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JOHN, THE APOSTLE

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 433 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN, THE APOSTLE , in the See also:Bible, was the son of Zebedee, a Galilean fisherman, and See also:Salome. It is probable that he was See also:born at Bethsaida, where along with his See also:brother See also:James he followed his See also:father's occupation. The See also:family appears to. have been in easy circumstances;. at least we find that Zebedee employed hired servants, and that Salome was among those See also:women who contributed to the See also:maintenance of Jesus (Marki. 20, xv. 40, 41, xvi. 1). John's " See also:call " to follow our See also:Lord occurred simultaneously•with that addressed to his brother, and shortly after that addressed to the See also:brothers See also:Andrew and See also:Simon See also:Peter (See also:Mark i. 19, 20). John speedily took his See also:place among the twelve apostles, sharing with James the See also:title of Boanerges (" sons of See also:thunder," perhaps strictly sons of anger," i.e. men readily angered), and became a member of that inner circle to which, in addition to his brother, Peter alone belonged (Mark v. 37, ix. 2, xiv. 33), John appears throughout the synoptic See also:record as a zealous, fiery See also:Jew-See also:Christian.

It is he who indignantly complains to Jesus, " We saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and he followeth not us," and tells Him, " We forbade him " for that See also:

reason (Mark ix. 38); and who with his brother, when a Samaritan See also:village will not receive Jesus, asks Him, " Wilt See also:thou that we command See also:fire to come down from, See also:heaven and consume them?" (See also:Luke ix..54). The See also:book of Acts confirms this tradition. After the departure of Jesus, John appears as See also:present in See also:Jerusalem with Peter and the other apostles (i. 13); is next to Peter the most prominent among those who See also:bear testimony to the fact pf the resurrection (iii. 12—26, iv. 13, 19—22); and is sent with Peter to See also:Samaria, to confirm the newly converted Christians there (viii. 14, 25). St See also:Paul tells us similarly that when, on his second visit to Jerusalem, " James," the Lord's brother, ", and Cephas and John, who were considered pillars, perceived the See also:grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and See also:Barnabas the right See also:hand of fellowship, that we should, go unto the See also:heathen, and they unto the See also:circumcision " (Gal. ii. 9). John thus belonged in 46—47 to the Jewish-Christian school; but we do not know whether to the stricter See also:group of James or to the milder group of Peter (ibid. ii. 11--14).

The subsequent See also:

history of the apostle is obscure. See also:Polycrates, See also:bishop of See also:Ephesus' (in Euseb., H. E. iii. 31; V. 24), attests in 196 that John " who See also:lay on thebosom of the Lord rests at Ephesus "; but previously in this very See also:sentence he has declared that " See also:Philip one of the twelve apostles rests in See also:Hierapolis" although See also:Eusebius (doubtless rightly) identifies this Philip See also:riot with the apostle but with the See also:deacon-evangelist of Acts xxi. 8. Polycrates also declares that John was a See also:priest wearing the airaXov (See also:gold See also:plate) that distinguished, the high-priestly See also:mitre. See also:Irenaeus in various passages of his See also:works, 181—191, holds a similar tradition. He says that John lived tip to the See also:time of See also:Trajan and published his See also:gospel in Ephesus, and identifies' the apostle with John the See also:disciple of the Lord, who wrote the See also:Apocalypse under See also:Domitian, whom Irenaeus's' teacher See also:Polycarp had known personally and of whom Polycarp had much to tell. These traditions are accepted and enlarged by later authors, See also:Tertullian adding that John was banished to See also:Patmos after he had miraculously survived the See also:punishment of See also:immersion in burning oil. As it is evident that See also:legend was busy with John as See also:early as the time of Polycrates, the real See also:worth of these traditions requires to be tested by examination of their ultimate source. This inquiry has' been pressed upon scholars since the apostolic authorship of the Apocalypse or of the See also:Fourth Gospel, or of both these works, has been disputed..

(See See also:

JOAN, GosPEL OF, and See also:REVELATION, BOOK or.) The question has not been strictly one between advanced and conservative See also:criticism, for the See also:Tubingen school recognized the Apocalypse as apostolic, and found in it a See also:confirmation of John's See also:residence in Ephesus. On the other hand, Liitzelberger (184o), Th. See also:Keim (Jesus v. Naz., vol. i., 1$67), J. H. See also:Scholten (1872), H. J. See also:Holtzmann (esp. in Einl. in d. N: T., 3rd ed., 1902), and other See also:recent writers, wholly reject the tradition. It has had able defenders in Steitz (See also:Stud. u. Krit., 1868), See also:Hilgenfeld (Einl., 1875) and See also:Lightfoot (Essays on Supernatural See also:Religion, collected 1889). W.

Sanday (Criticism of Fourth Gospel, 1905) makes passing admissions eloquent As to the strength of the negative position; whilst amongst See also:

Roman See also:Catholic scholars, A. See also:Loisy (Le 4me. Ev., 1903) stands with Holtzmann, and Th. Calmes (Ev. selon S. See also:Jean, 1904, 19,36) and L. See also:Duchesne (Hilt. anc. del'Egl., 1906) exhibit; with papal approbation, the inconclusiveness of the conservative arguments. The opponents of the tradition lay See also:weight on the See also:absence of See also:positive See also:evidence before the latter See also:part of the 2nd See also:century, especially in See also:Papias and in the epistles of See also:Ignatius and of Irenaeus's authority, Polycarp. They find it necessary to assume that Irenaeus. mistook Polycarp; but this is not a difficult task, since already Eusebius (c. 310—313) is compelled to point out that Papias testifies to two Johns, the Apostle and a See also:presbyter, and that Irenaeus is mistaken in identifying those two Johns, and in holding that Papias had seen John the Apostle (H.E. iii. 39, 5, 2). Irenaeus tells us, doubtless correctly, that Papias was "the See also:companion of Polycarp ": this fact alone would suffice, given his two mistakes concerning Papias, to make Irenaeus decide that Polycarp had seen John the Apostle. The chronicler See also:George the See also:Monk (Hamartolus) in the 9th century, and an See also:epitome dating from the 7th or 8th century but probably based on the See also:Chronicle of Philip of See also:Side (c.

430), declare, on the authority of the second book of Papias, that John the Zebedean was killed by See also:

Jews (presumably in 6o—7o). Adolf See also:Harnack, Chien. d, altchr. Litt. (1897), pp. 656—68o), rejects the assertion; but the number of scholars who accept it as correct is distinctly on the increase. (F. v.

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