June 30, 2024, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Book of Kells illuminates gospel, enlightens public

By Mike Haynes

                I’m hoping that this year my wife, Kathy, and I will get to stand in front of the Book of Kells.

                Unless you’re a history or art buff or have followed the reproduction of the Bible through the ages, you might wonder, “What’s the Book of Kells?” And once you know, you might say, “What’s the big deal about it?”

                For me, it’s pretty big. Because of my journalism background, which has involved ink and printing, and because of my Christian commitment, I have for years been fascinated by the production process of early Bibles. I’ve seen a few copies of the original King James Bible, published in 1611 in England, and four copies of the first Bible ever printed, by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in 1455.

                But before Gutenberg, the Word of God was transmitted by hand, usually Catholic monks toiling with quills and ink, often followed by artists embellishing the pages with colorful images.

                The Book of Kells, named for its residence for a time at the abbey of Kells, Ireland, “is commonly regarded as the greatest illuminated manuscript of any era owing to the beauty of the artwork,” according to Joshua Mark of World History Encyclopedia.

                Since 1661, the 680-page book has been on display at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, where we hope to see it. It attracts close to a million visitors a year to Trinity, which Queen Elizabeth I established in 1592 as a Protestant university.

                The book presents the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – in Latin and  illustrated stunningly. Christopher de Hamel, a Cambridge University professor and an expert on medieval manuscripts, said, “No study of manuscripts can exclude it, a giant among giants. Its decoration is of extreme lavishness and the imaginative quality of its workmanship is quite exceptional. It was probably this book which Giraldus Cambrensis, in about 1185, called ‘the work of an angel, not of a man.’”

This image from the Book of Kells shows the gospel

writer Matthew.

 
               The Book of Kells’ journey to Dublin is intriguing, too. Historians believe it was created by monks on the Scottish island of Iona around the year 800, then taken to Kells, Ireland, in 806 to keep it safe from the wave of attacks by Vikings, who first had struck Iona in 795, killing 68 monks. It could have been incomplete and finished at Kells.

                  When the anti-Catholic English leader Oliver Cromwell invaded Ireland around 1650, the book’s caretakers feared for its safety and took it to Dublin, where Bishop Henry Jones took care of it. He donated the book to Trinity College in 1661.

                Although known primarily for its elaborate artwork, the manuscript certainly had a Christian purpose. Joshua Mark wrote, “The Book of Kells is thought to have been the manuscript on the altar which may have been first used in services on Iona and then certainly was at the abbey of Kells.

“The brightly-colored illustrations and illumination would have made it an exceptionally impressive piece to a congregation, adding a visual emphasis to the words the priest recited while being shown to the people – much in the way one today would read a picture book to a small child.”

John the Evangelist is shown in this image from the

Book of Kells.

The Book of Kells exhibit at Trinity College includes much more than the book itself, which is tucked away in an atmospherically safe nook and for which photography isn’t allowed. Visitors can see videos and other displays. According to Marc Connor, an English professor and president of Skidmore College, “The exhibit also has illustrated panels that describe all the elements that went into medieval bookmaking: the creation of ink, the making of vellum, the elaborate symbols used, the monastic life in the scriptorium and much more. It’s an immersion in the medieval world of the word.”

Studying the trajectory of handwritten and printed Bibles through the centuries, I’ve been impressed with the dedication of those who have ensured that God’s Word always is available to Christians and to those whom God is pursuing. I think the Book of Kells will be a brilliant reminder of those efforts.

I’ll let you know.