Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” meets readers at the intersection of faith and news. Click to join nearly 10,000 subscribers who get this column delivered straight to their inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged

OKLAHOMA CITY — In the early 1960s, Ron Bever paid 50 cents — roughly $5.34 in today’s dollars — for an old religious book at an estate sale.

A rare books enthusiast, even Bever didn’t realize at first what a treasure he’d acquired.

“You always think about going to a book sale and finding some rare book,” Bever told me in 1994, when I interviewed him about his collection of historic, out-of-print and hard-to-find hardbacks numbering more than 15,000. “This is one time in a lifetime.”

In fact, people are still talking about his find six-plus decades later — and three years after the longtime Oklahoma Christian University speech professor died at age 88.

Just this past week, family, friends and university leaders gathered to dedicate a special library display showcasing Bever’s collection, a major portion of which he donated to Oklahoma Christian, my alma mater, before his passing.

Read the full column.

This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.

Photo by Kelly Araujo