You’ve seen Strom Thurmond for the past ten years. Do you think he could have written a book all by himself? One of the fundamentals of mainstream Christian belief is that the Book of Revelations was written by a brother of Jesus, the Apostle John, in the year 96 CE. The only proof we have for that date are the writings of a 4th century historian named Eusebius. But that would mean the Apostle John had long outlived the other apostles, and place him about 90 years old.
There are those who are called Preterists who challenge the 96 date by claiming the year was just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE and that the Book of Revelations was written as a warning to Christians of the impending destruction of Jerusalem and get out.
I do not want to debate this at this time. What I would like is evidence that 90 year olds can write a book without help. Are there any documented cases of 90+ year old authors?
I can’t name any offhand, but surely there must be. You regularly hear about 100-year-olds running marathons and participating in bicycle races; what’s so difficult about writing a book? Sure, glasses will be needed, but some 2-year-olds wear glasses. I don’t see the big problem.
Also, I disagree that the belief that John wrote Revelations is a fundamental of mainstream Christian belief. That Jesus was the Messiah is a fundamental. That Jesus was both god and man is a fundamental. That John wrote Revelations is incidental.
certain material eventually written in book form exists in the vocal culture and eventually is written down.
the author of these works may not have actually written them
on the subject of revelation i remember seeing here a post citing another later john as the author.
on the great debates i think
main thing is if you read revelation you will find the authorship is
God, who gave it to Jesus, who gave it to an angel who gave it to john (whoever)
at 90 and going by the books literal narrative it was dictated while in the spirit…
It’s hardly a “fundamental” of Christian belief. ISTR there is at least some debate over whether St John the Divine and St John the Apostle are or are not the same person. (And you’ll find a fair number of Christians who believe that Mary was “ever-virgin”, and that Jesus therefore had no brothers … personally, I agree with the Apostle Rufus about this one, but YMMV).
Yes, nonagenarians can write books. (You young whipper-snapper.) There’s plenty of authors who’ve lived to an advanced age and still carried on. (Arthur C. Clarke’s still in the business now, isn’t he?) It’s certainly possible, as grimpixie suggests, that the original of Revelations was dictated and copied by professional scribes, or edited together from earlier manuscripts, or, well, whatever. Does it matter? The Book of Revelations got written, and the early Church Fathers accepted it into the canon … the tradition as to the authorship is not, when it comes down to it, all that important.
Born 1901, last books written in 1999 at the age of (presumably) 98. If that counts…
By the way, I know you said you’re not looking for a debate on this bit, but why AD96?? The most specific I’ve ever seen anyone guess is “sometime in the 90s”. And even that’s pretty much a WAG , IMNSHO
I would think (warning: unsupported opinion to follow) that a person who lived to an advanced age before modern medicine would be healthier than the average person who reaches that age living today. Without the technologial boost which allows unhealthy people to survive, no one with a chronic heart condition or diabetes could expect to live a long life. Any ninety-year-old in the first century AD would have had good genes.
First of all, NO source says the Apostle John was the brother of Jesus. Gospel accounts say Jesus was the son of Mary and Joseph, while the Apostle John was the son of Zebedee.
As for people over the age of 90 writing, well, P.G. Wodehouse (best known for his comical stories of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves) lived to be 94, and published his last book at 93. And mystery writer Rex Stout wrote his last Nero Wolfe novel (one that entailed the Watergate break-in) at the age of 88.
So, while there’s no obligation that any Christian believe the Book of Revelation or the Gosepl of St. John was hand-written by the Apostle John when he was 90 years old (Catholic tradition has usually held that both books were written by followers of the Apostle, not by him personally), age alone doesn’t make that impossible.
Sarah Louise “Sadie” Delany and Anne Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany, sisters who were great-aunts to noted author Samuel L. Delany and were the daughters of the first black bishop in the Episcopal Church, produced a book called Having Our Say: the Delany Sisters’ First Hundred Years in 1993. Sarah was born in 1889, making her 104 when she co-wrote the book; Bessie was born in 1891 and was a mere 102.
There is a critical view that the Johannine writings were produced in Ephesus by a shadowy “John the Elder” based on the accounts told by the aged John the Beloved Disciple. Since John is usually depicted as quite young, on the order of 18-20, at the Crucifixion, he would have been born in the first decade AD, and might well have lived to age 90, octagenarians and nonagenarians being rare but by no means unheard of in Roman times.
