The Saint John's Bible (Tuesday, Jan 24 2012)

The session today on the Saint John’s Bible blew my mind.  Not going to lie.  It was cra~zy!  The Saint John's Bible is a work of art and a work of theology. A team of artists coordinated by Donald Jackson in Wales and a team of scholars in Central Minnesota have brought together the ancient techniques of calligraphy and illumination with an ecumenical Christian approach to the Bible rooted in Benedictine spirituality. The result is a living document and a monumental achievement.  This is the first undertaking of this sort by the church in 500 years.  It took a team of 6 calligraphists a combined time of 20 years to hand scribe every word alone!  Check it out!

We spent the session immersed in the artistic imagery found throughout the Saint John’s Bible.  It may interest you to know that each image is loaded with interfaith imagery and subtleties … every time we looked we caught something new that we had missed the first time.  I’m sure there’s still more to be found!  One of the artistic images is of the Earth from space (something that couldn't have been done 500 years ago!)  Every image was created by an ecumenical / interfaith team of artists and theologians.

The finished product will be seven volumes, bound in welsh oak, weighing a combined total of 350 pounds!  Imagine being a part of of monumental work like this, which will endure for over 500 years! 

I wanna touch it … can I touch it? … I really wanna touch it!