Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Monday, December 1, 2014

1 December 2014 A.D. Lindisfarne Gospels


1 December 2014 A.D.  Lindisfarne Gospels

Walker, Margaret. “The Lindisfarne Gospels: A Living Manuscript.”  Medievalists.net.  30 Nov 2014.  http://www.medievalists.net/2014/11/30/lindisfarne-gospels-living-manuscript/.  Accessed 30 Nov 2014.

The Lindisfarne Gospels: A Living Manuscript

By Margaret Walker

FORUM: University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture and the Arts, Special Issue 3 (2014)

Lindisfarne Gospels

Abstract: This article questions how current and previous owners have marked the Lindisfarne Gospels, created 1,300 years ago. Their edits, which would be frowned upon today, are useful for historians to understand how the Gospels have been valued by previous owners and thus why they are so treasured today.

Introduction: The Lindisfarne Gospels are on display in the treasures gallery of the British Library. The eighth-century Insular manuscript is opened and accompanied by a short caption with information about the work. i It is presented as a 1,300-year-old masterpiece, which has survived to the present day against the odds of time. The average visitor will overlook even the most pervasive changes that can be observed in the manuscript. With modern science and ever improving conservation technologies, we are quick to judge those who “desecrate” items from the past, but we are far less critical if that physical change was made two centuries ago. The display of the Lindisfarne Gospels should prompt viewers to question how what they see today is not the original but rather a manuscript that has lived among many communities and bears marks from them. It is difficult to criticise edits made long ago, though, especially when they harm only the aesthetics of the book. The changes made to the Lindisfarne Gospels have only affected how the manuscript is viewed; it remains a book of the Holy Scriptures. When studied with historical empathy, the edits are beneficial for enabling an understanding of this book as a sacred text, a work of art, and a window into British curatorial practices.

Physical changes to the Lindisfarne Gospels denote how their symbolic significance has changed over time. The book was created within a monastic community and kept by the church until Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. In this capacity, it was both a sacred text and a relic of St. Columba. However, the seventeenth-century collector of manuscripts, Sir Robert Cotton, likely bought the book because he recognised its scholarly value and artistic richness. Once the Gospels came into the national collection at the British Library they became a link to the past and a relic of Britain’s national identity. Yet all of the book’s curators have left a mark, whether within the text or as an addition to the original manuscript. These marks take many forms, internal and external, but almost all were motivated by recognition that this was an uncommonly beautiful and historically significant manuscript.


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