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Christianity Today, September, 2007 |

The Bible in Brush & Stroke

Medieval and modern join forces in the Saint John's Bible.

Jennifer Trafton | posted 9/19/2007 06:10PM

A scribe bends intently over a worktable in his scriptorium in Monmouth, Wales. The page before him is vellum—calfskin sanded to a velvety smoothness. His goose quill pen has been hardened in hot ...

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T Carl

Posted: September 20, 2007 1:22 PM


How interesting that someone has decided to bring some of the Biblical art work forward to the twenty-first century. Two thumbs up.

shannon

Posted: September 20, 2007 9:52 AM

What a great idea! Christians who are in the arts should celebrate this and start to create professional,thoughtful,meaningful art that honors God and bring revival in the arts, good works can be created by Christians, not necessarily "Christian art". Art can be "used" for evangelical purposes, but creating art alone pleases God, because He is the God who creates and enjoy beautiful world He created. He is the greatest artist!

Simon Hope

Posted: September 19, 2007 7:29 PM


It is estimated that it took the skins of 200 sheep to make possible the creation of Codex Sinaiticus. That, of course, was back in the 4th century, a thousand years before the days of printing and paper. How many calves were sacrificed to make this more recent objet d'art possible?

John	Posted: September 19, 2007 5:02 PM

Those who fuss about the $4mil need to remember what Christ said in Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-8. The disciples were fussing about the "waste" of the nard, and Jesus called it "a beautiful thing". If those who are working on this illuminated manuscript desire to do a beautiful thing for Jesus, who are we to gainsay them? Even if their motives are not all "right" cannot God use this for His Glory? Feeding the poor is not the only way to serve the Lord. It may not even be the best way.

mike ross

Posted: September 19, 2007 4:26 PM


It is wonderful that the Protestant West is only now discovering the ancient understanding of "Illuminated" text. The Orthodox Catholic Church has been doing so for about 2000 years, and the Book of Kells (Ireland) was written in the 6th century. The Holy Orthodox Church has extant icons from 1000yrs ago, and we are still producing them today, (and no, they are NOT idols). Michael Ross

Nethinim

Posted: September 19, 2007 2:35 PM

It is human nature to decorate those things which hold what is so precious to us. The Bible is not the paper, ink and binding, but the Word within. The Church is not the building which merely houses Gods children, but His children within. New paint on the walls does not offend God, nor does a nice leather binding on the book that holds His word. He, I am sure recognizes it as an expression of love. I am sure as well that He would rather the money be put to better purposes.

njboss

Posted: September 19, 2007 2:24 PM


Beautiful...conceptually and aesthetically brilliant...art, as always, carries a price tag and should never be contrasted with what "should" or "could" have been done with the money used to create it..."Christian" art has suffered for far too long because of so much tunnel vision that has kept it from flourishing the way it should...hopefully we are leaning closer to a new renaissance...

Gordon

Posted: September 19, 2007 2:12 PM

"The poor you will have with you always," Alan. People can contribute to both. This book is a tribute to Christ and to Christianity. It may do more in bringing people to Christ than you could ever imagine. Do you think God is in control? Maybe he is in control of this. I am not Catholic, but I appreciate the splendor of what is being done. If money were truly a problem, the we would produce no Bibles at all because we could redirect that money to feeding the poor. But some of us agree with Christ, "Man does not live on bread alone."

Jerry Stovall

Posted: September 19, 2007 2:00 PM

When reading Alan Paul's comments, I was reminded of Chapter 12 of the Gospel of John wherein Mary annointed the head of Jesus with "pure nard, an expensive perfume ...." (NIV) Judas Iscariot objected to this, stating that the perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor. I will agree with Alan on this: $4,000,000 is a large sum of money. But I am reluctant to presume to speak for the Lord Jesus Christ on such matters. I thought the art work was fantastic. Centuries ago most of western art dealt with Christian themes, but now for some reason artists avoid them. Perhaps this project will spark a revival in Christian art.

Laura

Posted: September 19, 2007 1:12 PM

I am so glad that Christianity Today covered this story and was gratified to read about the project. One of the quoted remarks struck on a pet peeve of mine, however. I am a Catholic. Catholics do venerate the Bible, if anything, we venerate it too highly. Every Sunday one large beautiful Bible is marched triumphantly into the sanctuary, held aloft by the priest, as the church sings the opening hymn. It is a sign of unity and of authority. There are none in the pews. One God, One Church, One Book. My religion teacher, a former nun, would kiss any Bible that happened to touch the floor before returning it to its place. Protestants whom I know have an easy familiarity with the Book, carrying it everywhere, subjecting it to quite a beating, losing one copy, getting another. Many lay Catholics feel anxious about studying the Bible. I think that they feel this way because they do not want to misinterpret it or show the text disrespect, not because they don't venerate Scripture.

Alan Paul

Posted: September 19, 2007 12:26 PM

Great art. Terrible examples of Biblical stewardship. $4 mill would go a long way towards feeding and clothing the needy or helping families out of the clutches of abuse and neglect or any other assortment of ills destoring people in this world... what a waste of money. I can't help but think Jesus would not approved of this. This is nothing short of a $4 million idol for us to gaze upon once it's finished.

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