Archives for April 2014

This illumination appears at the beginning of the book of Joshua, which reminds the reader that Moses did not reach the Promised Land and that Joshua took up the task of leading the Israelites out of the wilderness across the Jordan River. Their progress toward the distant green valley is symbolized by a parade of fragments from the Ten Commandments illumination, and by a gold arched stamp representing the Ark of the Covenant. Hazards encumber their journey: the river is filled with drowned bodies; lions watch from the cliff tops; a scarab beetle seems to want to lead them in the wrong direction. Spiritual temptations threaten: you will recognize the golden calf and an Egyptian eye signifying the false gods of Egypt.

Donald Jackson also represented Egypt in the illumination’s border, taking the design “from a frieze on an Egyptian burial tomb.” (Susan Sink, The Art of The Saint John’s Bible, vol. 3, p. 14)

For this final blog post of the 2013-2014 academic year, as we send best wishes to UP graduates, the library is pleased to provide a reflection on this illumination from Theology professor Michael Cameron:

Each of us over the course of a lifetime hears, speaks, reads, and writes millions of words. From somewhere deep within they well up to help us in ways both ordinary and extraordinary, from making a grocery list to comforting a dying parent. From that same deep reservoir of human words God’s covenant drew a special few to express divine love, to teach truth, and to blaze a trail of wisdom. In order to learn and obey God’s will, while Israel was forbidden to fashion images of God they were commanded to know words of God. No wonder that Jewish tradition through the ages has seen the Ten Commandments (literally in Hebrew, “the Ten Words”) as little glowing lanterns of God’s presence (see Psalm 119). But becoming “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22) was and is an enormous challenge. Entering the Promised Land under Joshua, the people formed by God’s wisdom were tossed by huge waves of temptation that threatened to drown the words of the covenant, especially the words forbidding love for other gods. In our world of endless texts and tweets and wooing words of enticement, what waves still batter the covenant commands about faithful love?

The Garden of Desire illumination is rich with details intended to evoke the many images and layers of meaning in the Song of Solomon. The eye is drawn first to the garden of the title and its wall, and on closer inspection you’ll discover that the garden houses an intricate labyrinth outlined in delicate gold. Expanding your view outward, notice the line segments, some bright gold and others warm red, that have escaped the garden. If captured and reassembled, these segments would cover a portion of the labyrinth; they are puzzle pieces. Their travels around the page lead your eye to the border where you might notice first the trees, then the flowers, houses, camels, birds, and people.

The labyrinth, puzzle pieces, and border reference the Song’s imagery and meaning layers. One can read the Song as a love poem between humans and also as an expression of God’s love for Israel. Similarly the labyrinth can be a symbol of the path one travels to reach Wisdom however defined: knowledge, peace with the world and oneself, God, etc. The puzzle pieces have escaped and become disordered, but perhaps they long for order and desire to be reunited. They might represent humans’ desire for social connection, and for some people connection to God.

In The Art of The Saint John’s Bible, Susan Sink writes that artist Donald Jackson enthusiastically embraced the “opportunity to find a visual language for this poetry” and states that the Bible’s highest ratio of illumination to text is found in the Song of Solomon book: “two back-to-back spreads and a text treatment adorn the eight chapters.” (Vol. 2, p. 32) You can see the shadow of the second back-to-back spread on the right-hand page of this illumination. The shadow is specially printed on the Heritage Edition to mimic the ink bleed-through that occurred in the original.

The “Crucifixion” illumination from Luke will be featured in Visio Divina sessions on Wednesday, April 16, at 12:45 p.m. (30 minutes) and 7:15 p.m. (40 minutes) in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher. This Lenten prayer opportunity is sponsored by Campus Ministry and the Garaventa Center. Campus Ministry’s Interactive Lenten Calendar provides this commentary:

This is the beginning of Holy Week. Lent is almost over. How far have you come on this Journey to Jerusalem we began on Ash Wednesday? Are you standing with Jesus as he enters Jerusalem? Will you be with him on Friday? Spend some time asking for the grace of fidelity, for love. May we be true to our call to follow Christ. May we be true to our invitation to love. Jesus did the difficult work. We have only to respond to his gift.

Throughout The Saint John’s Bible, gold leaf represents the divine. This illumination is awash in it, representing Christians’ belief that Jesus is God. The customary outline of the crucified figure is barely visible. Breaking through the dazzling gilt, we see other elements of the story: on either side the two crosses representing the two thieves crucified alongside Jesus; on the left the moon and stars representing the hours of darkness over the land that coincided with the event; on the right a file of people representing the procession with the cross to Golgotha.

On the facing page in the Bible you will see a scene from the story of the road to Emmaus (right),  in which Jesus appeared to two of his disciples.