About the Founder

The Bible Manuscript Society was founded by Ewan MacLeod, B.Sc. Hons., M.Sc., who is the current Director and Visionary behind the Society.

Ewan is a Bible historian and Bible collector, but also an experienced Bible student who has studied the Holy Scriptures intensely since being baptised about 25 years ago. He took an immediate interest in the manuscripts of the Holy Bible and the Original Languages in which the inspired Scriptures were written, and from the very beginning, he wanted to see and read the ancient Biblical manuscripts for himself.

In pursuing his interest in the Biblical manuscripts, Ewan read countless books and spent hundreds of hours in the British Museum in London. Unfortunately, however, even the keenest of Bible students at this time was restricted to trips to museums and photographs in books, to look at Bible manuscripts and the early editions of the Holy Bible.

In the succeeding years, Ewan turned his attention to learning the original languages of the Bible - starting first with Greek, then Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin. Spending many years in Israel learning Hebrew, then discovering the Aramaic Peshitta, and comparing the different Bible traditions in the footnotes of academic editions of the Old and New Testaments, only served to whet Ewan's interest in gaining access to the Biblical manuscripts themselves.

Despite the coming of the Internet age in the intervening years, and at least some Biblical manuscripts and early editions of the Bible being available online, Bible students still did not have free and easy access to all Bible manuscripts and witnesses.

Ewan therefore became convinced that the only way forward was to dedicate his life to opening up access to the Biblical manuscripts and early editions of the Bible, just as the early translators of the Bible into English dedicated their lives to giving the common people access to the Bible in a language they could understand.

And so, to facilitate this goal, the Bible Manuscript Society was formed. The work ahead is a labour of love, and a great deal of quality material has been made available for others to benefit from. If you share our goals and would like to help us, then please contact us with any ideas or suggestions, or donate to the cause, or volunteer your time and skills. If you work in museums, libraries or other organizations that hold Biblical manuscripts, then we are especially interested in hearing from you...