Book of Kells: Its Function and Audience

In The Book of Kells: its Function and Audience Dr. Farr assesses the book as a liturgical document. By focusing on two of the more anomalous miniatures - the 'Temptation' and the so-called 'Arrest' - she deconstructs the rich legacy of biblical and early Christian literature and symbolism available to the Insular mind, while making a valuable contribution to the understanding of lection systems in the early western Church. Dr. Farr shows that the complex web of allusion found in the manuscript is not mere game-playing on the part of the original producers or subsequent commentators, but served to integrate the contemporary audience into the historical and supernatural continuum of the heavenly and earthly church, giving context and identity to the Insular role in cosmographical and salvation history.