John, the Son of Zebedee: The Life of a Legend (Studies on Personalities of the New Testament) [Hardcover]

R. Alan Culpepper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1994 | Series: Studies on Personalities of the New Testament

Beginning with New Testament descriptions of John as fisherman, and extending through the most recent Johannine scholarship, Alan Culpepper gathers stories from church fathers, the apocryphal acts of John, medieval sources, Victorian poets, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century historians of earliest Christianity to explore the life, exploits and the death of this most significant apostle. The resulting picture of John is one of the most important and complete, and is a fascinating account of the development of the Johannine legend, no less than the historical tradition.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Learned and well written." --International Review of Biblical Studies, vol. 47: 2000/2001 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

R. Alan Culpepper is Dean, McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Atlanta, Georgia. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Pr (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872499626
• ISBN-13: 978-0872499621
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,519,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Overview of Johannine Tradition, May 26, 2006

By 

Tony_Seeker "Tony_Seeker" (ABQ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John the Son of Zebedee (Studies on Personalities of the New Testament) (Paperback)

I don't know what that last retard read, but it was not this book about John the Son of Zebedee by R. Alan Culpepper. He surveys the biblical, post-apostolic (apocryphal) and patristic traditions, and finishes with a survey of modern Johannine scholarship.

It is not a read for those looking for a devotional, but it is not a dissertation either.

Check it out!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Dubious Disciple Book Review, June 21, 2011

By 

Dubious Disciple "Lee Harmon" (White Bear Lake, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John the Son of Zebedee (Studies on Personalities of the New Testament) (Paperback)

Three hundred seventy six small-print pages about the life and legends of St. John the Apostle. Culpepper is one of the foremost authorities on Johannine writings, and I'm a Culpepper fan, but this was overkill.

My current project is a story about the making of John's Gospel, and naturally, John the Apostle is a primary character. For this, Culpepper's book proved to be an exhausting resource. Oops, I meant exhaustive. Must have been a Freudian slip.

I had to give the book a strong rating for its research; there is simply nothing like it out there. You'll learn stories about John in the Bible, a discussion of his possible identity as the Beloved Disciple of the Fourth Gospel, the evidence of Johannine thinking in the epistles of John, how the Gospel of John gained acceptance in the church (walking first through Gnostic strands of Christianity), various other extra-canonical Christian writings portraying John as a hero, legends about John written by more than twenty church fathers, how he became an icon in art and literature, all leading to current-day opinions by Bible scholars. Whew.

Buy it as a reference book.

3 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too difficult, February 10, 2004

By 

Quilmiense (USA/Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John, the Son of Zebedee: The Life of a Legend (Studies on Personalities of the New Testament) (Hardcover)

This book is written exclusively for the academia and experts. It's a killer. I tried and tried but so many names and references and data and bibliography that when I finished it -yes, I did- I wasn't sure of one single thing about John's life. What was myth, what was true and what is hypothesis.
A waste of time.