church superstars were valued for their associations with Jesus, for significant work in nurturing the aborning church, and for their influence that spread during their lives and endured after their deaths. It is not surprising that the New Testament enshrined their influence and memory in twenty-one or so of the canonical works of literature, even though some of the works that bear their names were cautiously, or suspiciously, regarded well into the fourth century. And, we should add, there is a