Why would anyone even ask such a question? Didn’t Jesus’s baptism become the prototype for Christian baptism, a practice that was carried out by his followers as evidenced in the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of Paul? How could that have embarrassed anyone who claimed to follow Jesus? To the analytical mind of …
Continue reading Was Jesus’s Baptism an Embarrassment to His Early Followers?
With this post, we complete our historical survey of the lives of the twelve apostles. Here, we discuss the apostles Thaddaeus, Simon, Judas, “and the rest.” Thaddaeus/Lebbaeus/Judas son of James It is possible, though unlikely, that these three names all refer to the same person. Some suggest that the names Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus ultimately …
Continue reading The Twelve Apostles Part 6: Thaddaeus, Simon, Judas & the Rest
We continue our historical survey of the lives of the twelve apostles. In this post, we discuss the apostles Matthew, Thomas, and James. Matthew The Greek word, Matthaios, from which we derive Matthew, comes from the Semitic Mattiyah meaning “gift of Yahweh.” Beyond that, and the appearance of his name in the lists of …
Continue reading The Twelve Apostles, Part 5 – Matthew, Thomas, James
We continue our series of historical investigations into the twelve specially-chosen followers of Jesus with this look at three who bore Hellenist names: Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew. Andrew Andrew is a Greek name (Andreas = “manly”). All four New Testament gospels (Matt 4:18, 10:2; Mark 1:16; Luke 6:14; John 1:40, 6:8) identity him as …
Continue reading The Twelve Apostles, Part 4 – The Hellenists: Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew
We continue with our series of historical investigations into the twelve specially-chosen followers of Jesus with this combined look at James and John, the sons of Zebedee. James, son of Zebedee The New Testament features a number of men named James (Greek Iakōbos from the Hebrew Ya’akov or Jacob). Most of what we know …
Continue reading The Twelve Apostles, Part 3: The Thunder Brothers, Sons of Zebedee
Getting as close to the historical Jesus as possible has been a preoccupation with biblical scholars since at least the 18th century. Many questions must be asked. For example, which of the Jesus-traditions (sayings and stories) now appearing in the New Testament and elsewhere are the oldest? Which are most likely historical? Which gospel was …
David Christian Clausen 