The Community of the Beloved Disciple

It is rare indeed for a specialized monograph to still be the authority on its topic of choice after nearly thirty years. In the case of this book, "The Community of the Beloved Disciple," which stirred controversy at its publication and still does today, it is even more remarkable. Building on the seminal work of his associate, J. Louis Martyn, at Union Theological Seminary, Brown explicates a fully fleshed out historical and textual criticism of the Johannine Corpus. And what did Brown posit that still manages to raise such passions? He posits five persons named John plus an unnamed Beloved Disciple as responsible for the corpus instead of one solitary John the Apostle. For Brown, these persons named John were John the Apostle, John the Evangelist, John the Redactor, John the Presbyter, and John the Revelator. The only one that might not be important for the development of the Johannine corpus in Brown's read is the Apostle John. Mainstream Reformed Protestant seminaries are still willing to to deal with only one John who was the Apostle and the Beloved Disciple and all else rolled into one. Generally, Conservative Catholics and Evangelical Protestants along with Fundamentalist Protestants all find Brown's work in this book anathema. Apostolic authority seems to be the rock upon which their textual acceptance is built in the case of the Johannine corpus. Therefore, against all odds and facts, they firmly reject Brown's well grounded historical analysis and textual criticism for what appear to be little more than dogmatic reasons. Upon the Reverend Father Brown's death recently, the Catholic Commonweal Magazine opined that American Catholicism had lost its greatest scholarly treasure. Few are willing to deny that Raymond E. Brown was one of the greatest if not the greatest of recent Johannine scholars. As well as this book, almost all his other far less controversial works are magisterial. In almost every other matter orthodox, in this case, Brown chose to depart from received orthodoxy based on the facts as he read them. Anyone, deeply interested in the Johannine corpus must deal with this work. This is not a book for a beginner in Johannine or New Testament studies. However, considering the complexity of the material covered, the book is clearly understandable and very readable. Nothing here is surpassed or outmoded by later scholarship. Are there other ways to look at the Johannine corpus from a historical point of view? Certainly there are, but single author attribution is not one of them. The facts militate against such a reading. The work of Gunter Stemberger and others place the Johannine community in the Galilee/Syrian border area not in Ephesus. Unfortunately, most of that scholarship is not translated out of the German language. Can one avoid this controversy? Most assuredly, Leon Morris in his magnificent commentary on the Johannine corpus in the New International Biblical Commentary Series says nary a word ab

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.

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.

The late Raymond E. Brown (1928-1998) is renowned worldwide by many biblical scholars as THE foremost authority on the Johannine Literature in the New Testament. This book is a "must read" for anyone doing serious research on the Gospel of John. If you are beginning a study of the Fourth Gospel I highly recommend that you buy this book. I also suggest that you read Joseph Grassi's THE SECRET IDENTITY OF THE BELOVED DISCIPLE.

This is the book everyone interested in the Fourth Gospel and in how the gospels were written and transmitted should read. You will find no New Testament Studies trendiness (i.e. "Jesus was gay," "The apostles were simple peasants") in here. Only a generous and brilliant mind.