School of Theology and Seminary Faculty Publications

The Saint John's Bible Project: What's It Worth?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Disciplines

Art and Design | Arts and Humanities | Biblical Studies | Book and Paper | Catholic Studies | Illustration | Liturgy and Worship | Religion

Abstract

This paper explains how The Saint John's Bible Project relates to the life of faith. The project is more than the practice of calligraphy or the illuminating of sacred texts with decorative miniatures and colourful initials. For those who come to view it, it can ignite the spiritual imagination and engage the cognitive abilities in a transformative way. Sacred word and thought require for that transformation something more than being bombarded by digital images. They occasion what they demand—a pause or slow reading that Benedictine monks recognize as lectio divina for the heart and eye to become open to beauty and lived truth. Sacred text as work of art, no different from divine liturgy, holds out the possibility of breaking up illusions that get in the way of the Christian life.

Comments

DOI: 10.3138/tjt.26.2.215

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