Copyright © To the Ends of the Earth, Donald Jackson with contributions from Andrew Jamieson and Sally Mae Joseph, Copyright 2002, The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
To the Ends of the Earth
Acts 1:8
Primary artist: Donald Jackson with contributions from Sally Mae Joseph and Andrew Jamieson
To the Ends of the Earth is the final illumination in the Gospels and Acts volume. Here we see an example of humankind’s achievements over the past 500 years with the use of satellite photos from the Hubble telescope to create images of the earth from space (Saint John’s University, 2014). These photos were used throughout the making of the Bible and in this illumination, depict both creation and “God’s presence in heaven and on earth” (Sink, 2013, p.282).
The illuminations in the Book of Acts focus on the call to spread the Gospel as illustrated here through the message and words, "To the ends of the Earth" (Acts, 1:8). In biblical times, to the ends of the earth would have meant at most distances of a few thousand miles. In contrast, today we understand the extent of our world and through space exploration, its relative smallness in the vast and expanding reaches of the universe (Sink, 2013).
References
Calderhead, C. (2015). Illuminating the word: The making of The Saint John’s Bible (2nd ed.). Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
Saint John’s University. (2014). The heritage edition: Igniting the spiritual imagination. Retrieved from https://www.saintjohnsbible.org/promotions/PDF/Heritage_Edition_Brochure.pdf
Sink, S. (2013). The art of The Saint John’s Bible: The complete reader’s guide. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
