Apostle

Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve

By: Tom Bissell

Narrated by: Tom Bissell

A profound and moving journey into the heart of Christianity that explores the mysterious and often paradoxical lives and legacies of the Twelve Apostles—a book both for those of the faith and for others who seek to understand Christianity from the outside in.

“Expertly researched and fascinating… Bissell is a wonderfully sure guide to these mysterious men.… This is a serious book about the origins of Christianity that is also very funny. How often can you say that?” —The Independent

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 weren’t), 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 Jesus’s 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 world’s 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 Christianity’s worldwide reach. Along the way, he engages with a host of characters—priests, paupers, a Vatican archaeologist, a Palestinian taxi driver, a Russian monk—posing 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 book—a religious, intellectual, and personal adventure fit for believers, scholars, and wanderers alike.

©2016 Tom Bissell (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Expertly researched and fascinating… Bissell is a wonderfully sure guide to these mysterious men.… This is a serious book about the origins of Christianity that is also very funny. How often can you say that?” —The Independent

“At time when most discussion of religion in the public sphere is couched in impregnable certainty, mealy-mouthed apologetics or scoffing rationalism, Bissell’s voice is rare. He is properly caustic and profane about Christianity’s absurdities when necessary, but he is also vividly empathetic and conscious that this is not just one of the most significant stories ever told but also one of the most beautiful.” —The Times (UK)

“A writer of wanderlust and obsessed curiosity… Apostle is a ride-along through unanswerable questions about 12 imperfect men who set out in the first century to spread the word of Jesus Christ. The book is a trip into faith, history and skepticism. The story glows with enchanting asides and stitches together how Jesus' life and meaning were edited and refined through the ages from contradictory accounts and incongruous translations… Bissell is a writer of magpie instincts, a man seeking enlightenment amid strangers in distant geographies. His entourage of translators, drivers, a monk, an archaeologist and assorted pilgrims are, like the apostles, colloquial and universal, restless and oblivious souls that are at once amusing and profound.” —Jeffrey Fleishman, The Los Angeles Times

Beautiful prose behind mediocre research

Bissell blends travelogue, historical context, & biblical studies to tell the story of the modern encounters with the Apostles. He simply doesn’t do it well.

What Bissell does well is giving you a rambling travelogue about the modern shrines to the Apostles. He also spans a good breadth of scholarly information about the Apostles to tell their story.

But it is a deeply flawed telling.

Bissell has never met a critical theory he doesn’t like and eschews all conservative viewpoints. The Apostles don’t live in stories of faith & faithfulness but should be examined through a skeptical lens.

The challenge is Bissell makes plenty of mistakes in the book. He tries to understand incredibly complex terrain of the first century but is not equipped to make scholarly judgments.

The Apostles are left as venerated icons whose legacies are embellished and enlarged by error laden writers. His approach is typically skeptical and only informed by the most critical scholars.

At the end. I hope Bissell finds the faith he is so clearly seeking. His prose was wonderful in the book. His conclusions were withered old questions already answered by present day scholarship.

One example of his poor scholarship is a note about Paul where he says the word “pillar” in Galatians 2:9 doesn’t occur anywhere else in the NT. He is simply wrong, the term στϋλοι (pillar) actually occurs in 3 other passages in the NT: 1 Tim 3:15; Rev 3:12; 10:1. This is the kind of detail that actual scholars know and recognize that Bissell doesn’t have his academic house in order.

I would’ve given the book 2.5⭐️…but gave it an extra half star because the book is well written.


Note for the audiobook: the author is the narrator and it bears noting that this is why I think he doesn’t have significant access to actual scholarly discussions about the topics he is writing on: he mispronounces almost every ancient name. As a scholar (I have PhD in historical ecclesiology) part of gaining your education is learning how to pronounce the names. Bissell doesn’t do this well. It is a tell that he hasn’t engaged deeply in the scholarship he purports to understand.

Excellent summary of early Christian history

I found this an excellent summary of what is known and not known about early Christian history, especially related to the apostles (or disciples?). Bissell and I have read many of the same books, but he has clearly done so more carefully and thoroughly then I have. He provides a lot of information and analysis, but then steps beyond to include anecdotes about his personal travels to the various tombs of the apostles. This detour away from a scholarly evaluation made the book more interesting and readable from my perspective. Note; he is an atheist so some Christians might be slightly offended at some of his characterizations. For me, it was an excellent book, with exactly the kind of analysis I was looking for.

A great read stumbled upon by chance.

I actually found this book only after listening to "The Disaster Artist", which the Bissell co-wrote with Greg Sestero about the latter's experience filiming "The Room". What a leap in subject matter! I've always had a curiousity about the Twelve Apostles, and this book is pretty much unique in covering them and visiting their tombs, and after "The Disaster Artist" being such a great listen, my interest was piqued.

Bissell reads the book himself, and is quite good. While scholarly in presentation in parts, he injects the odd bit of humor, too, and he discusses his experiences with quite a bit of intimacy. His experiences in India and Greece were the sections that stood out the most to me, and I really felt for him in his misery visiting the tomb of Thomas in India.

I should have liked it more

The author, a one time Catholic turned atheist, presents an interesting overview of the many branches of the early Christian church while seeking out the purported resting places of the 12 Apostles. The travelogue chapters of the book did not hold my attention as intensely as the historical chapters, but this is just personal preference; both are well written. I think what kept me from truly engaging with the content was that the author is not a believer. This is not a slam on him; he is always respectful of the faith though at times his atheism pops through in unobtrusive and inoffensive ways. I cannot really say exactly why I wish a believer had written this. Reverence for the subject matter perhaps, though I have enjoyed other scholarly books on Christianity written sans faith. Perhaps the presented information would have held an added luster for me if it had been written in the shadow of faith. At any rate, I did learn quite a bit about the early Church, which spurred me to pick up some more in depth studies.

WHO KNEW

"Apostle" is worthy of a historian's review but he/she needs to be steeped in religion to offer justice to its review. On the other hand, Bissell's story is a fascinating travelogue.

Fascinating

A fascinating historical inquiry into the lives of the apostles; travelogue visiting purported burial places; archaeological questionings; intersections and development of various early Christianities and other religions; and contemplation of religion itself, by an author who clearly has a deep interest in the subjects but is untainted by a religious point of view himself.

Narrator speaks very fast

What made the experience of listening to Apostle the most enjoyable?

slowing the speed of the narrator on my iPod. I am rookie in Christian history and the original narration speed is much too fast (for me, at least) to catch all the ancient names.

What did you like best about this story?

Whew, I learned so much. Three things stand out. 1) the description of different groups of Jewish-Christians and 2) how writings were slanted towards a specific group. And, three, the little amount of actual historical truth there is in the whole story of Christianity.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

again, speed of narration. Once I slowed down the narration, all was fine.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, material is academic in nature. However, I did look forward to my half hour listen time each evening.

Any additional comments?

End of book is not fulfilling. The author goes to great lengths to describe other apostles and the last chapter is very short.
Even with my criticisms, this book is a must read for general liberal arts knowledge. I have found the material to be useful in both my daily life and other readings. I wish the author would write books on similar topics such as the Resurrection, the Gnostic and other non-biblical accepted writings, the chapter of Revelations, etc. The research and time to write this book are to be admired. Bravo!.

A nice mix of history, religion and travel

Almost a total 5 star book. I really enjoyed this and maybe because the author read the book it did have the sense of traveling with him. I bought this on a whim and I am happy I did. I enjoyed the travel and the history of the apostles. This doesn't have many answers people are looking for but a good place to start.

doesn't really go anywhere

Lots of little trivial factoids but no thesis I could find. Interesting enough but not relevatory or anything.

Fantastic

This book is a great listen. The author is engaging and what he has to say is well worth listening to. The final paragraph and the last sentence in particular is thought provoking to say the least. Complimenti à Mr. Bissell.