Customer Reviews

The Saint John's Bible: Wisdom Books

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Scribe to the Crown Office of British royalty, Jackson has undertaken a long-term project of illuminating and transcribing the Saint John's Bible held at the Benedictine Saint John's Abbey in Minnesota as medieval monastics illuminated Bibles centuries ago. The monks of the Abbey wanted a project that would bespeak their own regimen focusing in scripture, books, and religious art while at the same time be contemporary, interreligious, multicultural, and prophetic. This Wisdom Books counting Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Wisdom of Solomon, and Sirach is part of this singular project of 1,150 pages over seven volumes. The other volumes are Pantateuch, Historical Books, Psalms, Prophets, Gospels and Acts, and Letters and Revelation.

Besides being large in size, Jackson's volumes stay true to the making of the original illuminated manuscripts in both materials used and craftsmanship. Natural materials such as egg shells and calf skins were used for hand-ground inks. The manuscripts were entirely handmade by teams of craftspersons with various skills such as calligraphy, making parchment, and binding pages. This Wisdom Books goes so far in imitating medieval manuscripts as to also have some illustrations of small animals in the margins; in this case, a butterfly and bumblebee. One of the common examples of this touch in medieval manuscripts is an illustration of a cat; imagined to be whimsically put in by a monk in a moment of boredom with his task. Collaborators on this work include artists, designers, and specialists in Hebrew and Greek script (all listed on the copyright page).

Despite its inspiration in the medieval manuscripts which are treasures of Western civilization and reference to them as artistic models, the Wisdom Books is modern to be sure. The style of the illustrations manifests this, as does the script and footnote-like entries on many pages. And of course, this and other Saint John's Bible volumes have been multiplied beyond their original hand-crafted copy by modern-day publishing production technology.

In the volume, the original hand-drawn script, whatever size it was, is about twelve point type, much smaller than the size in medieval texts. The script displays the constrained ornate touches of medieval script, though it has the polish of many computer-generated scripts for easy legibility and comprehension. The smaller size of the script means much more text per page than in a medieval manuscript even with the folio-size pages. The illustrations--i. e., the illuminations--too manifest modern influences; most notably influences of collage, expressionism, and graphics. A couple are almost psychedelic in meaning to portray the dazzle and glory of spirituality. A couple have perspective missing from medieval illustrations (perspective having come into art not until about the time of the Renaissance). The planned volume on the making of the Bible will give more background on the making of the text and artistic choices and intentions of the art work.

This reproduction of the Wisdom Books of the St. John's Bible is beautiful. We saw a few of the the original manuscript pages in Minnesota last summer, before it was bound. The colors in this reproduction are true to the original. It will be an important part of our library. A fine translation and a beautiful work of art.

The books of the St. John's Bible are spectacular. The imagery is gorgeous, the colors are fantastic and the lettering is impeccable. I've even gone through the book just looking at the versals (drawn and painted letters at the beginnings of verses) because they are so varied. I might suggest that you purchase Illuminating the Word because it explains so much about the process. I plan to buy all the books of this series.

Beautiful! Gorgeous to hold and read and reflect on.
Arguably the most beautiful book published in the past 50 years.

For a great read aloud gift of wisdom for your home, the St. John's Illuminated Bible is a beauty. Visually a masterpiece, with calligraphy text and unparalleled illustrations to assist listeners, this new illuminated Bible is a great addition to the home for anyone interested in bringing back to ancient tradition of reading the Bible aloud with others. Though pricey for each section of the Bible, what a gift to give to another who is thirsting for a drink from the deep well of Scripture. In true Benedictine style and spirituality of excellence, the St. John community has outdone themselves, offering an extraordinary gift to the English speaking world!

For a practical book on family spirituality, including the habit of reading aloud from the Bible in your home, look into The Busy Family's Guide to Spirituality: Practical Lessons for Modern Living From the Monastic Tradition

PBS broadcasted the documentary on the Illuminated Bible back in 2004. When it was mentioned that the coffee table editions would be out, I thought, Oh, to own the set! So, now I have. I am, however, waiting for the other two editions to be published.

As a makerof tallitot--Hebrew prayer shawls--I've visited and done demonstrations in conjunction with the fascinating St.John's Bible exhibit here in Santa Fe. If you never get to see the original pages,twice as large as these over-sized books, you'll still be enchanted by the modern interpretations and calligraphy.