Includes bibliographical references (pages [213]-223) and indexes.
Contents:
Introduction -- Unity in death? -- Justifying death -- Dating the deaths -- Locating death and burial -- Confusing Peter and Paul -- The Apostles versus rival Christs.
Summary:
There was never a single story about the deaths of Peter and Paul, and attempts to create a master, seamless narrative of either death or both deaths misrepresent the ancient evidence. From the earliest literary accounts, authors told the stories differently based upon the needs of their own contexts. The Many Deaths of Peter and Paul examines major narrative elements of the martyrdom accounts and explores the variety concerning whether the apostles died separately or together, why they died, when they died, where they died, and what happened to their bodies after their deaths. It also explores divergent presentations of Peter and Paul themselves and of their primary adversaries, the antichrist figures Nero and Simon Magus. David L. Eastman treats the various martyrdom accounts as products of social memory and thus attempts to explain why the different accounts present the purported same events so differently.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.