jjares reviewed The Apostles: A Captivating Guide to the Twelve Disciples in Christianity, the Apostolic Age, and the Role of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Christian History on + 3271 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Every once in a while, Captivating History sends a story over the goalpost, and this book did that for me. While reading the Bible, the apostles seem to be adjacent characters to the main event. They didn't seem like real people, just a group of attending characters. This book teased out the personalities of the apostles in a way I haven't experienced before in my reading.
Nearly every page had something new (or a new perspective). I could not put the book down until I completed it. The discussion on how Bartholemew was probably Nathaniel was enlightening. Scholars have discerned the order of the gospels, and the differences between the writers were fascinating. Mark was intent on getting the facts down on paper, but John (a later writer) wrote a novel (he tended to give more context to the facts).
Although we have all seen art portraying each apostle, I wasn't aware of the symbolism used for most of them. For example, we all know that Peter carries keys (Keys to Heaven, leader of the Church, etc.). However, in reality, the figure of the apostle showed some aspects of how they died. For example, Andrew usually has an X nearby because of how he died. This book offered a piece of art of most apostles, explaining the symbolism.
The conversational writing style enhanced my reading because the author's attitude was one of "we can figure this out together."
Nearly every page had something new (or a new perspective). I could not put the book down until I completed it. The discussion on how Bartholemew was probably Nathaniel was enlightening. Scholars have discerned the order of the gospels, and the differences between the writers were fascinating. Mark was intent on getting the facts down on paper, but John (a later writer) wrote a novel (he tended to give more context to the facts).
Although we have all seen art portraying each apostle, I wasn't aware of the symbolism used for most of them. For example, we all know that Peter carries keys (Keys to Heaven, leader of the Church, etc.). However, in reality, the figure of the apostle showed some aspects of how they died. For example, Andrew usually has an X nearby because of how he died. This book offered a piece of art of most apostles, explaining the symbolism.
The conversational writing style enhanced my reading because the author's attitude was one of "we can figure this out together."
