The subject of the martyrdom of the apostles came up during William Lane Craig's
August 26 Reasonable Faith podcast. He addressed the issue as it relates to evidence for Jesus' resurrection. He emphasized the point that the apostles' willingness to suffer is more important than whether they died as martyrs. He didn't say much beyond that. For those who are interested, I address the death of the apostles in several posts linked
here.
I caught the podcast also. He seemed to be rather cool to the idea of the apostles being martyred. I got the feeling that he did not think the evidence was very good. I found that very odd. In my own reading on Ignatius, Polycarp, and the early Church in general I don't see any reason why it is disputable that the apostles James, John, Paul, Peter, and James the Lord's brother were martyred. It seems that you would need ulterior motives besides evidence.
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note I have been wondering whether Carrier's Mythicism might have something to do with him realizing how badly he misunderstood the New Testament in his arguments concerning the resurrection body in 1 Cor. 15 and the straws that must be grabbed in order to argue that the gospels are not bioi. Just and interesting thought...
I've heard Craig say that he reads a portion of the church fathers every day. (It's a good discipline, which I practice and recommend.) He should be significantly familiar with the patristic evidence pertaining to the death of the apostles. I suspect that he'd affirm the martyrdom of some of them. He seems to want the focus to be on the more foundational and less disputable issue of the willingness of the resurrection witnesses to suffer. I'd agree with him that it's a more foundational and less disputable issue, but I think he should have said more about the martyrdom of the apostles. Their martyrdom is a more significant issue than he makes it out to be, and his comments leave the impression that the evidence is weaker than it actually is.
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