Pictured left to right: Dr. Joel Elowsky, professor of Historical Theology, director of Center for the Study of Early Christian Texts and coordinator of International Seminary Exchange Programs; Masaaki Suzuki, founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan and Bruce Durazzi, librarian, special collections.

It was an honor to have a special visit Nov. 8 by Masaaki Suzuki, the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan. Suzuki, a Mozart specialist, made his debut conducting the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Chorus Nov. 9. Suzuki had long wanted to see the Seminary’s Bach Bible. When he entered the library reading room, he said, “Wow.” He said others had encouraged him to go up in the Gateway Arch but it was the Bach Bible that he was most excited about during his visit to St. Louis.

The three-volume Bible Commentary compiled by 17th-century Lutheran theologian Abraham Calov and once in the library of J.S. Bach, has been in the Concordia Seminary library collection since it was gifted by the Reichle family of Frankenmuth, Mich., in the 1930s.

Learn more about the Bach Bible.