The King James Bible: Great Books Explained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcqIVnUar7Q

The film about the King James Bible I co-authored with James Payne, a curator, gallerist, and passionate art lover, has now garnered over 50,000 views. 

It covers the content and structure of the Bible as well as telling both the story of the King James Version's creation and some of its cultural influence.

Check it out and add your thoughts to comments that now include:

• "what great insights! Thank you"
• "I look at the Bible quite differently now that I’ve watched this. Thank you so much for this new lens of insight."
• "Astonishing how rich the history of the Bible really is even in the "later" days - I had no idea so many people had worked on it. And the process used for the KJV - my goodness, it seems so complicated and yet so very clever."
• "It's sad when people either haven't realized or outright deny how important the KJV bible has been in the history of the English-speaking world, even if someone isn't religious, it's very much worth learning about the impact this book had on culture. Thank you for making this video!"
• "This "beautiful" video is one of the best of youtube. Thank you!"
• "Wow, when I saw the topic, I thought, How ballsy, such a controversial topic! But it was masterfully done, a good analysis of the book as a book."

For more of my writings on the Bible see here:

• Exodus & Exile - an online exhibition exploring themes of identity and migration in the Bible;
• Visual Commentary on Scripture - three exhibitions for the VCS on Daniel 4, Matthew 4:12–22 & Mark 1:14–20, and Hebrews 11; and
• Visual Meditations - visual meditations written for ArtWay.

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Malcolm & Alwyn - Fool's Wisdom.

St Christopher's Hospice

As part of researching an article on Marian Bohusz-Szyszko I recently visited St Christopher's Hospice.

Founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967 St Christopher’s Hospice was the first modern hospice, now providing the highest quality care to over 2,000 dying individuals each year on their inpatient wards and in people’s own homes. It has been a pioneer in the field of palliative medicine, which is now established worldwide. The ongoing impact of St Christopher’s clinical innovations and their extensive programmes of education and research improve care for dying people well beyond their geographical location and influence standards of healthcare throughout the world. The Education Centre provides a portfolio of palliative care courses, education and training that  improve end of life care in a range of settings.

Dame Cicely‘s vision and work transformed the care of the dying and the practice of medicine. She understood that a dying person is more than a patient with symptoms to be controlled and became convinced of the paramount importance of combining excellent medical and nursing care with “holistic” support that recognised practical, emotional, social, and spiritual need. She saw the dying person and the family as the unit of care and developed bereavement services at St Christopher's Hospice to extend support beyond the death of the patient.

Living life creatively during serious illness can also be important. Patients and carers have said that capturing their life story or gaining new possibilities through the arts can be a rewarding and meaningful experience. Nigel Hartley and Malcolm Payne, who both work at St Christopher's, have edited an excellent book The creative arts in palliative care that explores the use of creative therapies in the hospice. The use of pottery, painting, craft work, digital arts, art therapy and music and music therapy are all explored as are examples of outreach work.

St Christopher’s are currently engaged in a dynamic, annual creative arts partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts. This particular project captures the views of dying people and those who care for them through the creation of a range of artistic self-portraits using various artistic mediums including photography, quilt making, painting, drawing, creative writing and music making.

Dame Cicely‘s vision to establish her own home for the dying was underpinned by her religious faith. She had initially thought of creating an Anglican religious community but broadened her vision so that St Christopher's became a place that welcomed staff and patients of any faith or none. However, her strong Christian faith was a fundamental factor in her commitment to the dying and remained an anchor throughout her life.

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Al Green - Take Your Time.

Resurrection: Christian Arts exhibition

Ceramics by Jane Quail

Works by Anna Payne

'Death thou shalt die' by Brian Ayling

Photographs of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona by Brian Ayling

View of the exhibition

'Resurrection' by Linda Scott

View of the exhibition

Works by Michael Day and Phyllis Hall

Works by Phyllis Hall and Maggie Ayling

Works by Carol Ann Pennington, Helen Armstrong and Brian Ayling

Christian Arts are holding an exhibition at St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds until 22nd April. The exhibition theme of Resurrection, was chosen by members at St. Mary's to follow on from the Easter weekend and further supporting events are planned at the Church during the exhibition. 24 Christian Arts members have work in the exhibition.

St.Mary's claims to be the third largest parish church in England. It is part of the Benedictine Abbey site in the Historic Centre of Bury St. Edmunds. There are many visitors to the Church, which houses the tomb of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, Duchess of Suffolk and favourite sister of Henry VIII along with over a hundred more tombs and monuments, carved angels in the roof and a wealth of 15C woodcarving and outstanding examples of stained glass.

Christian Arts is an ecumenical society of Christian artists in Britain formed over forty years ago, and affiliated to the Société Internationale des Artistes Chrétiens (SIAC) which supports Christian arts events in many countries. They are a sister society to the Society of Catholic Artists (SCA). Christian Arts' diverse membership is drawn from painters, sculptors, ceramicists, book and textile artists and craftspeople from all over the country and is for all involved in the arts who are committed Christians and wish to explore and deepen the relationship between their faith and the arts.

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River City People - Say Something Good.