Is the author of Revelation the same as the Gospel and Epistles of John?

[The Mikado]

All evidence points to no.

I'm not familiar with this issue. Could you provide a brief walkthrough of the evidence?

This is actually one of the oldest questions raised about Biblical authorship and has been debated since Antiquity. Itboils down to the author of Revelation never claiming to be the same author as the author of the Gospel, but claiming that his name was John. The early Church decided that "John" the Evangelist and the "John" of Revelation must be the same John, but there have been naysayers ever since.

Today, textual analysis has shown a very different vocabulary between the two documents.

It's a bit of a big deal because if Revelation was just written by some guy named John and not THE John it undermines its credibility somewhat.

[The Mikado]

I don't get why it's so important for conservative Christians to insist that Paul wrote all 13 letters, or that Peter wrote the Petrine epistles, or that John wrote all of the Johannine literature.  what's really at stake?

  If the author is just some guy rather than one of the people who actually knew Jesus, then by the standard used to define the canon, they shouldn't be in the Bible.  1 and 2 Clement, Barnabas, the Didache, and other early works were excluded from the canon not because of their theology or a lack of popularity but because they lacked a direct connection to Christ.

But even going by traditional attribution of the books without bringing higher criticism into this, the traditional St. Luke (of Luke/Acts) never met Jesus, either. He was Paul's secretary.