Illuminated minds, illuminated manuscripts

Saturdays are typically goof off days. Rain, so no golf. I decided to spend the afternoon reading and listening to music. Not wanting to get into anything too heavy, I opted to look at some books I recently found on illuminated manuscripts. I love illuminated manuscripts, as always have marveled at the craftsmanship, detail, bright colors, and often humor they possess. They are dream like pieces of abstact art. I was fortunate enough to see The Book of Kells when I visited Trinity College in Dublin Ireland back in the 1970's. And they are even more impressive to see and view. Beautiful. University officials turn the page on a regular basis so viewers can come back and see something beautful and new.

Illuminated manuscripts had a central place in the history of the Celtic Church. You might even say that the manuscipts along with the high Celtic crosses were some of its most distinctive features. As indicated throughout this blog, the Celtic Church and monks were book lovers, had scriptoriums where they copied books with great care and precision, and loved learning wherever is came from. This included the pagan writers from Greek and Latin sources, Christian writings, and the Church Fathers. This was their great tradition. I can recall sections of Bede's Ecclesiastic History where monks carried the sacred books (its library) back and forth to the different monastries as they were fleeing the invasions of the Vikings. Obviously they were trying to preserve what mattered to them most.

There are many illuminated manuscripts from Europe yet the ones I am discussing here come from the seventh and ninth centuries. These are the Cathack, Book of Durrow, The Book of Kells, and The Lindsifarne Gospels. I've attached above some selections which will hopefully wet your appetite and motivate you to learn more. Starting on the left is from Mark, in the Book of Durrow. I've included two pages from The Book of Kells although I could have selected many others for their sheer beauty and brilliance.  The center selection is the frontpiece from John's gospel, and the image on the right is Christ enthroned. Each time I look at these works of art, I say "wow" and am reminded of just how long and difficult it must have been to make these things. And remember, these are painted on animal skins! There is something richly human in these primitive like forms.

That got me to thinking about the relationship between Christianity and culture. The illuminated manuscripts are treasures, and thank God we have them. But these are works from 1300 years ago. What works of art are we making in the church now that people in the future will examine and say the same thing? What will our cultural legacy be? And in "works of art" I don't limit that meaning to literature, or music in a snobbish way. But as a church community, we should think how are we influencing the culture and shaping it in a more Christlike fashion. Is the culture shaping us, or are we shaping the culture? What's wonderful is that the Celtic legacy can give us a starting point to answer these questions. They were able to convert a pagan culture which surrounded them, and where in a similar situation as to our own. Perhaps it might be in the form of education, in small schools that are devoted to passing down the best and brightest that has been said. It might be in reviving the practice of fostering, something very much like the hanai tradition in Hawaii. Or it might be in artwork, or using the Internet in some way not yet discovered. Looking at the illuminated manuscripts gives both pleasure and hope. They are a joy to behold. They illuminate today and were the result of an illuminated point of view.