{"id":26087,"date":"2010-12-12T17:48:11","date_gmt":"2010-12-12T21:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/12\/benedictine-monks-create-first\/"},"modified":"2013-12-05T20:18:01","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T00:18:01","slug":"benedictine-monks-create-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/12\/benedictine-monks-create-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Benedictine monks create first handwritten Bible in 500 years"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"SJB2.jpg\"<\/a>Since the\u00a0beginning of Benedictine monasticism monks and nuns have written original works\u00a0of art that were used in the monastery library or assisting the praying\u00a0community. Some of the monks and nuns copied existing manuscripts in order to\u00a0have copies of a text in their own monastery or to send to other people. The\u00a0Benedictine way of life creates new things and it preserves others. Kindles and\u00a0iPads are somewhat foreign concepts in a culture that’s manual, personal and\u00a0original. But modern means ought not be totally dismissed as incongruent to the\u00a0old ways of doing things.<\/p>\n

The monks of Saint John’s Abbey and University have\u00a0commissioned the Saint John’s Bible, the first handwritten, Illuminated Bible,\u00a0the first work of this type in 500 years, that is, since the advent of the\u00a0printing press. Certainly, the monks are leaving their mark on Catholic culture in the US for centuries to come. The artists commenced in 1998 with the idea of igniting the\u00a0theological, liturgical and spiritual imagination of all people. The Saint\u00a0John’s Bible illuminates the Word of God for the 21st\u00a0century.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0dimensions of Saint John’s Bible is a manuscript that stands 2 feet tall and 3\u00a0feet wide when open. The head calligrapher is Donald Jackson, the calligrapher\u00a0to Queen Elizabeth II. Jackson proposed the idea to Benedictine Father Eric\u00a0Hollas who then waited three months before proposing the idea to Abbot John and\u00a0the monks of Saint John’s. It’s written on vellum, using quills, natural\u00a0hand-made inks, hand-ground pigments and gold leaf while incorporating various\u00a021st century themes, images and technology. Artwork includes images of the\u00a0World Trade Center towers, ashen skulls recalling the Cambodian killing fields,\u00a0flora and fauna of Minnesota<\/p>\n

On April 24, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI received the Books of Wisdom literature of the Saint\u00a0John Bible and said it was\u00a0\u00a0“a work\u00a0of art, a great work of art” and w “work for eternity.”<\/p>\n

More info on the\u00a0Bible project can be seen here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Portions of the Saint John’s Bible is on display at\u00a0The Church of Saint Paul the Apostle<\/b>\u00a0(9th Avenue & West 59th Street, NYC) until December 17.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the\u00a0beginning of Benedictine monasticism monks and nuns have written original works\u00a0of art that were used in the monastery library or assisting the praying\u00a0community. Some of the monks and nuns copied existing manuscripts in order to\u00a0have copies of a text in their own monastery or to send to other people. The\u00a0Benedictine way of life creates … Continue reading Benedictine monks create first handwritten Bible in 500 years<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[32089,2070],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26087"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29579,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26087\/revisions\/29579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}