num_pages: 407
description: A profound and moving journey into the heart of Christianity that explores the mysterious and often paradoxical lives and legacies of the Twelve Apostlesa book both for those of the faith and for others who seek to understand Christianity from the outside in. Peter Matthew Thomas John: Who were these men? What was their relationship to Jesus? Tom Bissell provides rich and surprising answers to these ancient elusive questions. He examines not just who these men were (and werent) but also how their identities have taken shape over the course of two millennia. Ultimately Bissell finds that the story of the apostles is the story of early Christianity: its competing versions of Jesuss ministry its countless schisms and its ultimate evolution from an obscure Jewish sect to the global faith we know today in all its forms and permutations. In his quest to understand the underpinnings of the worlds largest religion Bissell embarks on a years-long pilgrimage to the supposed tombs of the Twelve Apostles. He travels from Jerusalem and Rome to Turkey Greece Spain France India and Kyrgyzstan vividly capturing the rich diversity of Christianitys worldwide reach. Along the way he engages with a host of characterspriests paupers a Vatican archaeologist a Palestinian taxi driver a Russian monkposing sharp questions that range from the religious to the philosophical to the political. Written with warmth empathy and rare acumen Apostle is a brilliant synthesis of travel writing biblical history and a deep lifelong relationship with Christianity. The result is an unusual erudite and at times hilarious booka religious intellectual and personal adventure fit for believers scholars and wanderers alike.From the Hardcover edition.
language: English
title: Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve
publisher: Pantheon