St. John’s Bible, A Masterwork in Progress
St. John’s University is in the process of producing a, handwritten, illuminated Bible of the sort produced in medieval days. Why? Here’s the first Q&A from their faq:
Q1. Why has Saint John’s University commissioned a handwritten Bible? What is the significance of a handwritten Bible?
- Igniting spiritual imagination
- First handwritten Bible in the modern era, commissioned by a Benedictine Monastery
- Using ancient techniques
- Incorporating modern methods and themes
At the onset of a new millennium, Saint John’s University and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey are seeking to ignite the spiritual imagination of people throughout the world by commissioning a work of art that illuminates the world today. This will be the first time in 500 years that a Benedictine Monastery has commissioned a handwritten, illuminated Bible. Its construction will parallel that of its medieval predecessors, written on vellum, using quills, natural handmade inks, hand-ground pigments and gold leaf while incorporating modern themes, images and technology of the 21st century.
Walking the Walk
It really doesn’t matter who we are, none of us are consistent in our practice of the worldview that we hold. If we are unbelievers who have thought through exactly what we do and don’t believe, we can only come out with a final conculsion that the world and all the individual things in it, are absurd. As Francis Schaeffer used to say, the result of “the impersonal plus time, plus chance.”
Schaeffer used to point out that the both notorious, and noted athiest, Bertrand Russel, had concluded that humanity’s final destination was an ignominious consignment to return to the dirt. Nevertheless, he gave himself to those issues that he viewed as moral causes. Though he thought that it really didn’t matter whether one behaved “well” or “badly” he often championed the cause of peace. Even an athiest cannot behave like one consistently.
From the starting point of Christian faith, one faces a high bar indeed. The Bible is clear that we all miss the mark of God’s perfect standard. Who is consistent in living out the most fundamental of the precepts of the faith? Nevertheless, in another way the Christian is the most consistent of all in that the Christian is the thankful participant in the redemptive work of Christ. By His finished work even our worst inconsistencies may be stricken from remembrance forever!Â
God knows what we are made of and has provided for those of our inconsistencies that are truly sinful, but appropriation of that provision is only possible by faith.
