In 1998 Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota, commissioned renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson (he was senior scribe to Queen Elizabeth II) to create a handwritten and illuminated Bible similar to the richly embellished manuscript Bibles that monks produced in workshops during the Middle Ages. The first Benedictine illuminated Bible to be completed since the printing press was created 500 years ago, the Saint John’s Bible was conceived as a way to ignite the spiritual imagination of believers throughout the world. Using traditional materials like calf-skin parchment; quills made from goose, swan, and turkey feathers; Chinese lampblack ink from the 1870s; and gold, silver, and platinum leaf, it took Jackson and an international team of calligraphers and artists 15 years to complete the seven-volume Bible, which includes 160 major illuminations.
Six years later, in 2019, Baylor University acquired one of only 299 Heritage Editions of the Saint John’s Bible, a fine art reproduction of the original work. Advanced printing technology was used to reproduce the illuminations, while each printed page was individually treated with stamping and embossing processes to apply silver and gold foils as well as other details. Hand-bound in soft Italian leather, each volume is printed on high-quality, uncoated cotton paper, which was treated to create the effect of seeing through the translucent vellum pages of the original manuscript.
“This is not a copy,” said Beth Farwell, director of the Arts and Special Collections Research Center. “This is a very unique volume as close to the original as you can get.” In the summer of 2019, Farwell was part of a team that went to Minnesota to see the original for themselves and receive “deep dive” training on the Heritage Edition in order to understand and preserve the rare and meaningful work they had acquired.
Eric Ames, associate director for advancement, exhibits, and community engagement for the Baylor University Libraries, was part of that team.
“There we were, Baptists from Baylor meeting Catholic monks at Saint John’s Abbey, united in our belief in Christ,” he said. “Obviously, there’s a difference in theology, but there was more that united us than kept us apart.”
Seeing The Saint John’s Bible for the first time, Ames said, was a bit overwhelming.
“You could see how much work went into every one of the folios that were stitched together to create each volume,” he said. “The care and craftsmanship alone are a lot to take in, but I think that the faith, time, and commitment it took to do something like this for God’s glory comes through whether you’re seeing the original or the Heritage Edition.”
Jackson, who oversaw the creation of the Heritage Edition, trained his team of scribes to learn the script he designed so every page would look the same. The themes were decidedly modern, including harmony between faith and reason, the role of women in society, environmentalism, and justice for all people. Key Benedictine themes of transformation, justice for the poor, and hospitality are visually highlighted to create a bridge between ancient scripture and modern life.
To raise global awareness of troublesome current events, some illuminations depict the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. To drive home his point that science and religion are not at odds with one another, Jackson wove strands of DNA into the genealogy of Christ, and included imagery from the Hubble space telescope into illuminations depicting creation.
Jesus is also rendered faceless in pure gold foil so the viewer can see themselves in Jesus when their face is reflected back to them.
In 2015, The Saint John’s Bible was featured in a major exhibit at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin. Designed to illuminate the enduring role of religion in art, the exhibition featured dozens of pages, all unbound, as well as illuminations from the books of Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, the Gospels of Matthew and John, Acts, and Revelation.
Tim Ternes, the project’s curator, declared it a historic work of art with “the potential of being the world’s next most important religious artifact.”
During his presentation, Ternes made it clear that The Saint John’s Bible is not a picture book.
“These are not meant to be illustrations of the top 10 Bible stories,” he said. “They’re designed to make you stop, think, and discuss them with someone else.”
Certainly, the illuminations are unlike anything we’ve seen before. Paul the Apostle is depicted alongside architectural illustrations of buildings both ancient and modern, from Romanesque churches to brownstones. The Acts of the Apostles includes a small illumination of the Earth shot from Apollo 17 on the first day of its 1972 mission to the moon. To make Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones during Babylonian captivity relevant today, Jackson included illuminations depicting war and carnage in modern times: the Armenian Genocide during World War I, the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge, and the July 7 (2005) King’s Cross terrorist bombings in London.
In August 2021, Dean of University Libraries Jeffrey Archer started a new tradition at Baylor when he carried the Psalms volume of The Saint John’s Bible to lead the faculty procession at commencement. The script for these verses is accompanied by digital illustrations of the human voice that run horizontally throughout the volume. Each page features soundwave voiceprints of Gregorian chant by monks at Saint John’s Abbey in nearly imperceptible delicate gold leaf. The opening folio also features soundwaves that include Native American song, a Jewish men’s choir singing Psalms, an Islamic Adhan, Indian Sufi chanting, Hindu bhajan, Buddhist tantric harmonies, and Taoist temple music.
The seven-volume Heritage Edition, which is housed in the Special Collections of the Moody Memorial Library, is not on permanent display, but can be viewed by classes, faculty, or members of the community upon request.
“You can come in and work with our rare books team, just turning the pages of one volume for an hour or so,” explained Ames, “but you could conceivably spend half a day here.”
To arrange a visit to see the Heritage Edition, contact the Central Libraries Special Collections at rarecollections@baylor.edu, or call Beth Farwell at (254) 710-3679.
