This edition of the four Gospels presents the complete text from the Authorized Version of the Bible and illustrates them from a variety of illuminated manuscripts, ranging from early Gospel texts to 16th-century books of hours. The words and pictures together provide a record of the life and death of Christ and of his teaching on Earth. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, with their accounts of the life of Jesus, represent the very core of Christian belief, and as much for agnostics as for members of the Christian community, they are central to the mystery of religious faith.