brainchild â be more open to dispassionate scholarship than previously assumed?
A tall  gently spoken 56-year-old whose russet hair is now mostly gray    [TGT] splits  his  time between Germany  where  his  wife  son and two grandchildren live  and a home in Springfield  Mo. In the U.S. he considers himself part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America  a mainline denomination that allows gay clergy.
  [TGT] eventually gravitated to New Testament criticism  the close study of ancient manuscripts for clues as to how the 27-book New Testament came together.
 He  met the Greens when  he  asked permission to look at their 850 ancient New Testament documents. Soon   he  was advising the family on acquisitions (âMy strategy was to buy fewer items but only the highest qualityâ). In February   he  was hired as director.
  [TGT]  âs responsibilities extend beyond researching and caring for the collection.   [TGT] recently revamped the content in the Greensâ 1 000- item Bible exhibition âPassages.â  He  also created one-off exhibits in places such as the Vatican  Jerusalem and (very quietly) Cuba. Next up? Philadelphia (in time for Pope Francisâ visit)  Berlin  Beijing and Moscow.
One day in early April   Trobisch  was alighting in New York after a three-week trip involving at least six countries on four continents  having discussed Green extension museums with professionals from Africa and Asia.  He  considered a Bible for sale in Istanbul  hired a curator in Germany and helped open the latest Passages in Santa Clarita  Calif.
The museumâs burgeoning relationship with blue-chip institutions is partly attributable to Trobischâs prestige and contact list. When Cambridge University Library wanted to auction some treasured goods  the Greens bought them â and left them with Cambridge. There was no quid quo pro  but Cambridge owns the Codex Bezae  which  Trobisch  calls âthe fourth most important manuscript of the New Testament.â The strengthened relationship increases the chances the Washington museum might someday show it.
 Trobisch  might have expected some philosophical friction with the Greens  who famously turn to the Bible for everything  including business decisions. But  he  says Hobby Lobby chain president Steve Green is open to new scholarship.
âWe agreed that if I say something about the Bible  he  disagrees with and I can show  him  the quote   he  will concede. If I cannot support it by a quote  I will concede.â
â He âs a Bible freak â  Trobisch  said. âLike me.â
 Trobisch  disagrees with some in âthe media and my scholarly peersâ that  his  employment by the museum represents a faceoff of âfundamentalism against sound scholarship.â Instead   he  said  it constitutes âtwo parties standing at opposite ends of the Christian spectrum talking to each other and working together. This almost never happens in the U.S.â