hand in white gloves holding an open book

Inside the cloak-and-dagger search for sacred texts

In the shadowy world where religion meets archaeology, scientists, collectors, and schemers are racing to find the most precious relics.

Hand copied around 1400, a Wycliffe New Testament on exhibit at a Christian theme park in Florida gets white-glove treatment. English theologian John Wycliffe championed translating the Bible from Latin into the common language, an innovation church officials denounced.
VAN KAMPEN COLLECTION, ON DISPLAY AT THE HOLY LAND EXPERIENCE, ORLANDO, FLORIDA
This story appears in the December 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine.
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