鈥淲e wanted to use this to proclaim God鱿鱼视频app word anew,鈥� explains Benedictine Father Michael Patella.
Patella鱿鱼视频app monastery in Collegeville Minn. 鈥� an enormous abbey of 153 monks 鈥� commissioned the . But the monks didn鈥檛 spend 10 years guiding and directing the project because they wanted to go back in time. Rather, they did it because they wanted to go forward, said Patella.
Which is why the page which illustrates creation in Genesis includes the double helix of a strand of DNA. The twin towers exploding in New York is one detail included in the illustration of Jesus鈥� parables in the Gospel of St. Luke.
{sa 0814690548}It may be the first hand-written Bible in 500 years, but it鱿鱼视频app a Bible for the 21st century. It is in the modern and literate English of the New Revised Standard Version and its illustrations are informed by up-to-date biblical scholarship.
The St. John鱿鱼视频app Bible is posed as a direct challenge to aggressive, uncivil and blinkered fundamentalism that claims its authority from a literalist reading of the Bible, said Patella, a biblical scholar and rector of St. John鱿鱼视频app Seminary.
鈥淔undamentalism is really rationalism gone awry,鈥� Patella told The Catholic Register the day after a facsimile copy of the St. John鱿鱼视频app Bible went on display at the Kelly Library at the University of St. Michael鱿鱼视频app College in Toronto.
The volume of Wisdom books of the Bible was to remain on display until April 30.
鈥淎 fundamentalist approach refuses to enter into mystery,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 fundamentalist wants everything in black and white 鈥� and God never speaks in black and white. Never. How can you speak about the crucifixion in black and white?... It鱿鱼视频app trying to put God in a box and control Him.鈥�
But the St. John鱿鱼视频app Bible isn鈥檛 just the Bible contra fundamentalism. It鱿鱼视频app also the Bible contra the digital age, said Patella.
Sitting in front of computer screens, clicking through disembodied bits of information is preventing a generation from understanding the Bible as a narrative of God鱿鱼视频app love of creation 鈥� including and most particularly God鱿鱼视频app love of the human. Instead, educated readers have learned only how to situate passages in ancient Near Eastern history. They fail to perceive that the book is talking to them about their lives.
To overcome that, the monks decided to confront the world with a new Bible that is also a large-scale work of art.
鈥淲e intuitively know that when the deepest theological texts meet the greatest artistic expression great things happen,鈥� Patella said in a public lecture on the St. John鱿鱼视频app Bible at the University of St. Michael鱿鱼视频app College April 16.
Patella does not find it surprising that the St. John鱿鱼视频app Bible is parallelled by another anti-fundamentalist presentation of the Bible that uses powerful, sometimes shocking images of photojournalism to illuminate the text.
The Bible Illuminated from Swedish publisher Forlaget Illuminated includes images of gang life, movie stars and AIDS-devastated Africa.
鈥淲e are illuminating the Bible so that it makes sense,鈥� said the project鱿鱼视频app progenitor Dag Soderberg on the Bible Illuminated web site. 鈥淭he text is really our history, our heritage.鈥�
So far, The Bible Illuminated has brought out just a New Testament for $35 in the format of a glossy magazine.
The Old Testament is expected later this year.
鈥淚 see them (The St. John鱿鱼视频app Bible and The Bible Illuminated) as perhaps working in tandem, potentially,鈥� said Patella.
In a massive effort to raise the biblical IQ of the English-speaking world the monks of St. John鱿鱼视频app Abbey are spinning off an entire educational program in connection with their illuminated Bible.
While the single, handwritten copy remains in Minnesota 鈥� when not travelling to the world鱿鱼视频app museums and art institutes 鈥� the monks have also produced 300 high quality facsimile copies plus a published edition available from Liturgical Press at just under $80 for each of its seven volumes.
Editions for classroom use with teachers鈥� guides are in the works.
Is it elitist to present the Bible in the language of fine art and high scholarship?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think elitism is all that bad,鈥� said Patella.
鈥淭he great cathedrals were built by master craftsmen. These were not hacks. They did this in service to the whole church, and they opened it to the whole church,鈥� he said.