Copying the Bible By Hand

For thousands of years, scripture was copied not by printing press or by inkjet, but by hand as rabbis, scribes, and monks painstakingly transcribed the Bible from papyrus to parchment to vellum by hand. It was a meticulously detailed process as workers looked to exactly duplicate old copies before they wore out. Now, Bible Across America tour is looking to bring that experience to the average American Christian.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the New International Version of the Bible, the publishing house Zondervan is inviting people across the U.S. to copy a verse in their own hand.

"What better way than to let everyone participate?" said Moe Girkins, chief executive of Zondervan, the North American publisher of the NIV Bible, as it's commonly known. "Anywhere people love the Bible, we want to go."

The six-month Bible Across America tour is visiting 90 cities and will include contributions from all 50 states.

Not many people can say that they have studied a single book of the Bible, and fewer still can say they have read the Bible from cover to cover. How many can claim to have hand-copied scripture?