The Study and Practice of Religion
The University had no shortage of contemporary journals and books on religion in the early twentieth century. Barnes Hall once housed a library of religious texts, though rare and valuable materials were not stored there. Local lecturers and faculty also gave talks on world religion at Sage Chapel. Students were given the opportunity to choose religious groups to join or form, and in 1869 they created a chapter of the Young Men’s Christian Association. As of 2015, Cornell United Religious Work is located in Anabel Taylor Hall and holds multi-denominational services and worship.
Arcanum Arcanorum, 1743.
Manuscript copy of a mystical Gnostic text.
Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon: an account written by the hand of Mormon, upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi. Palmyra, New York: E.B. Grandin, 1830.
Purchased by A.D. White.
Andrew Dickson White. Religion lecture outline, circa 1860s-1870s.
President White’s outline for a lecture on religion includes a section on the sacred books of all religions as well as the literature of the Jews, the Eastern Church, the Roman Church, Protestants, Mormons, and Mohammedans (Muslims).
Torah neviʼim ketuvim. Basel: M. Wahl, 1612.
Haftarot ha-Torah, in Aramaic and Hebrew, 1673.
Gift of Isaac Rabinowitz
Liber Adami sue Razielis, 1600s.
A Cabbalistic text in Latin.
Cyanotype print of Barnes Hall.
Cyanotype print of Sage Chapel.
Reed leaf manuscript, portraying Buddhist imagery, undated.
Ethiopian service book and satchel, to be carried by a priest, 1900s.
On loan from the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.
Ethiopian hand cross, undated.
On loan from the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.
Samaritan Hymnbook, undated.
Gift of Nathaniel Schmidt.
Fragment of Exodus in Greek, 4th century.
This fragment is part of a larger codex separated by Bruce Ferrini in the early 2000s. It is the earliest witness to Exodus in the Septuagint.Gift of Bruce Ferrini.
Mutilated bifolium from a glossed Vulgate Bible, Psalms 39 and 41. Ninth century.
Book of Hours: Use of Rome, 1500.
Gift of Pauline Rubens.
Laozi dao de jing. Chinese, undated.
A Chinese Taoist text, written on bamboo and mounted on cloth.
Qur’an. Undated.
Gift of the heirs of H.P. Crouse, 1911.