Lanier Theological Library

Lanier Theological Library (LTL) is a 17,000 sq. ft research library located in Northwest Houston, Texas. The LTL has a capacity of over 100,000 volumes and specializes in Archaeology, Biblical Studies, Church History, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Egyptology, Linguistics, and Theology.[1] As of July 2015, its catalog has over 85,000 volumes with daily additions. The LTL is also building a comprehensive periodical collection. In addition, historical documents and museum-quality artifacts are housed in the library,[2] including a first edition, first issue 1611 KJV Bible, several exact facsimiles of Dead Sea Scrolls and one original fragment from Amos. The LTL was opened to the public in October 2010 by Mark Lanier, American trial lawyer and founder of the Lanier Law Firm. LTL's operating hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays and until 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The library uses the Library of Congress Classification system and does not allow books to leave the facility.

Exterior of the Library.

Private collections

The LTL has acquired several private collections from scholars. As of July 2015, they include David Bivin, Alan Crown, Trude Dothan, Peter Flint, Florentino Garcia-Martinez, Moshe Goshen-Gottstein, William W. Hallo, Robert Lindsey, Abraham Malamat, Carol & Eric Meyers, David Owen, Randall Price, Alan Segal, and Emanuel Tov. These collections are maintained intact with most of them in the library’s main hall.[3]

Design
Main hall of the Lanier Theological Library.

Mark Lanier designed the library by combining his favorite architectural features from the libraries in and around the University of Oxford. Adjacent to the library is the Stone Chapel, a replica of a 500 A.D. Byzantine chapel. The chapel's ceilings feature scenes from the Bible painted by Texas artist Richard McCluskey. He also painted the ceiling of the library's main hall.[4]

Lectures

The LTL hosts lectures by world-renowned theologians and scholars, archives videos of past lectures on its website and sells DVDs of the lectures. Library speakers have included Ron Highfield of Pepperdine University; Father Justin of Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai; Alister McGrath of Oxford University; Peter Williams of Tyndale House; Weston Fields of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation; James Hoffmeier of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; Stephen Moshier of Wheaton College; Edward Fudge, Christian theologian and lawyer of Houston; Simon Conway Morris of Cambridge University; John Monson of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; Sy Gitin of the Albright Institute; Simon Gathercole of Cambridge University; Alan Millard of the University of Liverpool; Paige Patterson of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; D. A. Carson of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court, Udo Middelmann of the Francis A. Schaeffer Foundation, Richard Bauckham of Ridley Hall, Cambridge; N.T. Wright of the University of St. Andrews; Harvey Floyd of Lipscomb University; Mark Lanier, Founder of Lanier Theological Library and Lanier Law Firm; Mark Movsesian of St. John's School of Law; Steven Notley of Nyack College; Rabbi Benjamin Scolnic of Temple Beth Sholom in Hamden, CT; Dennis Danielson of University of British Columbia; and Richard B. Hays of Duke Divinity School.

References
  1. Lundegaard, Erik (2011-03-08). "Bibliophile Mark Lanier builds a theological library". Super Lawyers. Retrieved 2011-03-30.
  2. Cowen, Diane (2011-03-03). "Lanier shares love of theology through new library, speaker series". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2011-03-30.
  3. "Lanier Theological Library". Private Collections. Lanier Theological Library. Retrieved 2011-03-30.
  4. Cowen, Diane (2011-03-03). "Lanier shares love of theology through new library, speaker series". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2011-03-30.

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