A new BBC Radio 4 podcast explores how a museum, designed to tell the story of the Bible, became mixed up in one of the biggest antiquities scandals of the 21st century.
Presented by art sleuth and investigative journalist Ben Lewis, across six episodes, the podcast for Radio 4’s Intrigue strand, Word of God unravels a trail from the halls of the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. to the back streets of Turkey, Jerusalem, Baghdad and the historic buildings of Oxford University.
‘The Museum of the Bible’ was established by the billionaire Green family and opened in November 2017.
In ‘Word of God’, Lewis reveals how this American family’s mission to establish the Bible’s historical authority and influence led them to being caught up in a web of looted artefacts, forgeries, and fraud.
The story begins in Oklahoma, where the Green family – owners of the Hobby Lobby craft store empire – started collecting biblical artifacts to create a museum that will show the Bible’s historical impact and centrality to American life through ancient objects.
After acquiring treasures at a staggering pace with 40,000 items in just three years, red flags among scholars were raised and eventually attracted the attention of federal investigators.
Some of the artefacts turned out to have been looted and others were identified as fakes. Thousands of pieces had to be returned to Iraq and Egypt, while a renowned Oxford professor’s role in the acquisitions had devastating consequences.
Lewis pieces together how it all happened, through exclusive interviews with key figures including evangelical scholars who advised the Greens; the federal prosecutor who uncovered an illegal importation scheme; the papyrologist-turned-detective Roberta Mazza who helped expose the scandal; and current and former Museum of the Bible officials dealing with the fallout.
The series reveals how thousands of allegedly looted artefacts ended up being shipped to Hobby Lobby stores labelled as “ceramic tiles,” while prized items like an ancient Babylonian tablet and fragments of early Christian texts were acquired through questionable means.
Commissioning Editor Daniel Clarke says: “This gripping series explores important questions about faith, power and cultural heritage, through a twisty-turny story that takes us into a world of wealthy collectors attempting to acquire ancient biblical artifacts at any cost.
“Word of God provides unprecedented access to the investigators, scholars and officials who brought this scandal to light, while painting a nuanced portrait of the billionaire Green family whose religious conviction led them into a moral and legal web that continues to reverberate through the worlds of faith, academia and international law enforcement today.”
Ben Lewis says: “As someone who’s spent years investigating art world scandals, I thought I’d seen it all. But this story goes beyond looted treasures and fraudulent artifacts – it reveals how a mission to celebrate the Bible’s role in American life led to one of the nation’s wealthiest families getting caught up in a web of international crime.
“Through unprecedented access to key players, from federal investigators to scholars-turned-sleuths, we uncover how the desperate rush to amass biblical artifacts at any cost sparked one of the largest antiquities scandals in modern history.”
Episode one will be released on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4 on 12th February.
