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The Pepper Bible

The Pepper Bible: An illuminated Manuscript of the Bible handmade by James G. Pepper in Texas.  

  • News Videos: The American Bible Society. They came and filmed a full feature on my Bible and it is on the air on the TV show American Bible Society Presents.  I am the first person you see and then 4 minutes adn 20 seconds into the film, Paul Irwin the President of the American Bible Society introduces me and my bible.  The segment lasts about 8 minutes.
  • Sam Hodges at the Dallas Morning News has run a story on the American Bible Society video at the Dallas Morning News Religion Blog.
  • CBS  KTVT-TV Channel II, Dallas /Fort Worth, Shannon Hori came into the church  and filmed me.  
  • United Methodist Church & United Methodist TV Video of my Work. 
  • WFAA TV Dallas on Easter 2005 "Bible Calligrapher takes his Time" by John Pronk, WFAA-TV Dallas Texas, in the "Texas Tales" feature of the show.
 

In a letter from the Archbishop of York , 25 January 2001, and recently by John Sentamu, the present Archbishop of York:

"It is given to very few to undertake, or even contemplate, a labour of such Herculean proportions.  It is given to fewer still to complete it.  What you have done represents an achievement which, so far as His Grace is aware, is quite without parallel in modern times." "It is a powerful witness to the living God."

"His Holiness prays that your work will help you to discover each day in the  inspired writings of the Old and New Testaments "a support for faith, food for the soul and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life"  "He invokes upon you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ." March 26, 2002, Vatican

For the past 19 years I have been making an illuminated manuscript of the Bible using Calligraphy and I have decorated it entirely by hand, and I do not use computers.  Five years in the making, the new set of Gospels are done, and they have 310 illuminated pages in 565pages in total and most of the pages not illuminated are decorated.  They are a special edition of the Gospels where each chapter is inspired by a different historical manuscript.  The work is distinctly my own and you have to see it to understand it.  Whereas the Book of Kells and the Saint Johns Bible start each Gospel with a full page illuminated carpet page, I decided to do that in about half of the chapters as each chapter is unique. The illumination here is from Luke Chapter 3. The handwriting was developed by looking at ancient manuscripts and the art is all my own, I am not copying previous works. Luke is a Celtic Insular manuscript, John is a collection of French styles.  Most of the verse initials of Luke are inhabited initials.  Matthew has English styles and Mark is a mix of styles up to modern Bible manuscript illumination including works of the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Also included is an INTERLINEAR  POLYGLOT in Greek, English and Latin, which I made by translating the Complutensian Polyglot of Accala, Spain, 1514-1517.  

MORE NEWS

In 1997 I received a Bible from the Archbishop of Canterbury to  correct my txt.  The bible was ultimately sent to me by the American Bible Society.

In February of 2000 Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent was sitting next to the Archbishop of Canterbury at a state Banquet in Windsor Castle, which was in honor of the visiting Queen of Denmark and she gave him a letter I had written while they were having dinner. People all over the world have been helpful and kind, it is a testimony to their faith!

THE EXHIBITION
Illuminating the Word of God, an Exhibition of the modern 21st century  illuminated manuscripts of  James G. Pepper at the Biblical Arts Museum, Dallas Texas, March 8-April 30, 2005,  (http://www.biblicalarts.org/)   7500 Park Lane , Dallas Texas   75225 , 214-691-4661.  Many people from all over the United States came and saw the Bible on display.  One of the high points was when the bus loads of school children came in and spent the morning on the floor of the gallery drawing Bible pages.   

 

SCRIPTS and MORE SCRIPTS

Each chapter is written in a different historic manuscript style and this page illustrates some of the more "calligraphic" styles used in the Bible.  The links below lead to pages of links and I have more pictures on each of them.

The Scriptorium is the place where the Bible is made, is at Highland Park United Methodist Church

"And when" they came nigh to Jerusalem.  

An illuminated Manuscript is a hand made book, hand-written, and decorated without the assistance of printers or computer technology. It is how books were made before printing was invented.

The art of manuscript illumination never disappeared, the printing press did not stop it; in every generation people make Bibles all over the world by hand, many in English, some in French.  Miro and Marc Chagall illustrated Bibles. The Orthodox have been doing it all along. The Ethiopian Church has been doing it too. Those who claim they are the first in 500 years to do this work, deny the work of God for 500 years and need to read Ecclesiastes 1.

Inhabited Initials from the Gospel of Saint Luke

The New Testament completed in 1995

I have written and illuminated the Gospels twice, the new set of Gospels is a separate manuscript than the New Testament.  After 9-11 when many of my friends died, I wanted to make a great Book something that would knock your socks off!  A tangible expression of one man's faith.  

The text of my New Testament is hand-written in double columns, 40 lines each, in plain manuscript, so it can be read. I was inspired by the clear capital writing of the Codex Sinaiticus, where the purpose of these Bibles is to spread the word of God.  

Each chapter’s initial is inhabited, containing a drawing; the subject matter usually depicts the events of that chapter. Or if that was not appropriate, other subjects were used, including the flora and fauna of our world, and the technological and everyday items of today. The ancient scribes placed items from their world into their Bibles. I did the same. So the Bible includes the Space Shuttle, Skylab, endangered species, hybrid flowers, cars, trains, and planes, etc. The title page of I Thessalonians is a picture of the Agena Docking Station, of the NASA Gemini Space Missions. The history and archeology of the Bible, the history of the church, and biblical places are all included in these drawings. Mosaics from S. Vitale in Ravenna, and Hagia Sophia, wall patterns from Greek Synagogues, the Theatre of Ephesus, plenty for the biblical scholar!

There is nothing like trusting in God that the page will turn out right, to be inspired at the moment the pen touches the page, only then will you know what to do when you write the scripture, You have to rely on your faith and the inspiration of God to make the pages turn out as beautifully as possible.  Sure I have an idea of what I am going to do , but that usually goes by the way side as I start to write the page. This is why each chapter is written differently because they are each unique.  It is this spontaneous interaction with the Holy Spirit that makes handwritten bibles so amazing.  You cannot plan this on a computer, you have to do it yourself.  Go ahead and try it, invite the Holy Spirit into your life, I recommend it highly!   

One man made this Bible, as it takes one person to choose Christ.

Pages of Links of other manuscripts

Codices & Illuminated Manuscripts
 Libraries and Major Theological sites
 Papyri
 Psalters, Breviaries, Choir Books, Book of Hours, and other Liturgical Works
On-line Bibles
 Sites Unseen - Earth's Mightiest Alternative Christian Link Portal
Theology and Scholarship
 History of the Bible, the class, Jesus and the Gospels

On An Overgrown Path High Culture News and Reviews

© Copyright James G. Pepper 2001, 2002
An Illuminated Manuscript of the New Testament by James G. Pepper  © © Copyright James G. Pepper 1999, 2000, 2001,2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
© The Pepper Gospels 2005
All rights reserved.  No part of this document can be reproduced without the express written permission of
 James G. Pepper who made this Bible.

biblescribe1@aol.com