From MSU Today on Impact Radio: From book to Web, some of the world’s rarest religious documents will soon be available to anyone, anywhere, thanks to work provided by a Michigan State University research center.

Using a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, MSU’s Writing in Digital Environments research center – or WIDE – will digitize 20 pages from two of MSU Libraries’ three Israelite Samaritan Pentateuchs, written more than 500 years ago in Egypt and Syria.

A Pentateuch, known to Jews as the Torah or the first of three sections of the Hebrew Bible, is also known to Christians as the first five books of the Old Testament.

The Pentateuchs are part of MSU’s Chamberlain Warren Collection, which is considered the largest collection of Samaritan material in the Western Hemisphere. The collection is housed in MSU Libraries Special Collections.

People involved with the project discuss its significance.

Hosted by Russ White.

Hear the Conversations 12:17 – 7.1 mb mp3