Date: July 31, 2025
He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.
~ Ezra 7:6 (NRSVue)
Archiving is not merely about preserving dusty old documents to meet legal requirements or serve the occasional academic historian. It is the active work of memory—preserving stories, reconciling accounts, correcting the record, and uplifting silenced voices. In this regard, modern archivists continue the sacred tradition of the scribe—a vocation to which all societies owe deep gratitude.
From Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets to Egyptian hieroglyphs and Hebrew scrolls, ancient scribes meticulously copied texts by hand. These writings, often inscribed on papyrus, stone, or parchment, were housed in temples and palaces, underscoring their sacred and treasured status. Scribes were not merely copyists but also scholars—interpreters, teachers, and stewards of culture—preserving the religious and philosophical wisdom of their communities for future generations.
The Abrahamic faiths, in particular, are indebted to—and I would argue dependent on—the ministry of scribes. The so-called “People of the Book” have relied on carefully preserved texts to sustain and interpret their faith. Without this vocation, these religions may never have moved beyond small tribal traditions. The ministry of the scribe has always been essential to the mission of God in the world, performing three vital tasks of spiritual formation: preservation, education, and reconciliation.1
The work of an archivist, much like that of the ancient scribe, is a calling. It is holy work—carried on today in the Seminary Archives and the African American Episcopal Historical Collection.
Denton Waits
Seminary Archivist
- Joshua Denton Waits, Queer Reconciliation: Re-Membering LGBTQIA+ Experiences at Virginia Theological Seminary, Virginia Theological Seminary: Alexandria, 2025.