The Community of the Beloved Disciple

Rating:
Summary: Informative and easy to read!
Review: Brown's work is much easier to read than many other books in this genre. He allows for exploration of different ideas and one need not have a PhD to learn a great deal from this book.

Rating:
Summary: Informative and easy to read!
Review: Brown's work is much easier to read than many other books in this genre. He allows for exploration of different ideas and one need not have a PhD to learn a great deal from this book.

Rating:
Summary: After Twenty Years, Still an Important Work!
Review: Have you ever purchased a book that seemed promising in regard to helping you understand the Bible, but when it came it was either far too simplistic or just over your head? For most readers, this book provides insight and commentary that will avoid both pitfalls.

Using the uncommon characteristics of the Fourth Gospel, Raymond Brown laid out in this readable volume his theories of why this account of the gospel is so unique. With accompanying charts that lay out the various groups which may have composed the "Community of the Beloved Disciple," Brown makes his theory especially easy to grasp.

Losing Raymond Brown was a great loss for the entire Christian Church. Having heard him speak in person and having read many of his works, I strongly urge this particular volume upon you if you have an interest in the Fourth Gospel.

Rating:
Summary: After Twenty Years, Still an Important Work!
Review: Have you ever purchased a book that seemed promising in regard to helping you understand the Bible, but when it came it was either far too simplistic or just over your head? For most readers, this book provides insight and commentary that will avoid both pitfalls.

Using the uncommon characteristics of the Fourth Gospel, Raymond Brown laid out in this readable volume his theories of why this account of the gospel is so unique. With accompanying charts that lay out the various groups which may have composed the "Community of the Beloved Disciple," Brown makes his theory especially easy to grasp.

Losing Raymond Brown was a great loss for the entire Christian Church. Having heard him speak in person and having read many of his works, I strongly urge this particular volume upon you if you have an interest in the Fourth Gospel.

Rating:
Summary: I wish I could give it ZERO stars!
Review: I found this book in the collection at a used book store, from the estate of a deceased deacon. The collection contained several of Brown's works, but I tackled this one first, as I was eager to read his take on the Gospel of John.
I was appalled. I know this will fly in the face of his many ardent fans, but I found the man verging on heretical in his dialogue. It was like he believed in nothing sacred, nothing divine.

During his life, Fr. Brown drew sharp criticism from the late Lawrence Cardinal Shehan and others for his pioneering role "in a new Catholic theology founded on modern exegesis" that cast doubt on the historical accuracy of numerous articles of the Catholic faith.
These articles of faith, doubted by Brown, yet proclaimed by Popes, and believed by the faithful over the centuries, include:

Jesus' physical Resurrection;
the Transfiguration;
the fact that Jesus founded the one, true Catholic Church and instituted the priesthood and the episcopacy;
the fact that 12 Apostles were missionaries and bishops;
the truth that Jesus was not "ignorant" on a number of matters;
the virginal conception of Jesus;
the accounts of our Lord's birth and childhood.

In addition to Cardinal Shehan, such eminent peers of Fr. Brown as Msgr. George A. Kelly, Fr. William Most, Fr. Richard Gilsdorf, Fr. Rene Laurentin, and John J. Mulloy were highly critical of the Brown revisionism of the Catholic Church's theology.

Brown takes the basic tenets of the Church he claims to be a faithful and orthodox member of and deconstructs them down to only that which is either historically verifiable or scientifically explainable. He leaves no room for faith or miracles - like Jefferson's Bible - which removed all traces of any of Christ's miracles or mention of His divine nature. But, if we disagree with Brown we are "fundamentalist", or "ultraconservative".

Well, fine then. This "fundamentalist" Catholic mother and avid reader went through those bags of used books and threw every single one of Brown's books in the trash. I wouldn't even donate them to the local library. They are trash, misleading and destructive trash for the mind, heart, and soul. I wouldn't have this book in my house where my son could find it.

Rating:
Summary: Brown is big
Review: In 1965 Father Brown published his great magisterial two volume commentary on the Gospel of John in which he advocated the traditional view the John the son of Zebedee was the evangelist. In 1965 J. Louis Martyn published his monumental work "History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel," wherein he proved, once and for all, that John the son of Zebedee could not be the evangelist. Now what would be Brown's reaction? This is it. He simply admitted that he was wrong and builds on Martyn's work in this marvelous book. Hopefully you can also read Martyn's book with this one, but this one alone will give you a glimpse into a first century religious community.