Sure, but if I propose that "Rock" is a title and that Peter took the place of Cephas as the leader of the church after Cephas' death, I think we would have the same evidence we do now. We only have to posit that later Christians that wrote and received the gospels were not intimately associated with the original group of Christians.
Well, by the time I think the gospel of John was written (c. 100 CE) the connection between Peter and Cephas was clearly being made, and I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the author was in touch with some of the original group of Christians (or people who had known them), the same way as Papias (who I think lived around the same time). And Simon bar Cleopas, for example, is said to have lived up to Trajan's time, so it's not as if there weren't any original Christians around then. So I don't see the author of John as being necessarily out of touch with the original group of Christians.
Statistics: Posted by John2 — Wed Nov 13, 2024 6:16 pm