The Twelve: The Lives of the Apostles After Calvary

_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

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.

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.

... 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.