The Twelve: The Lives of the Apostles After Calvary

Rating:
Summary: An indepth documentary...
Review: ... for the Christian who also happens to be a history buff. This book attempts to address the question "What happened to all of the Apostles after Jesus died?"

The book is divided into chapters which address each Apostle. Drawing from the New Testament, each chapter provides detail on each Apostle and his role in Jesus' ministry, it also attempts to give a character analysis (personality, etc) on each Apostle. The book then tries to give a full indepth history on what each Apostle did based on extra-biblical sources (for example Eusebuis' "History of the Church"). The book also relies on local stories that are generated on each Apostle (for example St. Thomas and his ministry in India). It is in no-way a definitive history on each apostle, but it does try to give a fully detailed history given the limited amount of material. The prose is excellent, making this a very easy-to-read book. For anyone who is interested in the history of the Christian Church, and would like to read up more on the Apostles, I would highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Taking a Stab at Apostolic History
Review: Bernard Ruffin has written a delightful explanation of the history of each of the twelve apostles. I found this book to be very easy to read. The topic, however, is a bit difficult to grasp considering the question of the reliability of many of the source documents upon which Ruffin must rely.

Several apocryphal works are cited in support of Ruffin's chronicle of the Apostles' lives. The validity of the story depends upon the reliability of the source documents. To that end, there is much in this book that is speculation. We simply are not in a place to accurately judge these apocryphal works, except to say that the early Church Fathers (for reasons of their own) did not adopt these works into the canon of the New Testament. Because the rule of canonicity excludes these works, they must be looked at with some hesitance.

Ruffin makes this point himself. The value in his work is its honesty in this regard. Ruffin reports merely what has been set forth in these apocryphal works. He makes no judments about their reliability because his intent is to simply report what they say. In short, whether they are reliable or not is not Ruffin's focus nor can he be faulted for not coming to definite conclusions.

This being said, I find that this work is more of a chronical of what has been said before. Its value is that Ruffin has put these materials in one handy reference for the reader. This being his goal, he has succeeded marvelously.

I recommend this work to anyone interested in the question of "What happened to the Twelve?" You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Taking a Stab at Apostolic History
Review: Bernard Ruffin has written a delightful explanation of the history of each of the twelve apostles. I found this book to be very easy to read. The topic, however, is a bit difficult to grasp considering the question of the reliability of many of the source documents upon which Ruffin must rely.

Several apocryphal works are cited in support of Ruffin's chronicle of the Apostles' lives. The validity of the story depends upon the reliability of the source documents. To that end, there is much in this book that is speculation. We simply are not in a place to accurately judge these apocryphal works, except to say that the early Church Fathers (for reasons of their own) did not adopt these works into the canon of the New Testament. Because the rule of canonicity excludes these works, they must be looked at with some hesitance.

Ruffin makes this point himself. The value in his work is its honesty in this regard. Ruffin reports merely what has been set forth in these apocryphal works. He makes no judments about their reliability because his intent is to simply report what they say. In short, whether they are reliable or not is not Ruffin's focus nor can he be faulted for not coming to definite conclusions.

This being said, I find that this work is more of a chronical of what has been said before. Its value is that Ruffin has put these materials in one handy reference for the reader. This being his goal, he has succeeded marvelously.

I recommend this work to anyone interested in the question of "What happened to the Twelve?" You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Good but with obvious Catholic overtones
Review: I had high hopes for this book but was disappointed on nearly every point. Because Catholic tradition provides the bulk of the information regarding the 12 apostles it undoubtedly must be used as the basis for any such research, but the author goes further to promote and even read Catholicism into the events surrounding these men (e.g., references to penance, priests, a well-defined bishop structure before such is thought to exist, the unquestioning doctrine of the papacy with Peter, over emphasis on "Our Lady", etc.) Furthermore, the narratives seem somewhat trite and simplistic, almost as if it were written for middle school children. The book does have redeeming qualities, however. Ruffin, while often drawing unprobable conclusions in light of no conclusion at all, does well to present opposing theories and ideas so as to reduce the amount of already over-simplified aspects of the book. Furthermore, he often admits inability to ascertain important facts and is willing to leave the information in limbo. While not oozing with Catholicism, Ruffin does incorporate the Roman Church into nearly every biography almost as an aside, as though writing to a Roman Catholic audience. If you can overlook this (if you deem it necessary) the book will provide a relatively thorough investigation into its intended subject matter.

Rating:
Summary: Good but with obvious Catholic overtones
Review: I had high hopes for this book but was disappointed on nearly every point. Because Catholic tradition provides the bulk of the information regarding the 12 apostles it undoubtedly must be used as the basis for any such research, but the author goes further to promote and even read Catholicism into the events surrounding these men (e.g., references to penance, priests, a well-defined bishop structure before such is thought to exist, the unquestioning doctrine of the papacy with Peter, over emphasis on "Our Lady", etc.) Furthermore, the narratives seem somewhat trite and simplistic, almost as if it were written for middle school children. The book does have redeeming qualities, however. Ruffin, while often drawing unprobable conclusions in light of no conclusion at all, does well to present opposing theories and ideas so as to reduce the amount of already over-simplified aspects of the book. Furthermore, he often admits inability to ascertain important facts and is willing to leave the information in limbo. While not oozing with Catholicism, Ruffin does incorporate the Roman Church into nearly every biography almost as an aside, as though writing to a Roman Catholic audience. If you can overlook this (if you deem it necessary) the book will provide a relatively thorough investigation into its intended subject matter.

Rating:
Summary: The Twelve
Review: The "Lives of the Apostles After Calvary is in informitive and eye opening look at the lives and personalities of the twelve apostles of Christ.

Bernard Ruffin presents a human side to the apostles that is not present much anywhere else. Ruffin freely admits that information on the lives of some of the apostles such as Thomas or Barthalmew is lacking at best and there for his conclusions are sometimes conjunture. Mr Ruffin however presents a wide range of sources from historical doucuments to simple legend to present a profile of each apostle that includes thier strengths and weakness' but most importantly their faith.

This is an excellent book for any Christian esp.. one who also happens to be a history buff.

There is as one early reviewer put it, a slight Catholic bias to this book, but it is only slight, being Catholic I of course not only didn't take any offence in this but found it some what refressing. There realy is nothing here that would offend the belife of any seriuos protest and this book can be highly recommended for Christians of all Denomonations.

Rating:
Summary: The Twelve
Review: The "Lives of the Apostles After Calvary is in informitive and eye opening look at the lives and personalities of the twelve apostles of Christ.

Bernard Ruffin presents a human side to the apostles that is not present much anywhere else. Ruffin freely admits that information on the lives of some of the apostles such as Thomas or Barthalmew is lacking at best and there for his conclusions are sometimes conjunture. Mr Ruffin however presents a wide range of sources from historical doucuments to simple legend to present a profile of each apostle that includes thier strengths and weakness' but most importantly their faith.

This is an excellent book for any Christian esp.. one who also happens to be a history buff.

There is as one early reviewer put it, a slight Catholic bias to this book, but it is only slight, being Catholic I of course not only didn't take any offence in this but found it some what refressing. There realy is nothing here that would offend the belife of any seriuos protest and this book can be highly recommended for Christians of all Denomonations.

Rating:
Summary: The Twelve
Review: The "Lives of the Apostles After Calvary is in informitive and eye opening look at the lives and personalities of the twelve apostles of Christ.

Bernard Ruffin presents a human side to the apostles that is not present much anywhere else. Ruffin freely admits that information on the lives of some of the apostles such as Thomas or Barthalmew is lacking at best and there for his conclusions are sometimes conjunture. Mr Ruffin however presents a wide range of sources from historical doucuments to simple legend to present a profile of each apostle that includes thier strengths and weakness' but most importantly their faith.

This is an excellent book for any Christian esp.. one who also happens to be a history buff.

There is as one early reviewer put it, a slight Catholic bias to this book, but it is only slight, being Catholic I of course not only didn't take any offence in this but found it some what refressing. There realy is nothing here that would offend the belife of any seriuos protest and this book can be highly recommended for Christians of all Denomonations.

Rating:
Summary: An inspiring and learning experience
Review: This well balanced book is a must for all those interested in learning about the lives of the Apostles. The author explores all that it is known from history, tradition and legend that is relevant to the facts about the lives of the Apostles. Once I finished reading the book I learned many facts of the Apostles from their first meeting with Christ, to their martyrdom. This book was an inspiring and learning experience. I could identify myself with some of the Apostles and at the same time realize that they were common people like we all are, who lived a saintly life and accomplished the mission given by Our Lord to spread the word to all nations.

Rating:
Summary: The Twelve Apostles of Christ
Review: _The Twelve: The Lives of the Apostles After Calvary_ is an interesting book by a Catholic author, C. Bernard Ruffin. It catalogues the lives, travels and evangelical exploits of the twelve apostles from the New Testament, the writings of the Fathers and various apocryphal historical novels. The first problem about writing about the apostles, as Ruffin explains, is to differentiate between "the disciples," "the apostles" and "the Twelve." Disciple refers to any full-fledged follower of Christ and especially to the seventy (or seventy-two) missionaries sent to the villages of Judea during Christ's lifetime. Apostle refers to a special office within the Church that was instituted by Christ to officially declare the Gospel and later on ordain bishops, deacons and presbyters. "The Twelve" encompasses the twelve men explicitly named in the Gospels as those whom Jesus called and taught during his lifetime in this world. A number of saints in Christian history, notably St. Paul, have attained the status of "apostle" or "equal to the apostles" even though they were obviously not in Christ's original entourage. Ruffin does not address the issue of why twelve were called, but it is obviously an Old Testament metaphor of the Twelve Tribes of Israel who originated from Jacob (Israel) and his twelve sons. A problem exists in identifying exactly who the Twelve were because many of them went by multiple names and many figures in the New Testament shared the same name. Ruffin provides an authoritative list: Peter, Andrew, James the Greater, James the Less, John, Philip, Bartholomew (a.k.a. Nathaniel), Thomas, Matthew, Simon, Jude (a.k.a. Thaddeus), and Judas Iscariot whose place was later filled by Matthias. James the Greater and James the Less are both to be distinguished from James the Righteous who was Bishop of Jerusalem and author of the Epistle of James. Most suffered martyrdom for Christ having lived lengthy lives spreading the Gospel of Christ, except for John who died of an illness in old age. Peter of course founded the episcopacy of Rome and Andrew at Constantinople. Many were active in Judea, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece and Rome. Some of the apostles are held to have traveled as far as Britain, Iran/Persia, Ethiopia, Armenia, Scythia/southern Russia, Spain, India and even China and Southeast Asia. The most extensive traditions exist regarding "Doubting Thomas." He is reputed to have traveled to the Punjab region of India, southward along the Malabar Coast and onward to what is today Burma and Malaysia. Thomas is considered the founder of the Indian Orthodox Church dating back to the first century. Ruffin examines the status and motives of Judas and what made him a traitor to Christ. More space in this book is devoted to Peter than to the other apostles and in some instances Ruffin argues for an interpretation of the New Testament accounts of Peter in order to justify papal supremacy over the Church. However, this book remains an excellent, easy to read introduction to early traditions regarding the apostles and their mission to the ends of the earth.