Okay, what fiction and what non-fiction was he an author of? ML4E (talk) 17:15, June 24, 2016 (UTC)
- Five books of the New Testament are attributed to him, though scholars don't take that attribution seriously. I'd assume it's something to do with that.
- Right. Now does that make him an author of Fiction or of Non-fiction? Answer: It depends how devout you are or a believer at all. Hence the placement in the parent "Authors" category. Jonathan appears to want to go both ways instead. If that is the case, then it is unsatisfactory and needs to be reverted. However, he may have other reasons and so should be given a chance to explain them. ML4E (talk) 18:19, June 24, 2016 (UTC)
- At any rate, Jonathan needs to stop doing this till he's explained himself and we've decided whether he should continue. Turtle Fan (talk) 17:49, June 24, 2016 (UTC)
- I'm treating Revelation as fiction because it was probably written as an allegory about the struggle of good against evil as it was occurring in the 1st century, rather than a literal truth about locust-people and other demons. (If more people understood that, the world would be such a better place.) The Epistles of John are theological treatises which don't tell a story but simply analyze ideas, therefore non-fiction. The Gospel of John probably mixes non-fiction with fiction. Of course, the real person John probably was not the author of any of these, but within the Bible story, the character John wrote them, just as Jake Featherston wrote Over Open Sights. And John is the traditional author of these writings for convenience, just as Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, even though Homer might not exactly be a real person himself. Moses, Homer, and Jesus are treated as historical characters here for convenience, so I'm writing as if John actually wrote those works.JonathanMarkoff (talk) 03:11, June 25, 2016 (UTC)
- Well you've put more thought into it than I'd expected. Still, I'd much rather punt this one and just move him back to Authors. Taking a stand on how literally the Bible should be taken is way outside our purview. Turtle Fan (talk) 04:23, June 25, 2016 (UTC)
That was my concern and I think returning him and Moses back to "Authors" would be best. It covers treating them as real people without getting into the type of works they wrote. Also, if you look within story, then Revelation is literal truth and not allegory from the perspective of e.g. "Ils ne passeront pas". ML4E (talk) 16:09, June 25, 2016 (UTC)