Reflect with the Saint John's Bible for Lent

Intermountain Catholic

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The Saint John's Bible will be used for an online Lenten course through the University of Notre Dame.

SALT LAKE CITY — The illuminations of the Saint John’s Bible will be the basis for visio and lectio divina through a free six-unit online course offered by the University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church life.

“This is an amazing opportunity to study and contemplate a powerful work of art based on God’s word, and pray with it,” said Susan Northway, director of the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s Office of Faith Formation.

The Saint John’s Bible is the first hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible since the invention of the printing press. It was commissioned in 1998 by Saint John’s Abbey and University; calligrapher Donald Jackson was the artistic director.

The McGrath Institute has a seven-volume reproduction of the original manuscripts of the Saint John’s Bible. The illuminations from the Bible will be the focus of one of the units of the online course.

The six-week course will launch on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26. One unit will be released each week, said Carolyn Pirtle, program director for the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, McGrath Institute for Church Life.

The first unit consists of six videos that “provide a foundational introduction to the manuscript tradition, The Saint John’s Bible itself, and the prayer practices of lectio and visio divina,” Pirtle said in an email interview.

The videos are 15 minutes or less in length.

Each of the subsequent units will include four videos.

“One will explore an illumination from The Saint John’s Bible, another will unpack the Scripture passage it depicts, and the remaining two will provide guided experiences of lectio and visio divina,” Pirtle said. “The goal of the course is not simply to introduce people to The Saint John’s Bible as a work of scriptural art, or to its beautiful illuminations; the goal is to introduce people to the practices of praying with Scripture and art, to show them how art can enrich our encounter with the Word of God Scripture, and how Scripture can come to life in a beautiful way through visual art.”

To sign up for the course, visit mcgrath.nd.edu/news and follow the link “McGrath Institute Announces Plans to Showcase The Saint John’s Bible in Free Online Course.”