Last week I traveled to St. Luke’s parish in Darien to look at a Bible. This is not just any ordinary Bible, oh no. This Bible is modern, ancient, colorful, powerful, timely, and classic all in one.
The folks at St. Luke’s are spending a year with The Saint John’s Bible. A project initiated by Pam Anderson, the wife of St. Luke’s former rector, David Anderson.
I had the pleasure of walking through The Saint John’s Bible with two of their docents, Kim Westcott and Deidre Hogan. St. Luke’s first acquired their copy in December. The community has seven docents and 29 parish volunteers who are trained and available to assist parishioners, visitors, community members, and really anyone who is interested, with the Bible.
The Saint John’s Bible was an idea birthed by world renowned calligrapher and artist Donald Jackson and the monks at Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN in 1995. The idea was to create a hand-written illuminated Bible, the first in 500 years – since the printing press. The Bible is written in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) and took six artists and six calligraphers eleven years to complete (2000 – 2011). The illuminations offer a mixture of modern and medieval art, often through a collaborate effort between multiple artists.
You can click on the image to view them as a slideshow. There are captions to each photo that will not appear in the slideshow, however. I would suggest you look first throughout the whole post, then go back and take some time with each photo as its own entity.
Okay enough text, on to the images . . .
The copy at St. Luke’s is a part of the Heritage edition from the Saint John’s University, and it travels with a leather case and linen sleeve. 
Diedre Hogan (left) and Kim Westcott (right) are two of the seven trained docents. 
One of the parishioners at St. Luke, Tim Ward, crafted a custom stand for the Bible.
The Saint John’s Bible is complete in seven volumes. The sixth volume, Gospels & Acts, was the first to be completed and is the volume at St. Luke’s.
- Volume 1: Pentateuch
- Volume 2: Historical Books
- Volume 3: Wisdom Books
- Volume 4: Psalms
- Volume 5: Prophets
- Volume 6: Gospels & Acts
- Volume 7: Letters & Revelation
The illuminations throughout the text are extraordinary. From the Genealogy of Jesus in the shape of a menorah at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, to the first ever depiction of the Earth seen from space as the “ends of the Earth” in Acts, the six artists were very attentive to both detail and delicacy.
Gospel of Matthew 
Gospel of Mark 
Gospel of Luke 
Gospel of John
Moving through The Saint John’s Bible is a spiritual, visual, and textual experience. The holiness of the stories, the colors and imagery, and the details of the script draw you in and makes you want to sit, read, and inwardly digest the story of our Lord all over again.
The beatitudes was probably my favorite page. 
The details for when a scribe forgot to add a line. 
The story of Loaves and Fishes.
“They ate and were filled.”
Kim, one of the docents of the Bible, turns the page from the corner. No gloves are needed for these linen pages. 
All of the Entomology artwork reflects the native insects of Collegeville, Minnesota, home of the St. John’s University and monastery. 
Note what looks like the bleed through from the next page — that is actually a watermark printed on that page to look like a bleed through to give the page an authentic look like the 1100+ vellum page original. Every page has a watermark of the reverse of the reverse page. 
The script – or font – was designed just for this Bible by the artistic director and head calligrapher and artist, Donald Jackson. 
The parables. Note the gold Twin Towers, the creation of this Bible witnessed the September 11, 2001 attacks, artists found a beautiful way to incorporate it. 
The story of the woman caught in adultery. There was a whole team dedicated to choosing which stories were to be illuminated. 
Note the gold! Each replica is gilded with gold to look authentic. 
Deidre, another docent, points out the bell tower of the St. John’s University campus hidden in the artwork, a common reoccurrence throughout. 
The first ever depiction of the Earth as it looks from Space in a Bible. Note that Africa is the continent featured. 
This “rose window” like pattern is predominant throughout several illustrations and pages.
St. Luke’s will host several events throughout 2019 around The Saint John’s Bible, including welcoming Suzanne Moore, one of the artists at their adult education hour on May 5 at 9:00 a.m. and at the local arts community at 2:00 p.m. Also, St. Luke’s will welcome Michael Patella, the chair of the Committee on Illumination and Text for the project, on September 19.
For more information about The Saint John’s Bible at Saint Luke’s, including how visiting the Bible with a docent contact Saint Luke’s Parish at 203-655-1456.
For more information about the creation of The Saint John’s Bible go to the Saint John’s website: www.saintjohnsbible.org
Editor’s note: The pictures above do not do this Bible justice; you have to see it for yourself.
Thank you for this story of the unique. St. John’s Bible, the first story of many to come! I’ve re-posted it on the Facebook Page for St. Francis Episcopal Church in Stamford. We’re neighbors of St. Luke’s, so this story will be of special interest.
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In case you don’t know, Yale Divinity School owns a complete set of the volumes that make up this amazing facsimile edition of the St. John’s Bible. Anyone can request to see it. I highly recommend turning to Genesis 1. It may take your breath away, and then bring you to tears.
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