Chapman raising $225,000 to purchase St. John’s Bible copy

The Gospel and Acts volume of the St. John’s Bible is located on the first floor of Leatherby Libraries, and will be on display until the end of the year. Chapman’s Office of Church Relations aims to raise $225,000 in order to acquire a permanent copy of the unique Bible. Photo by Max Weirauch

Most Bibles don’t have a gold-outlined depiction of the Twin Towers or a microscopic image of the AIDS virus. But the St. John’s Bible, handwritten by a group of scribes and painstakingly illustrated in a project that cost $8 million, is a new take on the Christian text. 

Chapman’s Office of Church Relations is raising $225,000 in hopes of acquiring a copy of the St. John’s Bible, a seven-volume, hand-bound leather copy. The Bible’s construction began in1998, and is built to last for 1,000 years, said Nancy Brink, director of church relations. 

This is not an average Bible, said Tim Ternes, director of the St. John’s Bible project at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library in Minnesota.

“The St. John’s Bible is not a picture book,” Ternes told The Panther in a phone interview. These artworks are invitations into the world, they invite conversation. By its very nature, the Bible is communal. It is my hope that the Chapman community will embrace the communal nature of the world and gather around these pages to reflect, share, debate, discuss and learn from each other,” Ternes said.

Donald Jackson, once Queen Elizabeth II’s royal scribe, worked with a team of 23 calligraphers and artists to make the first St. John’s Bible, which has 1,150 pages and ornate designs, created for a contemporary understanding of the Bible’s contents, according to the Leatherby Libraries blog. 

“Everytime you see gold in this Bible, the artists are suggesting the presence of God or the divine,” said Nancy Brink, director of church relations at Chapman.

Chapman will display a copy of the Gospel and Acts volume of the St. John’s Bible during the 2019 school year. Students can view and interact with the volume. 

History professor William Cumiford, a member of the committee that brought the St. John’s Bible to Chapman, told The Panther that he finds the chance to view the book a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity.

“It’s the most important international art project of the past 30 years and it speaks to what’s going on in the world right now,” Cumiford said. “Chapman wanted to be a part of this legacy because nothing like this will ever happen again.”

An edition of the Bible like St. John’s has not been produced since the Middle Ages, Cumiford said. 

“Since everything now is going digital, this is a very traditional and non-digital approach,” he said. 

The unique illustrations, which address modern-day issues like sexism and ethnic diversity, combine medieval approaches with current events, Cumiford said.

“It highlights important things about ethnic and gender diversity, because when men wrote the Bible, they left women out of it most of the time,” Cumiford said. “This Bible is inclusive in focusing on women’s issues and different cultures.”

For Cumiford, the St. John’s Bible doesn’t just cover religious issues, it’s a lesson in history, art and inclusiveness.

“It’s important for this community,” he said.

Rand Boyd, the Special Collections and Archives librarian at Chapman, said the St. John’s Bible has allowed him to bring special materials and collections out for students to view. 

“It’s very exciting to have the St. John’s Bible here in the library because it brings attention to the books and collections that we have already here,” Boyd said.

President Daniele Struppa will lecture on the St. John’s Bible April 9 at 7 p.m. in Wallace All Faiths Chapel.