Purpose
The book had a sacramental rather than educational purpose. A large, lavish Gospel, such as the Book of Kells, would have been left on the high altar of the church and taken off only for the reading of the Gospel during Mass, with the reader probably reciting from memory more than reading the text from the book. It is significant that the Chronicles of Ulster state that the book was stolen from the sacristy (where the vessels and other accoutrements of the Mass were stored) rather than from the monastic library. The design of the book seems to take this purpose in mind; that is, the book was produced with appearance taking precedence over practicality. There are numerous uncorrected mistakes in the text. Lines were often completed in a blank space in the line above. The chapter headings that were necessary to make the canon tables usable were not inserted into the margins of the page. In general, nothing was done to disrupt the look of the page: aesthetics were given a priority over utility.
Read more about this topic: Book Of Kells
Famous quotes containing the word purpose:
“God sent children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race—to enlarge our hears; and to make us unselfish and full of kindly sympathies and affections; to give our souls higher aims; to call out all our faculties to extended enterprise and exertion; and to bring round our firesides bright faces, happy smiles, and loving, tender hearts.”
—Mary Botham Howitt (20th century)
“I don’t like to be idle; in fact, I often feel somewhat guilty unless there is some purpose to what I am doing. But spending a few hours—or a few days—in the woods, swamps or alongside a stream has never seemed to me a waste of time.... I derive special benefit from a period of solitude.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)