Reading the Way to the Heavenly Jerusalem in the Book of Armagh

Abstract

• This paper examines the series of text-image devices found in the Book of Armagh (Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS 52), at the explicit to the Gospel of John (fol. 103r), the tituli to the Book of Revelation (fol. 159v), and the Revelation explicit (fol. 170r), to suggest how the manuscript might originally have been used in meditative reading. By setting them in the context of early medieval monastic spirituality and contemplative practices, it explores how these devices might present the reading of scripture as a path to salvation.