MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) Paul Christen graduated from Dakota Wesleyan University with a degree in economics in 1950. His wife, Donna, graduated from DWU in 1951 with majors in drama, speech and religion. The Christens have been active alumni serving on the DWU Board of Trustees and donating to the university over the decades since their graduation from Dakota Wesleyan. Their gifts were instrumental in making the Christen Athletic Center (the campus building connected to the LB Williams Elementary school) possible.
Yesterday (Wednesday October 9, 2024) Paul Christen gifted a St. John’s Bible as well as his late wife Donna’s personal Bible to Dakota Wesleyan University in honor of her memory. The Bible is number 155 of 299 copies of the original St. John’s Bible.
The original St. John’s Bible was the first-hand crafted Bible commissioned by a Benedictine monastery in over five hundred years, really the first-hand copied volume since modern printing began. The original is hand copied on vellum using crushed inks and oils created with technology used by monks five centuries ago. The St. John’s Bible spans 1100 pages with 160 illuminations adorning its pages. The original St. John’s Bible is on display at St. John’s University in Collegeville, a town in Minnesota located to the west of St. Cloud, Minnesota.
The Dakota Wesleyan copy is seven volumes, two of which will always be on display in the McGovern Library on the campus of DWU. The volumes on display will rotate from time to time. The volumes will be available to the public to page through and to read in the McGovern Library.
Dr. Daniel Kittle, the President of Dakota Wesleyan University, expressed his personal thanks as well as the gratitude of the Dakota Wesleyan campus community to Paul and the rest of the Christen family for their latest act of generosity to DWU.