(Post) Colonial Bible Translations
From 10 October, the Bible Museum will be showing the exhibition ‘Global Bible: Legacies of (Post-)Colonial Bible Translations in the Arctic, Australia/Oceania and West Africa’. It has been developed in cooperation with ‘Global Bible (GloBil)’, an international project led by PD Dr Felicity Jensz from the Centre for Religion and Modernity at the University of Münster and Prof Hilary Carey from the University of Bristol.
Since 2023, the research team has been conducting a critical examination of British and German contributions to the creation of a ‘global Bible.’ In particular, three case study regions where German and British colonialism once prevailed were examined: the Arctic, Australia/Oceania, and West Africa. Until 1 March, visitors can see how the Bible, based on its original Hebrew and Greek sources, has been disseminated through translations across various historical eras and imperial contexts into the 21st century.
Mourning for Michael Welte
Michael Welte, former employee of the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF), passed away on 29 August 2025 at the age of 84. He played a decisive role in the establishment of the INTF and was involved in many trips to examine and film Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. He was also heavily involved in establishing the Bible Museum.
Making the Bible Speak
The commemorative publication ‘Die Bibel zum Sprechen bringen’ (Bringing the Bible to Life) has just been released, honouring Prof. Dr. Holger Strutwolf, Director of the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF) and the Bible Museum at the University of Münster, on the occasion of his 65th birthday. In over 40 articles, internationally renowned scholars shed light on the current state of research in the field of reconstructing the ‘original text’ of the Greek New Testament.
The Institute for New Testament Textual Research (Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, INTF)
Our central task is to research the textual history of the New Testament and to reconstruct its Greek initial text on the basis of the entire manuscript tradition, the early translations and patristic citations. Foremost among the results of this research is the ongoing publication of the Editio Critica Maior, which has been accepted by the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts as one of their long-term research projects in 2007. Moreover, INTF produces several more editions and a variety of tools for New Testament scholarship, including the concise editions known as the Nestle-Aland and the UBS Greek New Testament. Many of the results of our work are also available to the wider public at the adjoining Bible Museum, which is affiliated with the institute.