The Evidence: Petronius, Part 4

I also differ from Burkett's explanation in that I think the dying person was not originally a DOULOS. First, Burkett points out that Matthew's version speaks of the centurion's PAIS, whereas Luke speaks of both a PAIS and a DOULOS, to mean the same person. In addition, GJohn refers to an UIOS, and a PAIDION/PAIS. The official, in John's version, also meets his DOULOI on the road while returning home. So here's what I think happened: (Edited 4/9/11, 2/21/15, and 7/6/15)

The Evidence: Petronius, Part 3 (Revised)

We now turn to Delbert Burkett's discussion of the centurion's pericope, found in his recent work Rethinking the Gospel Sources, Volume 2: The Unity and Plurality of Q. We'll discover that this discussion (p. 175-183) helps show how my Hyper-Synoptic Hypothesis explains some features of this pericope.

ETA I have changed my position on this and edits are below. Basically I no longer see a need to assume that Marcion had access to any documents besides Q and canonical GMk.

The Evidence: Petronius, Part 2.

So why doesn't the name "Petronius" appear in GMatt/GLuke?

The Evidence: Petronius, Part 1.

In this post and the next few, I will present evidence that the Gospel of Peter (GPet) must precede both GMatt and GLuke. I'll accomplish this by focusing on the figure of the centurion in all three gospels.


GPet gives the centurion at the crucifixion a name: Petronius. This should start ringing bells for readers of Josephus: it's the name of the Syrian governor sent to quell unrest in Judea when Caligula tried to place his effigy in the Jerusalem temple. Publius Petronius gives a speech in Galilee in which he says, according to Flavius Josephus' War of the Jews (2.10.4):

KAI OUK EGW, KAI GAR AUTOS, WSPER UMEIS, EPITASSOMAI