SoCal Theologica: Theological Musings from the West Coast

The article is an interesting summary of the legends of the apostles, but unfortunately they don’t cite many sources or explain their reasons for their ratings. For example, with Peter (one of the more famous martyrs), it is very reliable that he died a martyr’s death because there’s an allusions to it in 1 Clement (ca. 96 AD) and Ignatius (Ad Rom., ca. 110-117 AD), both of which are early and reliable sources.

But those references don’t talk about Peter being crucified upside-down. That’s not until late-second century (ca. 150-200 AD) that the apocryphal Acts of Peter tells that story. And when you read the whole story, it doesn’t really sound like Peter. In the story, the reason Peter is condemned to death is because he had been preaching sexual abstinence within marriage and two of Nero’s friends were ticked because their wives refused to be intimate. That sounds more like the asceticism of the later church being read back into the story of Peter (who himself must have been married based on Mk 1). That apocryphal Acts of Peter also has the legendary (pun intended) show-down of miracles between Peter and Simon Magus. My favorite one is when Peter makes a smoked fish hanging in a nearby shop come back to life to swim in the sea to prove that God’s power was on him. But the authors of the blog just give the martyrdom of Peter story an A rating without differentiating the evidence or considering their sources. Yes, most likely Peter died a martyr’s death, but there’s a good chance it wasn’t necessarily upside-down any more than he was preaching sexual abstinence within marriage and making smoked herrings to swim.

Hope this is helpful,
–Jeff

Jeff,

Thanks for your input. Its always good to hear from you.

Mooney