Giant, Handwritten, Hand-Illuminated Bible Sparks Wonder Among Faithful
- Posted on January 24, 2012 at 11:31pm by
Tiffany Gabbay
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Fifteen years in the making, a striking, handwritten, hand-illuminated Saint John’s Bible — the first commissioned since the advent of the printing press more than 500 years ago — will be on display for the very first time in Northern California’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, according to the Sacramento Bee.
The bible will be the focus of a special ecumenical worship service in observance of Christian Unity Week, which concludes Wednesday. Astonishingly, the bible on display at the Cathedral is one of 299 copies of the handwritten bible.
“This Bible indicates the relevance of God’s word today and the beauty of it,” said the Rev. Michael Kiernan, rector of the Cathedral in downtown Sacramento. ”This is the highlight of Christian unity week, it brings faiths together around the word of God.”
The handwritten Bible, according to church leaders, is all the more profound given that it was created in the digital age.
Rev. Rick Cole of Capital Christian Center, slated to read scripture and talk about the Saint John’s Bible during the service, stated:
“I really appreciate the value of the work ethic involved, the hours invested in making art, especially something with a spiritual foundation. It‘s a special gift that shouldn’t be ruled out because of technology.”
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Comments (59)
jokync
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 3:27pmWow!
There is an amazing Jeremiah exhibit you should see at Armstrong Auditorium .org
more at THETRUMPET.COM
Report Post »FoxholeAtheist
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 3:26pmVery pretty. A beautiful piece of artwork.
Report Post »Just in time
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:19pmWhy so many churches and so many religions? Could it be because here in America we have freedoms. And one of them is freedom of religion
Report Post »Jinglebob
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 3:06pmPraise to all envolved.
Report Post »DeavonReye
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 3:24pmNo,. . . . .that isn’t the reason why there are so many religions.
Report Post »SavedByTheLamb
Posted on January 27, 2012 at 9:46pmActually you may be on to something there. Have you ever heard of the heresy of Americanism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americanism_%28heresy%29
Americans don’t like to be told what to do. That’s what makes it hard for some to be obedient.
God Bless America
Report Post »billrow
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 8:45amIlluminated or illustrated?
Or is illuminated a religious term?
Report Post »Katydidnt
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 9:26amIlluminated is a religious term. Back when everything was hand written most of the world was illiterate so they would “Illuminate” the written word with pictures for the illiterate. That is the same reason they had stained glass windows and religious paintings. Books were enourmously expensive, the vellum (parchment) alone would have cost about 7 years wages for the average man. These Bibles were usually chained to a table near a window in the church, so that people could come read it, but not carry it away with them.
Report Post »The printing press revolutionized Chrisitanity and the world. Many of the Catholic traditions that Protestants obect to stem from the time when 95% of the populace was illiterate and had to have the scriptures proclaimed to them, rather than reading it for themselves. The monks did start schools to teach people but without tractors and appliances most people had to engage in hard labor just to live and eat. Education for children wasn’t a priority.
Stoic one
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:58pmkaty,
That was illuminating.
thank you
Report Post »ThankYouFounders
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 2:50pmThank you Katy, that was a nice bit of education.
Report Post »B_rad
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 8:43pmThank you, Katy, I had been wondering the same thing. What a beautiful tribute to the Lord’s word. The effort and talent that went into this book is truly extraordinary!
Report Post »thinkingright
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 8:08amWTH is the post from isabella? Blaze can’t you stop that crap?
Report Post »LouC57
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 7:53amIt’s a lovely work of art and devotion, if nothing else.
Report Post »RRFlyer
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 10:01amNo one is claiming it is anything else.
Report Post »RRFlyer
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 10:03amSorry, I misread. I guess it is as bad to respond if you misread as it is to submit before proofreading
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 7:48amNo matter what your views on religion are, I still think a great big pretty book like that should be copied and mass-produced so people can buy one. It would make a lovely conversation piece on the bookcase, right next to “Arguing With Idiots”. Then stick the original in a museum somewhere, under glass so nobody can touch it.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 7:29amToo bad that we do not have the Technology to reproduce it…
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 8:52amYou’re being sarcastic, right?
Report Post »Nemo13
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 5:10amNice book. The rest of you idiot crybabys whining about fluff need to go whipe your lip.
Report Post »Amos37
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 5:08amA lot of churches have their own book. no wonder His Word is so watered down, they always think they need to make it “more interesting”. the only “interesting” part is that so many people are more faithful to the beliefs of “their church” than to the Word of God.
Report Post »Rob Adkerson
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 6:16amYes, but as you alluded to, which words are “His” words? If you claim to know, I suspect you must be talking about the old hebrew bible. But of course, even that one was picked at and the books chosen by people to determine what people determined were the most pertinent books.
Report Post »SavedByTheLamb
Posted on January 27, 2012 at 9:54pmThe Holy Spirit guided the Catholic Church when it assembled the Canon of Scripture.
http://www.davidmacd.com/catholic/timeline_of_how_the_bible_where.htm
The old testament was originally taken from the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of Hebrew scripture. It included the the deutero-canonical books (i.e. Maccabees) which were later removed in the Reformation.
This is sad, two thirds of the references to the old testament in the new testament are to those books later removed.
The illuminations do not change the text of the bible, they are meant to glorify the word of God through the beautiful art work. This is not a 21st century invention.
Report Post »PoliticalSmackdown {Subscribe & Friend me on YouTube}
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 5:06amJews do it Every day. go look at a Torah scroll it is hand made and has NO mistakes!
Report Post »ThankBabyJesus
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 4:48amIs there an app for that?
Report Post »Witness1974
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:50amIt is the Holy Spirit who preserved the Bible, NOT the Catholic church. Just goes to show how God can even use corrupted institutions and terribly flawed individuals to accomplish His purposes, one of which is to communicate His truth to men and women in every generation.
Report Post »65Mustang
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 9:10amI agree with your statement, the Bible has survived because of God, not the Catholic church.
Report Post »CETMEONFIRE
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:11pmJesus’ one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is in fact soley responsible for the preservation of the ancient writings of the apostles and their disciples. It is also soley responsible for determining which of the HUNDREDS of so called “apostolic writings” were really the inspired word of God. Christ’s Church, the one he promised to lead into ALL truth settled on 27 of the books.
The fact that you accept the 27 book New Testament means that you accept the authority of the Catholic Church’s infallable decsion that these and ONLY these books are in fact the (New Testament) inspired word of God.
YIC -
Report Post »by faith
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 6:25pmTimeline of how the Bible came to us
Report Post »AD 51-125 – The New Testament books are written.
AD 140 Marcion, a businessman in Rome, taught that there were two Gods: Yahweh, the cruel God of the Old Testament, and Abba, the kind father of the New Testament. Marcion eliminated the Old Testament as scriptures and, since he was anti-Semitic, kept from the New Testament only 10 letters of Paul and 2/3 of Luke’s gospel (he deleted references to Jesus’s Jewishness). Marcion’s “New Testament”, the first to be compiled, forced the mainstream Church to decide on a core canon: the four Gospels and Letters of Paul. AD 367 The earliest extant list of the books of the NT, in exactly the number and order in which we presently have them, is written by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in his Festal letter # 39.
AD 382 Council of Rome (whereby Pope Damasus started the ball rolling for the defining of a universal canon for all city-churches). Listed the New Testament books in their present number and order.
AD 393 the Council of Hippo, which began “arguing it out.” Canon proposed by Bishop Athanasius.
AD 397 The Council of Carthage, which refined the canon for the Western Church, sending it back to Pope Innocent for ratification. In the East, the canonical process was hampered by a number of schisms (esp. within the Church of Antioch).
GloriousBaconMan
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:43amIt matters not how ‘pretty’ a lie is, it is still a lie.
Report Post »holy ghostbuster
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 6:26amYou can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig!
Report Post »RRFlyer
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 10:04amyou can deny and keep your eyes closed all your life, but the Truth is still the Truth.
Report Post »DeavonReye
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 10:41am@rrflyer. . . “you can deny and keep your eyes closed all your life, but the Truth is still the Truth.”
Very true. Religion has kept people’s eyes closed to the truth for a couple of millenia, whether involuntary [due to ignorance] or because “that’s the way I was raised to believe, and ain’t gonna change now!”. The TRUTH IS coming to the forefront, giving us a realistic look at what actually transpired before there WAS a Canon.
A great quote: “It is possible for god not to exist. It is impossible for truth not to exist.”
Report Post »begreen
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:02amMatthew 9:6-8. The people were amazed and they glorified God who had given such authority to MEN [plural].
Report Post »jdawson
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:00amI wonder if they’ll chain it to the pulpit and perforate the pages of those seven non-canonical books. ;-)
Report Post »SavedByTheLamb
Posted on January 27, 2012 at 9:59pmTwo thirds of the references to the old testament in the new testament are to those 7 books.
Let’s be real. The bibles were chained to the pulpit so they wouldn’t be stolen. The hand-written copies were very, very expensive. Anyone who could read, could go to the pulpit to read it.
Report Post »jdawson
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:58amI wonder if they’ll chain it to the pulpit. ;-)
Report Post »grizzlydave
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:54amOne word, WONDERFUL!
Report Post »begreen
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:49am) Why do we have some 25,000 + Protestant denominations all over the world, many teaching doctrines that absolutely contradict one another, when they all go by the Bible alone? Isn’t the Bible easy enough for everyone to read and come to the same conclusion?
Report Post »Got2bRoni
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:16amDoh! the truth shall set you free!! I guess the inquisition meant nothing to thrse folks. The catholic church is a sham. People are waking up to the truth. Just look at all the empty pews on sunday…..
Report Post »PATTY HENRY
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 2:14amConverting to the Catholic Church was the best thing I’ve ever done. You knock it because you don’t know it. Empty Pews? In Europe there are empty Churches, churches being torn down. The Mega Churches here are great if they attract People to Christ. For me and my family? We’ve found our Home.
Report Post »hillbillyinny
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 11:26am@ begreen
Why so many different churches? Answer from the Bible, I Corinthians 1:10-17. There should not BE factions among the Church of Christ (between the people rather than formal divisions).
But in also in Corinthians (Ch. 15) Paul presents a fairly long preaching on “head covering” only to end the discussion with, “13 Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her[a] for a covering. 16 But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.” The bottom line in otherwords is, “Judge among yourselves. . . we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.” So there WILL be differences in LOCAL CHURCHES (fellowships).
On the basics we should agree Father, Son, Sprit, separate but One, Son sent to earth to “Seek and to Save,“ and that we might ”Know the Father,” died, entombed, and rose now sitting on the right hand of God, to return Believers’ promised Gift of Eternal Life with Him. All the rest are rubrics, sort of like following the Law by rote instead of by Love. . .
Report Post »SavedByTheLamb
Posted on January 27, 2012 at 10:03pmPlease Read.
http://www.scripturecatholic.com
Report Post »http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/index.html
SavedByTheLamb
Posted on January 27, 2012 at 10:16pmFrom Dei Verbum (Vatican II)
11. Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles (see John 20:31; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-20, 3:15-16), holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.(1) In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him (2) they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, (3) they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted. (4)
Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings (5) for the sake of salvation. Therefore “all Scripture is divinely inspired and has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, for reformation of manners and discipline in right living, so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every kind” (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Greek text).
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:39amReguardless of the less than perfect history of the church I find it a wonderful thing that God has done by preserving His written Word for us in these last days. I‘m protestant in my faith but I’m thankful the Catholic church was faithful to do what God called her to do. God knew the perfect time for the reformers to do their part by hastening the spread of the written word. Catholics and Protestants are both servants in the hands of the Almighty God. When it‘s all said and done we’ll understand just how insignificant our differences have been. Faith in the risen Jesus is what’s important.
Report Post »pennswoods
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:46amThe Catholic Church, East and West, is a perfect Church run by imperfect men serving a perfect God.
Report Post »FearAndTrembling
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:13amIt is surprising that so many are unaware that the Catholic Church compiled the Bible.
Report Post »elihu
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:34amThe RCC compiled the Bible?! Whew; you’d better go back to your history books…
Report Post »darkimagesoflight
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 10:37amIt depends which canon you are speaking of, and what year you declare that the things went from being “the early church” to being “the Catholic Church.” The modern catholic cannon was not completely adopted until the fifth century. Considering that Christianity became the state religion in Rome in 380, there is a reasonable argument that it was under the RCC that the Bible w/Apocropha was indeed Catholic formed.
Report Post »If you are looking to the Protestant bible, then that did not come for many years later.
Vasbyt
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:11amYou obviously have never seen a Torah scroll. Each orthodox Jewish synagogue has several Torah scrolls that are hand written with a quill in Hebrew, and each letter has to be perfect. Some of these Torah scrolls are hundreds of years old and are in great condition. And note this, not one letter is changed over the thousands of years of Judaism, it is what Jesus would have read.
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOxdpJaZbZo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzHwz9BUFtc
pennswoods
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:39amThe same concept applies to the Christian bible which was carefully hand copied by monk scribes in remote monasteries since the early church over many centuries until the invention of the printing press by Johannes Guttenberg in the 1480′s. One of the most beautiful examples is the Book of Kells copied and illuminated by Irish monks in the 5th century. These Western European monks invented the codex or book which we use today rather than scrolls. The first book printed on his newly invented printing press was the bible in Latin. As Democrutisoldier said so well those hand copied bibles before the invention of the printing press were priceless as it took as long as a year to copy and illuminate one so they were not just laying around cathedrals and churches to be picked up by thieves. They had to be chained to the wall or flag stone floor to stop thievery.
Report Post »Sebastian Xavier
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:08amDefinition of hand-illuminated for dummies like me:
Report Post »http://www.illuminatedpage.com/history.html
democritusoilder267
Posted on January 24, 2012 at 11:39pmI live in Sacramento and would have to see this.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on January 24, 2012 at 11:38pmWhat a concept, The Roman Catholic Church displays the Holy Bible it once forbid the reading of.
Report Post »democritusoilder267
Posted on January 24, 2012 at 11:48pmI would have to respectfully disagree with your comment. A few months ago I was reading this and a number of other questions relating to misconceptions about the Catholic church. I would like to point out that I’m not a Catholic. Even though growing up I was a fan of Pope John Paul II. Here is a paragraph that I believe will answer my response.
“This myth has come about because Bibles were often locked away in Churches in the past, but that was not to prevent people having access – it was to prevent them being stolen. These were hand written Bibles which were incredibly valuable due to scarcity. Furthermore, people think the Church forbade people from reading the Bible by putting it on the Index of Forbidden Books, but the Bibles placed on the Index were Protestant versions (lacking 7 books) or badly translated versions – the most famous of which is the King James Version which Catholics are not supposed to use.” This is the information I read. What are your thoughts on this subject?
http://listverse.com/2009/07/13/top-10-misconceptions-about-the-catholic-church/
Report Post »ijava44
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:04amReally????? How many hospitals and schools have you built. Sheezzzz.
Report Post »pennswoods
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:20amThe Catholic Church, in the Latin West and the Orthodox East, preserved the bible by having it‘s monks hand copy it generation after generation passing it down through time from the early Church so that eventually by the early 1500’s the Protestant Reformers could have that Latin bible to translate into German and other languages. The first book printed on Johann Guttenberg‘s newly invented printing press in the 1480’s, almost 40 years before the Catholic priest and monk Martin Luther translated the bible into German, was the bible printed in Latin. No Catholic Church no bible.
Report Post »jcannon98188
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:31amWhat does building hospitals and schools have to do with reading the bible? Islam has caused nermous hospitals and schools to be made. Doesn’t mean they had people read the bible. (Nothing against the Catholic Church, I respect them greatly. Simple pointing out the idiocracy of the above comment)
Report Post »RRFlyer
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 10:07amPeople change history every day. We live in a world of make believe for anything that happened over 50 years ago.
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