The Dubious Disciples by J. David Woodington

Author:J. David Woodington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2020-08-10T12:25:53.972000+00:00

Appendix: The Disciples In Ancient Christianity

This appendix moves outside of the biblical canon and into the realm of early Christianity. Throughout this book, I have examined what ancient readers might have thought about the disciples while reading through each Gospel in the New Testament, but here I will inspect what actual Christians in the following centuries had to say about them and their doubts. The appendix will survey the comments ancient Christians made about the disciples’ skepticism following the resurrection, and its primary function is to collect these later sources into a single place for reference purposes. I hope that the effort taken to assemble them proves valuable to anyone seeking a history of interpretation for these biblical pericopae. I do offer some brief assessments of the numerous assembled passages, but I mostly summarize rather than analyze. It was beyond the scope of this work to provide a full treatment of each passage that takes into consideration its author's theological views, its place in the larger work in which it is located, and its historical context. Not surprisingly, the diversity of the Gospels is replicated in the writings of later Christians: Authors express an array of opinions of the disciples and provide varying explanations for their doubts, and the Eleven’s actions end up serving several numerous exegetical ends. Just as was the case in the New Testament, so too in ancient Christianity one finds a wide range of viewpoints on the disciples.

This review will cover sources through the end of the sixth century CE and proceed on thematic grounds. Rather than tracking developments in a particular region or time, the goal will be to offer a bird’s-eye view of the situation across all of ancient Christianity. Following a brief overview of which Gospels attracted the most attention among ancient Christians, the appendix will contain three main parts, each focusing upon the answer to a separate question. The first section will explore what lessons ancient Christians believed could be drawn from the post-resurrection pericopae. These passages frequently appear in the christological debates concerning the nature of Christ and his resurrection, and several authors bring up the apostles for the (in their view) incontrovertible evidence that they supply against the erroneous views of heretics and outsiders. Second will be the question of whether the disciples actually doubted the resurrection. While some Christians attempt to defend the Eleven by excusing (or at least justifying) their actions, others are far more willing to admit that the disciples made a mistake for which they should be criticized. Lastly, the reasons ancient Christians supply for why the disciples were uncertain will be investigated. Authors typically interpret their behavior as the result of either human weakness or divine providence, but in both cases, this seemingly embarrassing moment proves to be quite beneficial to those alive after the lifetime of Jesus.

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