Word and Image

Book excerpt: The story of the creation of The Saint Johns Biblethe first commissioned, handwritten Bible in five hundred years and the first Bible of this magnitude written in English using a contemporary translationhas been told elsewhere. In Word and Image, Fr. Michael Patella focuses not on how it was made but on how, now that it is finished, it can be read, viewed, and interpreted. Patella considers the centuries-long tradition of illuminated Bibles and also the fascinating ways this Bible reflects third-millennium concerns. He seeks to rekindle interest in sacred art by allowing The Saint John's Bible to teach its readers and viewers how to work with text and image. As an accomplished Scripture scholar, a monk of the abbey that commissioned the Bible, and the chair of the Committee on Illumination and Text that provided the vision to the artists who created it, Patella may be the only one who could write this book with such insight, expertise, and love.