Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve (Deckle Edge)

by Tom Bissell

Hardcover, 2016

Status

Available

Call number

Adult > History

Publication

Pantheon (2016), Edition: First Edition, 432 pages

Description

"A profound and moving journey into the heart of Christianity that explores the mysterious and often paradoxical lives and legacies of the Twelve Apostles--a book both for those of the faith and for others who seek to understand Christianity from the outside in. Peter, Matthew, Thomas, John: Who were these men? What was their relationship to Jesus? Tom Bissell provides rich and surprising answers to these ancient, elusive questions. He examines not just who these men were (and weren't), but also how their identities have taken shape over the course of two millennia. Ultimately, Bissell finds that the story of the Apostles is the story of early Christianity: its competing versions of Jesus's ministry, its countless schisms, and its ultimate evolution from an obscure Jewish sect to the global faith we know today in all its forms and permutations. In his quest to understand the underpinnings of the world's largest religion, Bissell embarks on a years-long pilgrimage to the supposed tombs of the Twelve Apostles. He travels from Jerusalem and Rome to Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, India, and Kyrgyzstan, vividly capturing the rich diversity of Christianity's worldwide reach. Along the way, he engages with a host of characters--priests, paupers, a Vatican archaeologist, a Palestinian taxi driver, a Russian monk--posing sharp questions that range from the religious to the philosophical to the political. Written with warmth, empathy, and rare acumen, Apostle is a brilliant synthesis of travel writing, biblical history, and a deep, lifelong relationship with Christianity. The result is an unusual, erudite, and at times hilarious book--a religious, intellectual, and personal adventure fit for believers, scholars, and wanderers alike."--Jacket.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Big_Bang_Gorilla
It would be apt if this sprawling book could be described as 'three books in one', echoing the Christian Trinity. But no, this is four books in one. The first, which is the book it purports to be, is a travel book which sends the author to visit the tombs of all twelve of Christ's apostles. These
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segments of the book are in parts a great travel yarn; the author is a talented, engaging writer, but travel books can rarely overcome the interest level of the places visited and the people encountered. The places he visits are occasionally interesting (Kyrgyzstan, India), but more often banal (Rome, Jerusalem, Turkey). As for the people, they too often are extremely dour and uncommunicative pilgrims and keepers of the shrines.

The remaining books, which I felt are the books which he really wanted to write, use these jaunts as a launching pad for biographies of the apostles, accounts of the development of the organization, theology, and Christology of the early church, and an expression of his own non-belief. Two of the chapters are on non-apostles Paul and Jesus, and devoted almost entirely to an examination of the church topics, and his final chapter, nominally on James the Greater, is for the most part a statement of his reasons for non-belief, which I found eloquent and thoughtful.

His treatment of the apostolic biographies and the early church topics is exhaustive --or at least exhausting for the reader-- and, however interesting it may be at many points, makes the book simply too long. In addition, he advances no claims of credentials as a Biblical scholar, though he does append a very long bibliography which indicates that if he is a layman, he's a very well-read one. But at bottom he ends up citing a relatively small number of scholars, not well-known, at least to me, and they inevitably support his conclusions. There's a lot to like about this book, but it does take higher levels of either interest in the early church or stamina and determination than I possess to avoid a little frisson of happiness when one turns the final page.
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LibraryThing member DeaconBernie
As a travel-log, this book is excellent. The author chose to visit just one site for each Apostle he pursued which might have limited his horizon. Even so, the detail of his travels is excellent. This alone makes this a compelling text.
Bissell is also knowledgeable about the subject matter in a way
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that permits him to speak authoritatively about what is in print from Apostolic times. His commentary is lively with interjections of humor. He asserts he uses the NRSV for his Scripture passages but this is where things go awry as he tends to bypass the NRSV in favor of "other ancient sources" when an occasion arises. This, of course, is not disqualifying since there is validity in his choice.
It is how Bissell tries to relate the particulars to the whole that things tend to get fuzzy. His discussion of which Gospel writer reveals which sayings of Jesus on the Cross is illustrative. One is led to think he thinks all four Evangelists should have reported the same things with no allowance for how difficult it would be for a crucified person to say anything or in what volume. Another point is that Bissell seems to ignore entirely the two natures of Jesus Christ, Divine and human, so that they speak with one voice and modulation. That the human nature of Jesus might be terrified by what is coming in the Garden should not be beyond the imagination.
When I started this book, I asked myself why it was written. As late as page 77, I was still asking the question. I still don't know. For that reason, I'm not giving it a rating. I am more knowledgeable after reading it, but I don't yet know if I'm better off.
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Original language

English

Physical description

432 p.; 6.8 inches

ISBN

0375424660 / 9780375424663
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