Inaugural Lecture with Tim Ternes, Director of The Saint John's Bible at Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN

Lecture - From Inspiration to Illumination: A Brief Introduction to The Saint John's Bible

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota commissioned a work of art that illuminates the Word of God for a new millennium and designed to ignite the spiritual imagination of believers throughout the world. 

 The Saint John’s Bible is the first handwritten, monumental, illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine monastery in the modern era.  It was created by scribes in a Scriptorium in Wales under the artistic direction of Donald Jackson, one of the world’s foremost calligraphers and the Senior Scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown Office at the House of Lords.  The Bible was completed in 2011, and its permanent home is the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota.  

The Saint John’s Bible incorporates many of the characteristics of its medieval predecessors: it was written on vellum, using quills, natural handmade inks, hand ground pigments and gild such as gold leaf, silver leaf and platinum.  And yet, it employs a modern English translation (NRSV) as well as contemporary scripts and illumination.

 Through video, projected imagery, dynamic reproductions and engaging discussions you will have the opportunity to see, hear and learn more about this inspirational undertaking. Guests will have the opportunity to turn the pages on full-size, museum quality art reproductions of the original and see first-hand the splendor of this work.

The Saint John’s Bible reaffirms Saint John’s commitment to Scripture and to the book arts.  The Saint John’s Bible is a prophetic witness to the Word of God in our day and beautiful and dignified expression of the Benedictine vision: “That in all things God may be glorified.”