THE FIRST FOUR: As Told by Boomer John (Tales from Gal'lee County)

By Ken Read

WHAT IF we could know the stories of Jesus, not as we already know them, but as they were unfolding in real time? What if we could see Jesus through the lens of cultural biases and backgrounds of the day? Specifically, could we unpack some of the clues found in the Gospel of John to reveal the Beloved Disciple's complex personality?During the time of Christ's ministry on earth, John was a Son of Rage in the process of becoming an Apostle of Love. One day he wants to call down fire on a Samaritan village, and late in life he writes, "let us love one another."John wrote with a somewhat limited vocabulary, and he explained Jewish words and customs for the reader. He used a beautiful circular poetic style while also making occasional colloquial or grammatical mistakes--the equivalent of using ain't in a sentence. He tells his stories in present tense and uses "y'all" a lot. Maybe in John's gospel, there are a few other hints of his personality. And perhaps the region around the Sea of Galilee had some striking parallels to Southern rural culture in America. Can we read those hints in John's writing?Likewise, maybe there are clues to the personalities of each of the First Four, hinted at in the wording of the Gospels. What personal traits might have led to the written accounts?This work is particularly an attempt to get inside the head of John, the beloved disciple, and let him narrate the calling of the First Four. Whether my assumptions and storytelling are right or wrong, I hope to convey the humanness of the apostles, and even of Jesus, of the prejudices of society in that day, and some of the beauty of the Paschal mystery of Emmanuel--God with us.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1980711127
• ISBN13: 9781980711124
• Release Date: April 2018
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 100 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.2" x 5.5"