c. 2006 Religion News Service
Portions of `Saint John’s Bible’ on Display at Library of Congress
WASHINGTON (RNS) Some might call it a labor of love or an act of faith, and there is good reason why no one has attempted to do it in 500 years.
“It was a dream,” said Donald Jackson, artistic director of the Saint John’s Bible, the first handwritten, illuminated Bible since the advent of the printing press. “And as we know, dreams are close relatives of nightmares.”
Beginning Friday (Oct. 6), selections from this meticulous effort will be on display in the Library of Congress. The exhibit, “Illuminating the Word: The Saint John’s Bible,” will continue until Dec. 23.
The collection, from the first three completed volumes of The Saint John’s Bible, are on display with artist tools, sketches and other materials from Jackson’s scriptorium.
Monks from Wales and from Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minn., are working on the $4 million project.
Despite the exhibit’s relatively small size, the immeasurable struggle of Jackson and his team of scribes is evident in the spiritual interpretations of the art, as well as in the intricacy of the passages, which, being in English, lack the artistic freedom and flexibility of Latin.
But the most grueling struggle “is the expectation you place on yourself,” Jackson said.
The 1,100-page Bible _ seven volumes of pages nearly 16 inches wide and 25 inches tall _ is slated to be completed in 2008.
When asked about the process, Jackson remarked, “It sort of grows.” Then he joked, “You have to have a particular kind of lunacy.”
_ Keith Roshangar
Panel Suggests Required Religion Course at Harvard
BOSTON (RNS) In a nod to the growing significance of religion in world affairs, a Harvard University faculty committee is recommending that all undergraduates be required to take a course in “reason and faith.”
The recommendation was part of a report issued Tuesday (Oct. 3) by Harvard’s Task Force on General Education. In the report, the nine-member faculty panel also recommended a required course in ethics and two under the rubric of “The United States and the World.”
In recent decades, Harvard students haven’t had to take a religion class in order to graduate. But that should change, according to the faculty panel, because religion affects so many areas of life.
“Harvard is no longer a religious institution,” the report says, “but religion is a fact that Harvard’s graduates will confront both in their lives in and after college.” Courses fulfilling the requirement will not consist of “religious apologetics,” the report explains, but will instead “examine the interplay between religion and various aspects of national and/or international society and culture.”
The recommended religion requirement comes as Harvard undergoes a curriculum review that has been years in the making. In addressing religion, the committee notes that Harvard students already engage the subject widely outside the classroom. Surveys of incoming students say 94 percent discuss religion either “frequently” or “occasionally,” and 71 percent say they attend religious services.
Harvard College, the nation’s oldest, formed in 1636 as a training ground for Congregational ministers. By 1708, however, the college had appointed its first president who was not a clergyman, and scientific areas of study soon replaced theological pursuits. Now, the report suggests, the scientific study of religion is too important to leave as a mere elective for motivated students.
“Harvard has today many courses in the catalogue on religion, so it has never been a neglected area,” task force co-chair Louis Menand wrote in an e-mail responding to questions from Religion News Service. “But it’s clear that the role religion plays in life, and always has played, is salient in new ways: Events, both international and domestic, have brought it into focus. We think students should know something about religion’s role historically and today if they are to be educated for the 21st century.”
A full faculty vote is required before recommendations would be adopted as university policy. Such a vote could come as soon as this winter, Menand said.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Fred Phelps Calls Off Protests at Amish Funerals
NICKEL MINES, Pa. (RNS) The Amish of Lancaster County are burying their dead from Monday’s schoolhouse shootings without fear of protest.
On Wednesday (Oct. 4), Westboro Baptist Church called off its plan to picket the funerals of the five slain Amish girls as a form of protest against Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
The Kansas church, led by the Rev. Fred Phelps, is best known for routinely picketing military funerals. It claims it has been “slandered, mocked and ridiculed” by Rendell, whom the group accused of marshaling his police powers to “destroy” the church and “silence” its message.
In June, Rendell signed into law a bill designed to restrict Westboro Baptist Church’s picketing by making it a crime to demonstrate within 500 feet of a funeral or memorial service in Pennsylvania.
The church’s reversal came after Rendell reacted to the planned protests by calling the church’s members “insane.”
The Amish accepted Rendell’s offer to allow the state police to have a presence during the funerals to ensure that families can grieve in private without interference from the media and other onlookers, Rendell press secretary Kate Philips said.
Meanwhile, a representative of the Westboro group took nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mike Gallagher up on his offer of an hour of airtime in exchange for dropping the planned demonstration.
Gallagher said he negotiated the deal with Shirley Phelps-Roper to appear on his show Thursday morning. Gallagher said he would require Phelps-Roper to sign an agreement promising that her church wouldn’t protest the funerals, or risk up to $500,000 in damages.
Gallagher said he acted because he couldn’t understand “why in the world they would want to hurt these families any more than they have already been hurt.”
“They’re hateful people,” he said of the Westboro group. “But it will be worth it if they stay away from those families. The audience is supportive, and I’ve got to believe it’s the right thing to do.”
_ John Luciew, Barry Fox and Jan Murphy
Christian Coalition Hires Florida Pastor as New Director
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Christian Coalition of America has named a pastor from Orlando, Fla., as its new president as the once-mighty organization struggles to keep its state chapters onboard.
Joel Hunter will balance his duties as the group’s president and also remain as senior pastor of Northland Church in Orlando, Fla.
Hunter succeeds Roberta Combs as leader of the conservative Christian organization, which was founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson after his failed 1988 White House run.
“I look forward to building upon the successes under Roberta’s leadership and expanding our mission to concern itself with the care of creation, helping society’s marginalized, human rights/religious issues and compassion issues,” Hunter said in a statement.
Combs recruited Hunter and he was elected by the group’s board of directors in July. Combs will stay on as chairman of the board and assist Hunter in setting the course for the organization.
The organization, which rose to prominence in the 1990s as it marshaled support among conservative religious voters, is now a shell of its former self. In recent months, state chapters in Alabama, Georgia, Iowa and Ohio have severed ties with national headquarters in Washington.
Hunter, 58, told the Orlando Sentinel that he hopes to “rebuild and rebrand this organization” and dismantle the perception that it is a tool of the Republican Party. Earlier this year, Hunter’s church published his newest book, “Right Wing, Wrong Bird: Why the Tactics of the Religious Right Won’t Fly With Most Conservative Christians.”
“Traditional right-wing issues,” he told the Sentinel, “are not sufficient to express the gospel.”
_ Chansin Bird
Quote of the Day: Jewish Philanthropist Donald Saltz
(RNS) “I figured, you don’t take it with you.”
_ Donald Saltz, who donated $5 million to his synagogue in Washington, D.C. It is one of the largest individual donations to a house of worship in the U.S. in years, according to philanthropy experts. He was quoted by The Washington Post.
KRE/PH END RNS
