Beaufort woman copied the Bible by hand. Here’s what we can learn from her
When Caroline Campbell announced she was going to copy the entire Bible by hand, using a pen and notepaper, even her mother wondered whether she would lose interest or how long it would take if she did finish.
Would she really stick with it through all 66 books, from the creation of the world to the second coming of Jesus?
Oh ye of little faith.
On June 6, Campbell will pen the final sentence of the Bible, Revelation 22:21, in a ceremony at Community Bible Church in Port Royal to mark the end of a writing project that began, of course, “In the beginning,” in 2012.
Over nearly 10 years, the plucky 28-year-old from Beaufort filled 43 plastic binders with 10,493 pages of note paper displaying her crisp penmanship.
Not once, she said, did she think about quitting.
“It shows more about the ability, and not the disability,” Jennifer Campbell says of her daughter’s determination to finish what she started.
Campbell has Down syndrome.
That hasn’t stopped her from living a normal life.
With a welcoming smile and big laugh, she holds down a part-time job at the restaurant Zaxby’s, and plays tennis in the Special Olympics. She sews and plays the piano, belting out Christian classics such as “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art.”
“Caroline has carved out her own path,” said her father, Kenny Campbell, a nurse.
Her 1,700-plus page pilgrimage through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, was inspired by the expository preaching of her pastor, Carl Broggi.
“Never,” says Campbell, when asked if she got bored or thought about quitting. “I would keep going.”
Sometimes, she would prop up the Bible against the family dog, a “super mutt” named Pesto, as she put pen to paper.
During family golf outings, Campbell would steal away to write after nine holes.
“She’s written in clubhouses all over South Carolina,” her father says.
Everywhere the family went, she gathered up a satchel of notebooks and pens and Bible, and off they went.
COVID-19 gave her more time to write
She used a 1973 New American Standard Bible as her guide. It has 782,815 words.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Campbell stepped it up and made more progress.
As new parents, the Campbells had questions when their daughter was born. They didn’t know much about Down syndrome.
Today, when Kenny Campbell is asked to speak with new parents of children with Down syndrome, he tells them two things: One, their child’s life will be normal. Second, the lives of the parents will be normal. That is, if they let their lives be normal.
“It’s very much a blessing,” says Jennifer Campbell, who works part-time at a jewelry store. “It’s a positive thing, whatever the disability might be.”
In a search, the Campbell’s discovered several people who have copied the Bible, including Phillip Patterson of New York, who wrote out the King James Bible in four years, finishing in 2013.
In her copying of the Bible, Caroline Campbell still provided lessons about discipline, the joy of writing and the capabilities of persons with Down syndrome or other disabilities that can serve as an inspiration for anybody, her parents say.
Campbell started out writing in notebooks, but when it became clear the project was not a flight of fancy, her mother decided to buy card stock because it is easier to write on and lasts longer.
Now the family is considering how to bind the 43 volumes of the young woman’s work into a single book.
For now, the binders of the Bible sit on a shelf below another shelf holding family books like “Pilgrim’s Progress” and “bringing up Boys” and soccer trophies. Campbell pulls one out and opens it. It’s the book of “Esther,” a story about a beautiful but humble girl who saved a generation with her bravery.
Campbell’s tiny frame belies a big heart, and her mother says she’s always happy. She dances tap, ballet and even some hip hop to entertain seniors at nursing homes. And she writes out the 23rd Psalm — “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” — and hand delivers it to those in the church who have lost a loved one.
Next Sunday, for the ceremony, Campbell plans to load the Bible binders in a wagon and wheel it into the church. It’s been a long haul. Then she’ll write the final sentence, which is, ”The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. “ Campbell says she loved every minute of the 10-year project and hopes it inspires others to write out the Bible, too.
Says her father: “We’ll be curious to see what she does next.”
This story was originally published May 30, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
