Christ: The Gospel of Matthew Beautifully Designed for the Internet Age

By Alejandra Vernon and Ruth Rimm

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0974575046
• ISBN13: 9780974575049
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: The Global Renaissance Society
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Lavishly illustrated, artistic, visual interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

".Christ: The Gospel of Matthew" designed by Ruth Rimm is a book that is not meant to be read, as much as experienced. It is a work of the ancient contemplative practice of manuscript illumination/iconography applied to our postmodern age of the internet, cell phones and mp3. This is no ordinary study Bible or New Testament. It is a lavishly illustrated, artistic, visual interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew. Each page contains only a few verses set in a garden of images that work with the words to draw you into a contemplative savoring of the sacred words. It is an ideal resource for lectio divina; the spiritual discipline of the contemplative immersion of one in Scripture. Her use of imagery, color, font types and the selection of verses to include on each page speak of the designer's own faith and her immersion in the Scripture she illuminates. Faith and its expression in spirituality, if it is authentic, engage the whole person; spirit and flesh. Our bodies are our God-given means of making visible what is invisible; the spiritual and divine. Our actions, gestures, expressions and bodily movement enters into our faith commitments and give expression to our spirituality; as do our imagination and aesthetic sense. This is obvious when liturgy is well celebrated. Too often the inspirational and religious resources available to us speak only to our intellect. While the intellect is important, the whole person needs to be engaged for it is the whole person that gives glory to God and makes the invisible visible. This book is a pioneering attempt to engage the whole person in the Gospel of Matthew using a contemporary idiom. This volume contains her illumination of the Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Ruth. There is also a section of commentary by the designer which describes a bit of her spiritual journey that resulted in this book, as well as her logic in making the design choices used in this work. Picking up on a theme that under girds her earlier work, Goodbye Gutenberg, she points out that the tools to create such works as this are readily available. All that is needed is a personal computer, a design program and access to a color printer. This means that the spiritual discipline of illumination is available to anyone who has access to these tools. If a different design scheme or style of graphics appeals to us more than those used by Ruth Rimm, we are capable of designing our own Gospel of Matthew, or any other book of the Bible, immersing ourselves in the sacred word and giving expression to it through our imagination and aesthetic sense. I particularly found the images of Christ used in the work to be appealing. They are well drawn in a simple contemporary style. In their simplicity they offer a beauty and power that speaks clearly to the contemporary eye. There is much of the art of iconography in the images used. An initial reaction to the work was to question why she chose the King James Version of the Gospel of Matthew to illus

Makes the Gospel more accessible and relevant than ever

The Bible is the living word of God, eternally fresh and self-renewing, but the Bible as we have known it - in a visual sense - for the last five hundred years does not reflect this fact in its outward appearance. I had never really thought about this before, but it's amazing to see that the Bible of today looks virtually the same as the first Gutenberg Bibles of centuries ago. I always took for granted the fact that the Bible was supposed to be nothing more than black, oftentimes small, text on white pages. Now, thanks to Ruth Rimm's dedication to the production of new designer Bibles for the world today, I see that this does not have to be the case - nor was it the case during the Middle Ages, when beautiful illuminated Bibles were painstakingly created by hand. Thanks to the wonders of modern computer software, it's now possible to produce striking, visually instructive designer Bibles that truly bring new life to the timeless Scriptures. The Gospel of Matthew, "beautifully designed for the Internet Age," is the first product of Rimm's .Christ vision, and it is truly a marvel to behold. Alejandra Vernon's artwork is amazingly vibrant, serving as a colorful backdrop to virtually every single page. This isn't a modern version of the mediaeval illustrated Bibles; you won't find traditional renditions of Madonna and child or the kinds of illustrations you can still see on some churches' stained-glass windows. This book brings the story of Jesus right up to the present, emphasizing His relevance in the world we are living in today. The design is built around the concept of the web browser, today's most timely vehicle for communicating facts and ideas. Streaming video boxes (from JNN, the Jesus News Network), pop-up windows (which now - for once - actually serve a useful purpose), "hyperlinks to the heart," and different color fonts help draw attention to the most important aspects of Jesus' story. Images of such modern technological products as cell phones, PDAs, and credit cards are also included, further linking Jesus' relevance to our own time. This design brings out the most important points of each passage in ways no traditional Bible ever could - and this type of visual learning significantly increases the reader's level of comprehension and retention. The artwork is compelling enough to draw your attention to it on every page, yet it does not distract you from the Biblical text itself. You may find it hard to motivate yourself to pick up a traditional Bible, with its hundreds and hundreds of pages of text, but you won't have that kind of trouble with this incredibly accessible book of Matthew designed for the Internet age. Along with the Gospel of Matthew, this .Christ book also includes the Old Testament book of Ruth and a most compelling testimony by book designer Ruth Rimm. Rimm's piece is very informative and inspirational, as she takes you back to the old days of illuminated Bibles and enthusiastically makes the case f

Portrait of God

A former chaplain at Harvard recalls how students used to come into his office, plop themselves down on a chair and say, I don't believe in God." To which the chaplain would reply, "Tell me about the god you don't believe in. ('Paint me a picture.') I probably don't believe in that god either!" The subject of Matthew's Gospel was asked the most important question by one of his 12 apostles, Phillip (my favorite for his quick wit in reply to a question Jesus asked him about how "we" would be able to feed five thousand hungry men). Some time later Phillip asks him, "Tell us what God is like?" The immediate reply: How long have I been with you Phillip, and yet you ask this? If you want to know what God is like, look at me: God is like me. I and the father are one (and the same). ---- I could not believe my eyes when I opened this brand new (2005) Gospel of Matthew, for the very first time today: Staring back at me is the very image of the face of Christ (especially the eyes) from my own mind's eye! The painter responsible for this portrait (and for all the other myriad and marvelous illustrations found herein) is Alejandra Vernon, a world-class artist (I say!) based in California. `Alex' is also, incidentally a prolific reviewer of considerable insight, here at the world's biggest website. In fact there is little I could add to the erudite reviews for this book already contributed (below). But may I add my voice to the chorus of praise for the gorgeous depth of color, the use of the best possible quality paper, and the book's bindings, as good as any quality, hard-cover Bible. Note: The Gospel of Matthew (the only one with the complete Beatitudes, Lord's Prayer and 'Sermon on the Mount') as presented here, is the unabridged King James Version. Also included -- the Book of Ruth and a deeply moving testimony for Christ by the series designer, Ruth Rimm (Valerie Kirschenbaum). ------- Martin Luther used to urge his students to "flee the hidden God and run to Christ." I'm reminded of something a friend once said about using a magnifying glass to examine a fine painting (such as this one). The object at the center of your magnifying glass stays in focus, while further out things become distorted. By analogy, it is "out there, on the edges" (away from the clear Gospel image) that we run into all the fuzzy imponderables --- such as "the problem of pain" and "free will versus divine providence. " But shift your gaze back to the person at the center of the magnifying glass (to the one whose inner portrait is `painted' in this `best-of-all-the-Gospels') and suddenly the picture is in focus again. And we can say with conviction: "Now THAT is who I want my God to be!" Mark Blackburn Winnipeg Canada

The New Renaissence

I loved this book. It is an inspiration to look at on one level and when one digs into the details of each of the plates there is a feast of deeper meaning and insights. This book is a beautiful addition to one's personal library and also a lovely gift. I can't wait to see the other gospels that Ruth is working on. FYI the image of Jesus is acutally a mosaic made of fragments from many pictures of people in magazines - How amazing is that! To top this off the image of Jesus in each of the Gospels is slightly different so as the reflect the different perspective of each Gospel writer. You must get this book!