McDowell begins the book by clearly defining definitions, such as martyr, and providing evidence that the bodily resurrection of Jesus was at the core of the apostles’ faith. He makes it clear that his claim is not that all the apostles died for their faith, but rather, that they were willing to suffer and die for their faith. McDowell provides a list of different levels of probability that a historical event occurred and uses this list throughout his book as he examines claims about the apostles. Throughout the book, he examines the credibility of sources. His preference is to have sources within the living memory of the apostles. This living memory consists of sources that were written before the end of the 2rd century AD. McDowell addresses the idea of persecution among the early Christians. How much persecution did the early Christians actually face? Was it empire wide? McDowell goes through the biblical literature and early ancient sources showing that persecution and suffering were a central theme of the Christian life. After laying the foundation for his methodology and definitions, McDowell goes on to examine each apostle. He looks at the claims of martyrdom and their missionary journeys. McDowell examines the sources for each apostle and concludes that some apostles have good historical sources, while others come way too late to provide any level of historical certainty. Each chapter concludes with a summary of the probability of if, when, and how the apostle was martyred.
Overall, McDowell does a fantastic job of making things simple and providing clarity. The project he has taken on to look through each apostle seems to be an overwhelming task. To have brought all of this work together into a relatively short, but thorough book is astounding! His work adds to the cumulative case for the resurrection and allows Christians to objectively analyze the fate of the apostles. McDowell does a great job of defining terms and providing his methodology. He attempts to be as objective as possible and does a great job of evaluating sources. For example, even though it would help his case to agree with Cullman that 1 Clement provides evidence that Peter died in Rome, McDowell disagrees because the text does not make this claim. Additionally, McDowell agrees that the most straightforward way of interpreting the cup in Mark 10:35-45 refers to death even though John did not end up being martyred according to McDowell’s assessment. Thus, McDowell does his best to follow the evidence where it leads. Moreover, McDowell does a great job of putting forth an argument and addressing the counterarguments. He also does a good job of providing a variety of views and is extremely cautious as to the certainty of historical knowledge one can have on any particular issue. In other words, he is careful not to overstate his case.
One critique would be that McDowell relies heavily on the Gospels as valid sources. Even though he offers support for many passages, he does not go into great depth on this. However, this was outside the scope of the book so one should not fault him for this, but being an Evangelical Christian, one can see that he is more willing to treat the Gospels as accurate history than some other scholars. However, this does not impact his overall argument since he often shows that even if the writing is not wholly reliable or is pseudepigraphal, it still provides linkage to early tradition and thus critical evidence in evaluating the question at hand. Another critique that follows from McDowell’s reliability of Scripture would be that he places a large emphasis on Acts 5. His main foundation that the apostles were willing to suffer for their faith seems to come from Acts 5. Yet, Acts 5 does not say that “all twelve” of the apostles suffered in this episode. It simply mentions “the apostles.” One might argue that Acts 5 does not include all twelve apostles, but maybe only seven or eight of them. The text does not specify, thus one might argue that McDowell is placing too much emphasis on this passage.
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Inspiring Book That Isn't Afraid to Ask the Hard Questions!
In his book, The Fate of the Apostles, Sean McDowell reviews the subject of martyrdom in light of claims that certain ones of Jesus’ initial twelve apostles were martyred. In the first four chapters, he addresses the concept of martyrdom in the early church, including a definition of the term from various perspectives. Within these chapters, McDowell clearly and succinctly asks difficult questions, including what defines martyrdom and philosophical approaches to the concept to martyrdom (“dying to self” due to faith), etc. Throughout, he digs deep into analyzing facts from the importance of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ to the early church, as well as persecution of the same. He powerfully debunks claims that martyrdom either did not occur or was not as severe as the facts point to, by providing substantial research and references for these important aspects of foundational Christian doctrine and experience.Following this initial, in-depth discussion on the reality and implications of the death and resurrection of Jesus and martyrdom in the early church, McDowell devotes chapters to individual apostles. He dives into their lives ministries and then lands on providing extensive research surrounding how their lives ended (or, as with the case of John the apostle), addressing all twelve original apostles, as well as Paul and James the brother of Jesus and Mathias, who was chosen as the apostle who took Judas’ place after he betrayed Jesus.As a reader with an advanced degree in a research driven field, I recognize the analytical and research quality of McDowell’s work, as well as his commitment to ask hard questions and get to the root of tough subjects. His goal is to find and express the truth, rather than push a personal agenda; and he does so in a way that is extremely well researched. He even challenges some traditional views on what happened to some apostles (e.g., the apostle John), due to the solid research he provides.I really respect Dr. McDowell and have personally been hugely impacted by his ministry (together with his dad before him) since I got saved several years ago. This book is a must read for anyone who really wants to be a) encouraged in their faith and/or b) be able to answer people who say that the apostles didn’t really die for their faith, or that Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead. The entire book is extremely well written and engaging. It is well resourced, clearly organized, and interesting to read.The only small point of criticism I would provide, is that I would have liked to see a direct call for someone to put their faith in Jesus somewhere in the book. Having “said the prayer” and fully devoted my life to Jesus personally, I know that doing so, together with the potent research such as is furnished in this book, can be that life changing moment anyone who doesn’t yet know Jesus needs to take that first step.In conclusion, this book was powerful, well written, and definitely worth the read! After taking readers on a journey of the subject of resurrection from the dead and martyrdom in the early church, the author studies the lives of each individual apostle, including Paul, James the brother of Jesus, and Matthias. He analyzes research on the lives and deaths of each apostle. After diving deep into these subjects, he both affirms orthodox Christian doctrine, while also challenging non-doctrinal, yet very important traditional beliefs about the fate of certain apostles. The end result of reading this book is a) an encouragement of faith in the truth that Jesus Christ of Nazareth did die for the sins of the world, rose from the dead, and that the majority of those who followed Him from the beginning not only were willing to die for their faith, but in fact did so. On every point, I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about the subject of the resurrection of Jesus and fate of the early apostles.
Top reviews from other countries
Erastos Filos
Well researched and convincing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 12, 2020Amazon Customer
A historical investigation on the deaths of the apostles
Reviewed in Singapore on December 2, 2022