Resurrection Witnesses

[The_Ryan]

Perhaps this should go in GD since it deals with religion, but it is a GQ as well. I have seen people claim that alledged witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection chose death rather recant. Is there evidence to support this assertion?

[Mangetout]

What sort of evidence are you prepared to accept?

[The_Ryan]

I’ll accept almost any sort of evidence. Whether I’ll consider it to be conlusive is another matter.

[Opus1]

In general, all evidence relating to the martyrdom of the disciples is very weak and speculative. Since you’re simply looking for evidence that you can evaluate for yourself, I’ll point you to the Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/), which in turn gives references to many key primary sources. Here is an excerpt of the article about Saint Matthew:

Of Matthew’s subsequent career we have only inaccurate or legendary data. St. Irenæus tells us that Matthew preached the Gospel among the Hebrews, St. Clement of Alexandria claiming that he did this for fifteen years, and Eusebius maintains that, before going into other countries, he gave them his Gospel in the mother tongue. Ancient writers are not as one as to the countries evangelized by Matthew, but almost all mention Ethiopia to the south of the Caspian Sea (not Ethiopia in Africa), and some Persia and the kingdom of the Parthians, Macedonia, and Syria. According to Heracleon, who is quoted by Clement of Alexandria, Matthew did not die a martyr, but this opinion conflicts with all other ancient testimony. Let us add, however, that the account of his martyrdom in the apocryphal Greek writings entitled “Martyrium S. Matthæi in Ponto” and published by Bonnet, “Acta apostolorum apocrypha” (Leipzig, 1898), is absolutely devoid of historic value. Lipsius holds that this “Martyrium S. Matthæi”, which contains traces of Gnosticism, must have been published in the third century. There is a disagreement as to the place of St. Matthew’s martyrdom and the kind of torture inflicted on him, therefore it is not known whether he was burned, stoned, or beheaded. The Roman Martyrology simply says: “S. Matthæi, qui in Æthiopia prædicans martyrium passus est”.

Keep in mind, this is one of the better known disciples, who even has a gospel attributed to him. For obscure disciples like Bartholomew and Thomas, the sources are even more unreliable and shrouded in myth.

[Polycarp]

One of the earliest written accounts of who witnessed Jesus after his Resurrection is what Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15. I’m unsure of the exact date but it’s within a decade of 55 AD, and there is very little dispute that this is authentic Paul.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (I Cor. 15:3-8, NRSV)

Obviously a Biblical quote is not the be-all and end-all of proof, but in this context, a letter that even skeptical scholars concur in being the authentic work of a historical individual and written less than 35 years after the events described, strikes me as solid.

There is not, so far as I know, any certain evidence of the circumstances of the death of any of the Apostles or other witnesses to the Resurrection, unless you choose to accept as historical the two accounts in Acts: the martyrdom of Stephen and the short note about the martyrdom of James of Zebedee.