Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam at NYPL

Three of the world’s most followed religions each started from Abraham’s covenant with a single, unseeable God and are now the lived experience of half of the world’s population. Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, The New York Public Library’s leading fall 2010 exhibition, explores these three religions through the texts they have produced. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam live side by side around the world and in New York City and continue to be part of the local dialogue, fueling discourse and debate. Three Faiths informs the discussion with four millennia of spiritual history as seen through 200 of the Library’s most inspiring sacred texts. Three Faiths is on view through February 27, 2011 at the Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street in Manhattan.

Showcasing materials drawn entirely from the permanent collections of The New York Public Library, Three Faiths portrays major aspects of each of the three Abrahamic faiths. Although not a strict comparative analysis of the three religions, the exhibition illustrates the most important basic commonalities among the three: Monotheism, Abraham, Revelation, and Scriptures. After introducing the founding figures of these faiths, the exhibition presents the scriptures they produced or inspired, and the ways in which those texts have been used, for centuries or millennia, in the daily lives of ordinary people. These broad themes are illustrated through focused vignettes ranging from artifacts of Jewish mysticism to revolutionary vernacular translations of the Christian Bible to depictions of the Hajj.

“The New York Public Library is proud to exhibit so many of its treasures in Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. The sacred manuscripts from each of these three Abrahamic religions are stunning artworks but also invaluable documents to the followers of each faith,” says Dr. Paul LeClerc, President of The New York Public Library. “The content in the materials provide the basis for dialogue and is part of the living, breathing discourse happening today in New York City and around the world. As an organization serving the public, we’re pleased to provide a historical look at the religions’ histories through their texts and welcome any interested parties to the Library to view the exhibition.”

Several videos, such as the Scroll of Esther, illustrate the history and arts involved in the exhibit: This stunning and extremely rare scroll is heavily decorated, and contains illustrations from the Purim story and cityscapes from the once-vast Persian empire.

Three Faiths includes 200 rare and precious works created over the past 1,500 years. Among them, great works of the miniaturist’s art and of calligraphy, drawn from all three faiths, delight the eye, as they have done since their creation centuries ago. Manuscript materials are accompanied by some of the most significant printed works of the past 550 years. The scrolls, codices, illuminated manuscripts, and printed volumes are complemented selectively by important bindings, early photographs, prints, maps, and liturgical or ritual objects dating from the fifth century of the Common Era (CE) to the present.  A timeline on the website, From Revelation to Scripture is helpful in placing comparisons between the emergence of the religions. Download the brochure for the exhibit and Visit Three Faiths @ The Library Shop online as well as the well-loved Lion Card for the holidays

The Exhibit was inspired by the British Library’s Sacred: Discover What We Share

Illustration 1: The Tanakh (The Xanten Bible)’ Hebrew Bible, vol. 1. Joseph ben Kalonymus, scribe. Xanten, Lower Rhineland, 5054 AM (1294 CE). The New York Public Library, Spencer Collection.

Illustration 2:  The Christian Bible (The Harkness Gospels)’, Gospels (Harkness Gospels), in Latin. Landévennec, Brittany, before 917. The New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division.

Illustration 3: The Qur’an’ Qur’an. Probably Turkey, 734 AH (1333 CE). The New York Public Library, Spencer Collection.