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Mar 14, 2010 10:52 pm US/Central
Finding Minnesota: The Crafting St. John's Bible
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (WCCO) ―
With the opening of the
Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota, visitors have the chance to see the oldest existing version of the Hebrew Bible dating back to the time of Jesus.
By contrast, the exhibit also features 28 pages from the newest hand-written version of the Bible, an artistic achievement that's being carefully assembled in Minnesota.
The St. John's Bible is being produced the way things used to be before the printing press arrived in the 15th Century -- with quill pens and hand-mixed inks on animal skins.
Tim Ternes, director of St. John's University's Hill Museum, said nothing like this has been attempted in more than 500 years.
"The words are written with a turkey, swan or goose feather, using ancient Chinese inks," he said.
It's meticulous work, with gold and silver leaf and platinum mixed in with those inks.
"One big sheet of calf skin gives us four pages of the St. John's Bible," explained Ternes.
And this Bible is designed to last for the next 2,000 years or more.
The Benedictine monks at St. John's Abbey commissioned the project in 1998. All 1150 carefully crafted pages should be finished by 2011, but some are already on display at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library on campus.
The calligraphy is mostly done in Wales, under the direction of Donald Jackson, Senior Scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Crown office.
But one graphic artist from Minneapolis, Diane von Arx, was among those chosen to create special treatments.
"It's probably the most important project that I have worked on in my career -- or will," she said. "I think it's become so much larger than anybody anticipated when it started."
The last two Popes have received their own copies of the St. John's Bible.
"The original will always be at St. John's," said Ternes. "But to share with the wider community and the wider world, we have made full-size reproductions of them, known as the Heritage Edition. And even the Pope doesn't get the real one. He got a copy as well."
The originals are kept in a secure, climate controlled room, where they're shielded from bright lights.
Father Michael Patella is the Acting Executive Director of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library. He said there will come a time when the buildings on campus start to crumble and need to come down.
"But if you kind of think ahead a thousand, 1500, two thousand years from now, this (Bible) will still be around," he said.
The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Science Museum is scheduled to run through Oct. 24.
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