Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
THEY GATHERED AROUND A COAL FIRE

THEY GATHERED AROUND A COAL FIRE

Last updated on: April 4, 2014 at 3:21 am by Philip Jenkins

THEY GATHERED AROUND A COAL FIRE 2014-04-03T13:35:50-04:00 Philip Jenkins

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In this coming Easter season, I will be thinking of coal fires, anthrax, and anthracite. The coal fires, especially, are critical to our understanding of the New Testament accounts of the Resurrection. Like all good fires, they shed light – specifically, on how the Gospel of John was composed and edited.

Let me explain those cryptic remarks.

It’s well known that the gospel accounts of the Resurrection differ widely. We can agree totally that the early church believed in a Resurrection (or there wouldn’t be a church), but we can’t be so sure about the where and when, or the exact circumstances. By far our best evidence comes from Paul, writing around 50. In 1 Cor. 15: 4, 7, he writes (KJV),

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

The appearance to Cephas/Peter is, so to speak, the rock-solid foundation of the tradition. It is recalled in other very early credal statements, for instance in Luke 24.34, “The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” That’s the oldest Christian creed, which even dates to a time before Simon has acquired his standard later name of Cephas/Peter.

I mention this because, over the next few weeks, there will be a great many sermons about Easter and the Resurrection, and that Peter will occupy a very minor part in most such retellings. The overwhelming emphasis will be on Christ’s meeting with the women, and above all with Mary Magdalene, with Peter following along. Some presentations may well lament the early church’s refusal to acknowledge Mary’s primacy as a witness of the Resurrection, because of its general neglect of women’s spiritual gifts.

I have already written on the various myths surrounding Mary Magdalene, the point being that Jesus’s actual meeting with the women appears relatively late in the gospel tradition. It’s unknown to Paul, or Mark, or Luke, and Matthew only reports Mary Magdalene as one of a group of women who actually met Jesus. The familiar story of Jesus having the loving, individual, encounter with the Magdalene is known only to John, and can’t be much earlier than 100, a full lifetime after the events described.

It looks as if the earliest account of the first appearance to Peter has dropped out of the gospel record. Or maybe it survives, but in a form we don’t immediately recognize.

As we have it, the Gospel of John is a confused text, with obvious edits and patches, and blocks of material looking like they have been reshuffled from their obvious homes. In this version, Jesus drives the money-changers from the Temple at the start of his mission, rather than as the act that precipitated his final clash with the authorities.

John’s Chapter 20 tells the story of the Resurrected Christ meeting Mary Magdalene, and this comes to what looks like an obvious conclusion for the whole work. “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” The End. But we then proceed to another story in chapter 21, with the obvious implication that this originally circulated independently of the Magdalene passage, and that the two accounts were integrated, poorly, into the final gospel as we have it. (Obviously, the actual chapter divisions and numbers are a much later invention). Presumably, the editor/author knew the two stories, and did not want to lose either, but was not too successful at bringing them together.

Chapter 21 takes place in Galilee (NIV):

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

“The disciple who Jesus loved” first recognizes him, but after that, all the emphasis is on Peter, who dives in to swim to Jesus, and then is the only one who engages him in a lengthy conversation.

What is happening here? The author/editor presents this as a post-Resurrection appearance, “the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.” It almost becomes one of a series of visits Jesus pays his followers after the Resurrection, for whatever reason. But taking out that “third time” line, the whole lakeside encounter looks much more like the Resurrection appearance, the critical moment when Jesus appears to Peter, and then to the twelve – fitting the version of the story that Paul knew.

If this was the original version of the story, that would make sense of the odd variant that occurs in Mark and Matthew, in which Jesus’s promise of his Resurrection is associated not with Jerusalem, but Galilee. In Mark 14.28, for instance, Jesus promises that “after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee” (compare Matt. 26.32). He will rise in Jerusalem, but they will see him only in Galilee.

And that brings me back to coal fires. The Greek word for coal is anthrax, which gives its name to a disease characterized by coal black lesions: we also know the word from anthracite, a high-carbon variant of coal. A charcoal fire is anthrakia, a word that occurs only twice in the New Testament, both times in the Gospel of John. In the first use (18.18), Peter joins a group clustered around a fire for warmth, while Jesus is awaiting trial: Peter then denies Jesus. The second use occurs on the sea-shore, where Jesus has built a fire to cook breakfast for the disciples (21.9). Both passages, in other words, are closely linked, and both directly concern Peter. The linkage is almost heavy-handed, in suggesting that the second meeting is meant to recall the act of betrayal, and to provide an opportunity for Peter to receive forgiveness. One coal fire reproduces and cancels out another.

Actually, the resemblances and parallels are even closer than that. Only by recalling Peter’s triple denial at the first fire can we understand why Christ asks him a further three by the fire on the sea shore. The lake scene only makes sense in light of the earlier encounter in the high priest’s courtyard. The two passages are integrally linked.

In passing, I note that the Peter fragment in John 18 is part of a very early textual tradition. At least, the earliest papyrus fragment of any part of the canonical New Testament is Rylands papyrus P52, which probably dates to around 125, and this includes the passage immediately following that incident – John 18.31-33, and 37-38.

But if that’s correct, that has major implications for the structure of the original account underlying John’s Gospel as we have it now. Most readers of John assume that the narrative proceeds like this:

i. Jesus’s trial and death, then a natural segue to

ii. The Resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene, followed by

iii. An extraneous postscript describing the additional appearance on the Sea of Galilee.

But in light of what I’ve discussed here, it’s the Magdalene scene that is extraneous. Originally, the narrative of Jesus’s trial, and the intimately connected story of Peter’s betrayal, would have proceeded to a natural conclusion at the Galilean lake. Coal follows coal. As we would expect in a very early gospel, the central figure among Jesus’s followers, and the key Resurrection witness, is Peter.

At some later phase, an editor has added another Jerusalem-based story focused on Mary Magdalene, which we now know as John 20. Where that story came from, or how early it might been, is open to debate. But it was the Magdalene passage, not the Galilee scene, which is the later addition. Possibly several decades later.

I think what we are dealing with here is two very distinct traditions of Jesus’s Resurrection, one based in Galilee, one in Jerusalem, and they had major areas of disagreement. Paul, clearly, knew the Galilean version, inevitably since his direct contacts were with the disciples themselves. Conceivably too, that version was much earlier and more authoritative than the other. Beyond debate, the Galilean version is documented much, much, earlier than the other. But other stories circulated, and the various evangelists tried with varying success to integrate both.

As we commemorate Easter this year, perhaps we should think at least as much of the Sea of Galilee as the Jerusalem garden.

Resurrection appearances

Sea of Galilee

St. Peter

Previous Post

April 3, 2014

The Visions of John of Patmos

Next Post

April 7, 2014 THE EMPTY TOMB

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How long was Israel in Egyptian bondage?

Select your answer to see how you score.

200 years 500 years 400 years 300 years