Episcopal House of Prayer Books

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  The Art of the Saint John's Bible: The Complete Reader's Guide

  Susan Sink

  From the time that pages of The Saint John's Bible began touring in major exhibitions nearly a decade ago, people have been moved, captivated, and inspired by this stunning work of modern sacred art. But they often have questions about the illuminations that are scattered throughout the Bible, especially as they first become familiar with it. Why was a certain Scripture passage chosen for illumination rather than another? What materials and source imagery are behind the illuminations? The Art of The Saint John's Bible provides answers to these important questions and many others.

  Initially published in a series of three volumes, each book has now been revised by the author and included together in this helpful single volume. Since The Saint John's Bible is now complete, Susan Sink makes connections between recurring images and motifs throughout the work and reflects on the images with a view to the whole. Her book promises to intensify and expand the experience of all who come in contact with The Saint John's Bible.

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  Habits: 100 Word Stories

  Susan Sink

  "Habits" is a collection of 100-word stories about the life of Roman Catholic nuns in the twentieth century. These vignettes are based on material from oral histories and other stories. They chart changes to religious life and the experiences of American Benedictine women in the Midwest from the 1920s-1990s, with special focus on community life, prayer and work.

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  The Art of the Saint John's Bible

  Susan Sink

  In The Saint John's Bible, some of the world's top calligraphers, working in a tradition all but replaced by the printing press centuries ago, offer one of the most important sacred art achievements of our time. The Art of The Saint John's Bible: A Reader's Guide brings text and illumination together for reflection. This guide opens up the significance of elements in the illuminations, points out recurring visual motifs that connect the stories within and across the volumes, and offers insight into the thought processes and artistic vision behind the planning and execution of the images.

  This third volume of the series covers the final published volumes of The Saint John's Bible: Historical Books and Letters and Revelation. It offers an invitation to experience more deeply the illuminations that accompany some of the most influential texts in all the Scriptures.

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  The Art of the Saint John's Bible

  Susan Sink

  The Saint John's Bible provides an opportunity for people to experience the Scriptures in a new, but at the same time ancient, way. Here are illuminations that bring the words of the Bible alive for a contemporary audience. Some of the world's top calligraphers, working in a tradition all but replaced by the printing press centuries ago, invite us into a rich and varied creation. This second volume of The Art of The Saint John's Bible: A Reader's Guide takes up two great collections of biblical literature:Wisdom Books and Prophets.

  The illuminations in Wisdom Books and Prophets draw on motifs from earlier illuminations and expand the visual vocabulary to strike at what is unique and important to these books. In Wisdom Books we find a number of well-known and beloved aphorisms, or "words of wisdom." Here calligraphic text treatments take center stage. However, these books also portray the divine in the female figure of Wisdom, presented visually in several large-scale illuminations. The prophets' messages are often dark and strange, reflecting the grief of exile but also hope. The illuminations throughout these pages reflect visions of man's inhumanity, but they also burst with the rainbows of God's promise and glory. Lavishing equal attention on the biblical passages and the artistic vision of The Saint John's Bible, this guide is offered to enhance your experience and reflection.

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  The Art of the Saint John's Bible

  Susan Sink

  The Saint John's Bible provides an opportunity for people to experience the Scriptures in a new—but at the same time ancient—way. Here are illuminations that bring the words of the Bible alive for the contemporary world. Some of the world's top calligraphers, working in a tradition all but replaced by the printing press centuries ago, invite us into a rich and varied creation. The illuminations draw on and update Eastern iconographic and Western sacred art traditions, resulting in one of the most important sacred art achievements of our time.

  The Art of The Saint John's Bible: A Reader's Guide brings text and illumination together for reflection. This guide further opens up the significance of elements in the illuminations, and points out recurring visual motifs that connect the stories within and across the volumes. You will find here some of the history of the tradition of illuminated Bibles, as well as insight into the thought processes and artistic vision behind the planning and execution of the images. The guide covers the first three published volumes of The Saint John's Bible, Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospels and Acts. It includes information on the individual artists; an explanation of terms such as carpet pages and marginalia; an index of flora and fauna; and a chart of the chant tones used in Psalms. More importantly, it offers an invitation to experience the illuminations and the biblical text more deeply.

  This book features beautiful full color and black and white reproductions of more than 40 major artworks from the individual volumes and over two dozen reproductions of the minor elements (text treatments, marginalia, initials). It is the first book in a series of three, the second of which will feature the most recently released volumes, Prophets and Wisdom Books, while the third book will feature Historical Books and Letters and Revelation, the final volumes of The Saint John's Bible yet to be released.

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  The Way of All the Earth

  Susan Sink

  These poems have a visual richness, narrative depth and lyric beauty that invites the reader into their world. That world is populated by women in the grips of religious fanaticism, drunkards and child molesters, lovers and mothers and sisters, and at the center of it a young woman trying to find the words to tell the tales of a life, and make sense of the way we all struggle to cope with life's burdens and recognize life's beauty. These poems tell the story of the way we all do the best we can to love and to live. As one poem says, "It wasn't the healing, ever, that mattered./ It was the love, even done this poorly,/ what little we could do with what the world allowed:/our battered hands and this God."