From Scrolls to Scrolling by Bradford A. Anderson

Author:Bradford A. Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2020-05-23T12:27:36.727000+00:00

Be Your Own Scribe: Bible Journalling and the New Illuminators of the Densely-Printed Page

Amanda Dillon

1

Introduction

Bible journalling is a popular trend of recent times amongst mostly female readers of the Bible in the United States. It involves an active and creative engagement with the material book of the Bible. Readers, empowered with a plenitude of attractive stationery accessories – coloured pens and pencils, watercolour paints, washi tapes, stickers and templates – draw and make typographic designs directly into their Bibles, illustrating verses and passages that have particular personal resonance for them. The name given to this trend is Bible Journalling and it is essentially a devotional practice of reflecting on the Bible – and yet distinctly new as a trend amongst lay readers of the Bible. This paper considers the striking retention and valuing of the iconic material artefact of the Bible at the heart of this practice, as well as the considerable agency taken by the readers (and facilitated by the producers of the Bible journals and stationery) in the making of these creative interventions to the densely-printed and “sacred” page. These readers have become illuminators of their own Bibles. Photographs of these newly illuminated verses and pages are often shared on social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest, thereby migrating beyond the material page into the digital realm. Here online communities share their pages and choose common themes to work on, over short periods of time, occasionally with exegetical input from one of the members of the group. A brief introduction to the process of Bible journalling contains distinct echoes of the ancient monastic practice of Lectio Divina:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.