Markus Vinzent's Blog

Sunday 29 September 2019

Where were the 12 Apostles when Paul meets Peter, James and John according to Galatians?

Dear Professor Vinzent,
 
In Galatians Paul meets with Peter, James, and John, historically, where do you think the rest of "the twelve" were at this point in time, preaching the Gospel elsewhere?

Thanks for your help,
Trey


Dear Trey,
 
your question assumes, the other apostles or the 12 were historical, perhaps, Paul only knew of these by name. The Twelve, mentioned in 1Cor. 15 may have only been a symbolic number, and what about the hundreds, mentioned there, too?
 
Yours Markus

Trey's reply: So historically the only apostles that we can say for sure that Paul actually met were Peter, James, and John?
 
To which I answered:

Dear Trey,

even more complex, the question of historicity is an obsession of modernity. As I have shown in my latest book ('Offener Anfang', to be published next year in English, too), all we can attain is the 10 letter collection of Paul's letter by Marcion, and to what extent this version represents Marcion or rather Paul I do not dare to speculate,

yours Markus