Saint John's Bible Article Index for
Saint John's
Website Links For
Saint Johns
 

Information About

Saint John's Bible





Description


The St. John's Bible, will '''not''' be the first Bible to be completely written and illuminated by hand in more than 500 years. '''The Pepper Bible''' by James G. Pepper, is a handwritten illuminated manuscript of the Bible that has been in production since 1987 by one man in Texas, the '''Edward Bulley Bible''' was made 23 years ago on vellum, illuminated by hand, it took 14 years to make, in 8 volumes by one man in the United Kingdom and it is in London. Both Bibles are made entirely by hand without computers, whereas Saint Johns uses computers. CBS, ABC and UMTV have Videos on The Pepper Bible, links are below.

Saint Johns continues with their description: It will be two feet tall, three feet wide (each page is 24 ½ “ x 15 7/8”) and contain 1,150 pages, 160 illuminations, and 1,079,961 words across seven volumes. The project was commissioned by St. John's Abbey and Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota at a cost (mostly funded by private donors) of approximately $4 million. The Bible uses the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Donald Jackson, official scribe of Queen Elizabeth II of England, proposed this project to the university in 1995. Jackson wrote the first words of the bible on on March 8, 2000 (Ash Wednesday) beginning with the Gospel of John. Jackson created a new script specifically for this project.


Techniques Used


The creators of the St. John's Bible use a mixture of techniques used in the creation of older Illuminated Manuscrupts (it is hand-written with quills on calf-skin Vellum , gold and silver leaf and hand-ground pigments and inks) and modern technology (computers are used to plan the layout of the bible, and line-breaks for the text).


Volumes


The St. John's Bible consists of seven volumes:

# Gospels and Acts (completed in May 2002.)
# Pentateuch (completed in August 2003.)
# Psalms (completed in April 2004.)
# Prophets (completed in April 2005.)
# Wisdom Literature (scheduled for completion in November 2005.)
# Historical Books (scheduled for completion in August 2006.)
# Letters and Revelation (scheduled for completion in July 2007.)


St. John's Bible Staff


  • Artistic Director: Donald Jackson

  • Calligraphers: Hazel Dolby, Sue Hufton, Sally Mae Joseph, Brian Simpson, Angela Swan

  • Director of Public Programming and Educational Outreach: Tim Ternes

  • Executive Director: Carol Marrin

  • Graphic Designer: Vin Godier

  • Illuminators: Thomas Ingmire, Aidan Hart, Suzanne Moore, Diane von Arx,

  • Natural history illustrator: Chris Tomlin

  • Project Coordinator: Rebecca Cherry

  • Studio Assistant: Sarah Harris

  • The Saint John's Bible Committee on Illumination and Text: Johanna Becker, Irene Nowell, Michael Patella, Ellen Joyce, Nathanael Hauser, Susan Wood, Alan Reed, Columba Stewart



External links




OTHER BIBLES