I had never heard of Saint John’s Bible until last week. However, in the past few days, I have been reading a lot about it from the internet. My niece heard that is was going to be at one of the local museums and asked if Jacki and I would like to go. Therefore, we went that last Thursday evening. We got there at about 5 o’clock, which was perfect. We walked right in. Within the next thirty minutes, there were so many people that the museum staff was only allowing so many people into the exhibit room at one time. As one person left, they would allow one person in.
It was an amazing to see. First, let me give you some background information. The Abbey Church of Saint John the Baptist has commissioned this bible. It is the place of worship for the monastic community of Saint John’s Abbey. It is the home of Saint John the Baptist Parish and is the primary place of worship for the Saint John’s University community.
Donald Jackson, who is the Queen’s Scribe, was the one who undertook this project. Saint John’s is also know for there 1500-year monastic tradition and its long-standing commitment to manuscript preservation, which it why they got involved in commissioning this project. The Saint John’s Board of Regents and the monastic community got together to seen if they wanted to do this, and they decide that, “Yes, we want to embark on this monumental project. We want Donald Jackson to bring the Word of God to life on vellum for the next five hundred years.”
Let me state, before I go on, that I do not agree with this bible being written. I will get more into that later. I want to spend a little time describing how this bible is being written, which I do find fascinating. Most of the information about Saint John’s Bible, I get from either their website, or employee’s at the museum.
It has been about five hundred years since a scribe has written the bible in this way. Basically, since the creation of the printing press, the bible has never been written by a scribe. Donald Jackson and his team are writing this bible just like they would have hundreds of years ago. No synthetic paints were used. It is some sort of process of the yolk of and egg, and dies, and proteins, etc. They would also use quill feathers to write with. Everything was written on, what was called vellum, which is processed animal hid that is thin, smooth, and durable.
All of the materials, and even processes were done just like they were back in the medieval time when a scribe would write the bible. However, they interesting part of the processes used, is that they do use modern technology to communicate and talk back and forth. Donald Jackson and his team are in Wales, Scotland, and Saint John’s Abbey is in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This bible is not the size that you would normally be thinking of. It is roughly, about two feet wide, by three feet tall. Therefore, it is a large bible. It is also, not going to be just one book. It will be many volumes that will make up the one bible. It is scheduled to be completed in the year 2010.
The version of the bible that they are using is the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). Three main reason of why they chose this version. First, its predecessor was officially authorized by use of all Christian churches: Protestant, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Eater Orthodox. Second, the NRSV includes gender-inclusive language. Lastly, it has been approved by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (1991) for liturgical use in Canada, and in the United States.
Now, as I stated before, I said that I am against this bible being written. One main reason that I do not agree with this is, as they say on there website, “It interprets and illustrates scripture from a contemporary perspective, reflecting a multicultural world and humanity’s enormous strides in science and technology.” As they told me at the museum, that the purpose behind this bible is to make it appealing to everyone. They do not want to offend anyone, no matter what their belief or religion. Therefore, this is basically a progressive, politically correct bible. Let me say, that they are not changing scripture, that is staying the same, thankfully. The politically correct part of the bible that I am referring to is the pictures of art work on the pages that are drawn that correlate to a particular passage that is on that page.
For example, one of the pages in the Psalms had various pictures on it that seemed a little odd. The information page next to it, explained how Saint John’s Abbey included Native American, Hinduism, Muslim, and various other Easter religions in the artwork. According to this information page, these religions are part of Saint John’s Theology and worship. I even spoke to one of the people that was running this exhibit, and talked to her about this incorporation of various other religions, that are not Christian, and she basically told me that I was interpreting the bible wrong.
If it were just art work, I would say that it is fabulous! It is some of the most exquisite modern day art work I have ever seen. However, it is not just art work, because it is placed right next to the living word of God. Which does not and never will include any other religion. It is solely Christian!
Defenders of this bible would argue that the scripture has not been changed. I would disagree that the context of the message has been changed. Most people are going to be looking at the artwork around the scripture, not reading the scripture for what it says.
It is done very much so in the Catholic traditions. Bright colors, gold, fancy pictures, etc. In a day when most people want to say that there are no absolute truths, now these same people are trying to make the bible appealing to everyone, because we don’t want to offend anyone. So let us mask the truth with lies, so no one gets offended. Right?
WRONG!
