Carl Johan Berglund

Christ’s apostles do not only feature in the New Testament Gospels and canonical Acts, but are also the protagonists of an abundance of stories from the second to the fifth centuries, where Peter, Paul, John and other biblical characters travel the world, heal the sick, raise the dead, and convert large crowds to Christianity. These stories contain little of value for reconstructing first-century historical events, but constitute an untapped wealth in discerning how early Christian norms and ideals developed from the second century to the fifth. By observing how the protagonists and other sympathetic characters behave throughout the narratives, what actions are condemned or punished, and how new converts change their behavior after joining the early Christian movement, we can reconstruct which norms and ideals are presumed and proclaimed by these stories. And by comparing ideals in early (late first–early second century CE), middle (second–third centuries CE) and late (fourth–fifth centuries CE) apostle stories, we can discern a historical development over five centuries.