Title: The Sacred Writings of St. John the Apostle
Subtitle: The Biblical Scholarship Series on the New Testament Writing Modern Received Ecleptic Text Compared to the Early Papyri and Uncials
Author: Rev. Dr. Henry B. Malone
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1665540636
Genre: Religion/Christianity
Pages: 424
Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott

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Biblical scholar and pastor Rev. Dr. Henry B. Malone has assembled a complex, technical work treating with the writings of John, disciple of Jesus who authored a New Testament Gospel, three Epistles, and the Book of Revelations.

John was the son of Zebedee and brother of Jesus’ apostle James. He was an early follower of Jesus, witnessed his crucifixion and was known as the “beloved” disciple. His writing was in Greek, and Malone has gathered extensive material to facilitate the precise reading of John’s words based on the original, Greek texts. He offers nearly 400 pages of detailed analysis, word by word and sentence by sentence, of John’s writings. Each line is given in English and Greek, drawn from authentic sources, and annotated in a highly scrupulous manner.

Because the text of certain of John’s writings, notably Revelations, has been altered with time, Malone denotes these changes in colored fonts. He utilizes technical marking to cite various anomalies and unusual features of the original Greek papyri and the subtleties of their translations in a highly complex format that occupies the vast majority of this encyclopedic work. The stated purpose for this exhaustive examination, a labor of seven years, is to bring strongly to the minds of modern Christians the thesis that the life and works of Jesus, including miracles and prophecies, need to be known and accepted literally.

Too often, modern pastors and teachers have tended to interpret scripture, as Malone says, “maybe not on purpose” but with the effect of obfuscating the apostle’s words and weakening their intent. Malone reminds readers that those who recorded the deeds and prophecies of Jesus were not trying to fit this information into any other prevailing philosophy, but simply to purvey eternal truth. This is the purpose behind the author’s diligent research even to such minute detail as the shapes and nuances of the Greek alphabet; he sincerely wishes to aid modern Christians in discerning the facts beyond speculation. In pursuing this goal, he offers both the scriptural texts as described, supportive narratives at the beginning of each of the book’s segments and two well organized appendices.

Malone, head pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, withnnumerous academic credentials and military service to his credit, urges his readers, most of whom will doubtless be intellectual, detail-oriented seekers like himself, to “put your skepticism aside and let God’s Word speak to you.”