New Review of my Book “The Beloved Apostle?”

I am grateful for the following review of my book The Beloved Apostle: The Transformation of the Apostle John into the Fourth Evangelist by Kory Eastvold in the Stone-Campbell Journal 21.2 (2018): 312-313. He provides an excellent summary of the chapters and I would like to quote his concluding paragraph on page 313:

This volume treats the evidence from the NT and tradition evenly, tracing a coherent development from the fourth Gospel’s anonymity to its traditional identification. He demonstrates mastery of the pertinent secondary material but does not depend on others for his own conclusions. Kok could have given more space to the first three chapters and shortened his discussion of hermeneutics and canonicity relegating it to the conclusion. Although this book surveys relevant scholarship, introduces the primary evidence, and transcribes all Greek words for non-specialists, the arguments are unavoidably complex and assume some familiarity with higher criticism. This book would serve well as a case study for a seminary course on the canon, but it will be useful primarily to Johannine scholars.

For closely related work, I have written on the identity of the “Elder John” for an article for the online journal Bible and Interpretation and another article on Cerinthus, the opponent of saint John, for an article for the Journal of Early Christian History.