February 11, 2008
Wisdom Books: The Saint John's Bible
Original Folios of Wisdom Books from The Saint John's Bible on Display for First Public Viewing

(Collegeville, Minn., 2008, February 11)...For the first time, original folios from Wisdom Books: The Saint John’s Bible will be on display for public viewing. The exhibition, which includes 28 original pages, begins Feb. 18 and runs through Dec. 31 at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) on the campus of Saint John’s University.

Wisdom Books is the fifth completed volume of The Saint John’s Bible and includes some of the Old Testament’s literary masterpieces, including Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes and Proverbs. The volume also includes the much-loved book of Job and two Old Testament works including the Wisdom of Solomon, which was originally written in Greek and Sirach which come to us from the Greek tradition.

Among the pages on view are Wisdom Woman, The Garden of Desire, Pillars of Wisdom, Mirror of Wisdom and the inspiring Creation, Covenant, Shekinah, Kingdom. Also on display are tools and materials from the scriptorium such as quills, hand-ground pigments, gold leaf, calfskin vellum and ancient inks from China.

Wisdom Books continues the work of earlier volumes with a script created by calligrapher Donald Jackson specifically for this project. Artists from earlier released volumes - Thomas Ingmire, Suzanne Moore, Chris Tomlin and Sally Mae Joseph - are joined by new contributing artist Diane M. von Arx of Minneapolis to bring light – that is, illumination - to the text. The images are not to be missed.