“This is the page which launched the entire project,” says Christopher Calderhead
in Illuminating the Word: The Making of The Saint John’s Bible (2005, p. 169), discussing the Genealogy of Christ illumination in which a family tree takes the shape of a menorah. “It … stands at the beginning of the first volume Donald made. […] [It] was made before many decisions were finalized in the project.”
Artist Donald Jackson had a 5-line description to work with rather than a more detailed analysis, which gave him a feeling of independence:
“I was on my own–I had to work it out. My idea was to suggest a bridge between the Old Testament and the New. So I used the menorah to acknowledge Christianity’s Jewish roots.”
Eventually, the menorah would appear in the Old Testament as well, illustrating the story of Abraham and Sarah, and these names appear here at the base of Jesus’ family tree. Hagar is listed also, with her name in Arabic as well as Hebrew. Another link to Islam, according to Jackson, is the menorah’s candles. Making further associations with faith traditions and suggesting “the connectedness of all seekers of enlightenment” (Susan Sink, Art of The Saint John’s Bible, vol. 1, p. 51), Jackson included “light devices and cosmic mandala fragments from the Buddhist visual tradition.” (Calderhead, p. 171) Viewers will also recognize the double-helix structure of DNA, a reference to Jesus’ incarnation and humanity, and to the Family of Man.