Wednesday, September 4, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

 

It is the 4th of September 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Happy Wednesday! As explained on an earlier show, this is the first of a random series of mailbag episodes.

 

I have received more guff for my comments about the Upper Peninsula of (well, I guess Michigan). I would repent if I knew what to repent, for it should be Wisconsin or Canada. But- it’s all in fun, and it makes an opportunity for you to write. Jessica did such a thing- she travels to the U.P. but lives in South Milwaukee. Of course, it is best known as the birthplace of Crusher Lisowski, “the Wrestler who made Milwaukee Famous.” You’ve got a big bronze statue of him carrying a keg and an annual “crusherfest,” and that is awesome. 

But Jessica asked about the Book of Kells. A friend of mine and his family just went to Ireland, and that was on their list. It is synonymous with Irish tourism (to the chagrin of some Irish historians) and remains one of the most exquisite examples of early Medieval illuminated manuscripts.

Lets go back to the early church after the fall of Rome in the late 400s. The various European tribes still rally around a “roman identity” except those to the west who have embraced the very strong Celtic Christian tradition. The British isles had long been the home of this tradition- not only in Ireland but out to Scotland and England and Wales and from there into the rest of Europe.

Some Celtic (or Insular- based on the name of their script and literally meaning “of the islands) traditions would be laid aside as the Roman model became the norm. But it was those Irish monks (those that Thomas Cahill famously said in 1995 “saved Civilization”) that took the task of copying, preserving and in many ways beautifying ancient texts.

Ironically- and I remember this distinctly because of the number of Scots who have told me- the Book of Kells was likely initially Scottish. It was created, most likely (there is so much unknown!) in the late 8th century (700s) in a Monastery on the island of Iona set up by the Irish missionary Columba.

As the years went on and this book became all the more rare it was moved for safety on account of viking raids- at some point to the Abbey at Kells in Ireland where it was possibly completed.

We know that in 1006 it was stolen- we have record of it and some evidence that it may have been an inside job. It was found discarded without its elaborate case- likely made of gold and silver.

In the 1650s during the time of Cromwell his cavalry stationed themselves at the Abbey at Kells and so, knowing of Cromwell’s puritanism and distaste for things “catholic”, the book was moved to Trinity College for safe keeping.

The Book of Kells consists of the 4 Gospels in traditional order. We don’t have the end of John and some pages are missing from the beginning of the work. It is not the oldest- we have a psalm book from Columba two hundred years earlier. It is not significant for the text itself- we have better manuscripts than this.

So, what is it that has made this book a symbol of Irish culture and a bucket list item for some historians and art historians. It was explained to me in a way that makes more sense now- you can see a picture of the Grand Canyon but until you see the thing itself. The “thing itself” contains numerous illustrations and animals- even what we might call the first “emoticons” or “emoji’s” at least outside of hieroglyphics.

Jessica mentioned a similar project, but modern with St. John’s Bible- and holy cow, I would love 600 dollars to buy a copy of this, the first illuminated bible made by the Benedictines since the printing press was invented! And it’s at St. John’s- the college I pass every year on the way to Mt. Carmel! Done under the direction of Donald Jackson, I highly recommend you go looking for it- and the Library of Congress (loc.gov) has a nice visual exhibition.

The Illuminated manuscript represented a time gone by when we realized books could, and should mean more than just the words written down. The proliferation of mass paperbacks and now e-books has doubled down on the irrelevancy of art and publishing- may the arts come back to save the troubled industry. 

Fuller Seminary has a copy of the new St John’s bible and I might make a trip to Pasadena when everything slows down. Thanks for the question Jessica- enjoy the UP, no matter who it belongs to, or even if it was just Ohio complaining to Washington.

 

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary and a snippet from the ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark:

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 4th of September 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man thankful for that parenthetical at the end of the gospel passage and all the bacon he has consumed… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who once took a picture with a Fonzie statue while in (just normal) Milwaukee that was later liked on social media by Henry Winkler himself. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.