John's Story: The Last Eyewitness (The Jesus Chronicles, Book 1) [Paperback]

Tim LaHaye (Author), Jerry B. Jenkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2, 2010

The brand-new bestselling series from the authors of the phenomenal multi-million-selling Left Behind books. Now in paperback!

Here is the first in the Biblically inspired series, The Jesus Chronicles, which brings to life the story of Jesus, told in the voices of those who knew and loved him best-the Gospel writers John, Mark, Matthew, and Luke.

In this volume, readers will discover John's story, a thrilling account of the life of the man who came to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament and to save all of humankind-and the disciple who was the last eyewitness to Jesus' glory. Readers will experience firsthand the creation of the Gospel of John as well as the Book of Revelation-Scripture that still has profound meaning for the world 2,000 years later.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With their wildly popular Left Behind thrillers, LaHaye and Jenkins took the Christian fiction genre to new heights of mainstream success, but also sparked renewed debate among evangelicals concerning End Times theology. Now, they reunite to undertake the Jesus Chronicles, a four-book series of historical novels profiling the lives of the Gospel writers: John, Mark, Matthew, and Luke. This first installment recounts the personal and spiritual journey of the only one of the original apostles who died from old age rather than martyrdom. Robinson Dean brings an appropriately deep and sober tone to his duties as narrator, especially in his portrayal of the elderly John's exhaustive efforts to leave a written record of both his first-person experiences and prophetic visions. The authors steep their storytelling in a conservative interpretation of scripture that may not appeal evenly across the broader spectrums of Christian theology, but they provide some engaging human drama. The audiobook also includes Dean's reading of the complete texts of all five New Testament books for which John is credited (John's Gospel, his three Epistles and Revelation).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Tim LaHaye is a noted author, minister, and nationally recognized speaker on Bible prophecy. He is founder and president of Tim LaHaye Ministries and the co-founder of the Pre-Trib Research Center. A pastor for thirty-nine years, Dr. LaHaye has written more than fifty non-fiction books and co-authored the Left Behind series, the most successful Christian fiction venture in publishing history, with Jerry Jenkins. He and his wife, Beverly, have been married for over fifty years and live in Southern California.

Jerry Jenkins, the former vice president of publishing and current writer-at- large for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, is the author of more than 150 books, including the Left Behind series with Tim LaHaye. Dr. Jenkins's writing has appeared in Time, Reader's Digest, Parade, Guidepost, and dozens of other Christian periodicals. Dr. Jenkins owns Jenkins Entertainment, a filmmaking company based in Los Angeles, as well as the Christian Writer's Guild, which aims to train tomorrow's professional Christian writers and has nearly two thousand members worldwide. He is also a sought-after marriage and family speaker. Jenkins and his wife Dianna live in Colorado Springs.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 358 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (February 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425217132
• ISBN-13: 978-0425217139
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring, Poorly Written Book, January 11, 2007

By 

M. Coley - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John's Story: The Last Eyewitness (The Jesus Chronicles, Book 1) (Hardcover)

I'm a huge fan of LaHaye and Jenkins, and I love almost all of their other books. I'm a big fan of Historical Christian Fiction. But this book is just plain awful.

The character development is non-existent. I just finished the book last night, and there are only four characters that I can even remember (John, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Cerinthus). I didn't feel like I knew any more about those characters when I finished.

The plot is dull and unimaginative. It's basically just wrapping a boring, pointless story around the Gospel of John and The Revelation of John. Just reading those two books from the Bible would have been far more rewarding.

If you want to see how Biblical Fiction can be done well, read any of Ellen Gunderson Traylor's early works. They're page-turners that expand upon the truth found in the Bible, illustrate the personalities of people from the Bible, and highlight the nuggets that are so easy to miss in the Bible. The only thing that kept me turning pages in "John's Story" was the hope that it would improve. It never did.

51 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just Read the Bible, December 1, 2006

By 

D. Jones (Overseas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John's Story: The Last Eyewitness (The Jesus Chronicles, Book 1) (Hardcover)

I agree whole heartedly with the first reviewer. At first I was excited to see LaHaye and Jenkins together again. I had read the entire Left Behind Series and I am eagerly awaiting the final book Kingdom Come. I was disappointed in some of LaHaye's other works like the Babylon Series but was wiling to give him another chance in this new series since he partnered back up with Jenkins. But I have to say that this new book which from what I gather is the first in a series of 4 books of each of the Gospels was very disappointing. Like the first reviewer I was hoping to get some sort of insight into John himself, maybe a bit of Christian history.....not so. This book was the Bible verbatim! After the first chapter it's been all down hill since. I'm only half way through and I'm finding it a struggle to finish the rest. It's a far cry from the Left Behind books which I could finish in a day or two. I will most likely finish the book but will not bother purchasing any more in this series.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Same old story again, January 24, 2007

By 

Deborah "Books, Movies and Chinese Food" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: John's Story: The Last Eyewitness (The Jesus Chronicles, Book 1) (Hardcover)

John, the disciple Jesus loved most, is the only disciple left. All the others have been killed for their beliefs. Currently in prison awaiting his sentence, John wants to get his story about his life with the Messiah out to the rest of the world. When an attempt to boil him in a pot of oil fails, John is sentenced to exile onPatmos. Before he goes, he dictates his story to Polycarp in hopes that others will listen to it and believe.

When I first heard the premise of this novel, I was excited. I thought it was going to be the New Testament through John's eyes during that time period. I thought the story would be first person narrative from John's point of view from when he grew up, to meeting Jesus, throughout Jesus' ministry, after Jesus died, etc. Unfortunately this book was not at all what I expected. I didn't feel this book to be on the level as the Left Behind series. To me the story was just verbatim the Bible with a little background story for continuity thrown in. I did find the Gnostic believer and his arguments with John very interesting with that belief brought to contemporary popularity these days. I wish they had included more of that discussion. I also did find John's attempted death in the oil fascinating. However the rest of the book was not exciting or even uncovering anything new. Also the author's felt the need to include all of John's works from the Bible in the book. So really, the 300 page book is only half a novel. This wouldn't be such a problem if the story wasn't EXACTLY what was in the Bible. It almost feels like the authors were afraid to create a character for John, different that how he is always portrayed. You don't know anything about his personal life at all. Seeing as how John was the disciple Jesus loved the most, I expected more from this book. I only hope that for the other books, they change the format and include more original story and less repetition.