The Twelve Apostles

A little while ago I published the list of questions which we use at the beginning of our Bible studies. Now, I know some people might find it a bit dull, and perhaps not the most interesting way to learn the Faith, but I’m a big fan of such things since it provides a framework within in which people can understand their faith. We devote time to continued learning about things which interest us in other areas of our lives, so why should it be any different when it comes to religion?

In our group we’ve recently added the names of the Twelve Apostles. Can you name them all? I’ll walk through them after the jump…

We begin with a pair of brothers, both sons of Jonas/John:

1. Peter (also called Simon), the spokesman of the Twelve
2. Andrew, son of Jonas

Next, we have another pair of brothers, both sons of Zebedee, whom Jesus dubbed as “Sons of Thunder”:

3. John, probably the only one of the twelve to die a natural death
4. James (“the Great”)

Peter, James, and John formed Jesus’ “inner circle”. Speaking of James, we have another by that name:

5. James (“the Less”), son of Alpheius

While we on the subject of duplicate names, we next have another pair both called Judas. Since Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, you generally don’t see him represented in Church art, finding either instead his replacement, Matthias, or St. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles.

6. Judas Iscariot
7. Jude, son of James (also known as Thaddeus)

Next, we have an Apostle with a Greek name which means “lover of horses”:

8. Philip
9. Bartholomew (also known as Nathanael)

The next series of people all have descriptions associated with them:

10. Matthew, the tax collector (also known as Levi)
11. Simon, the Cananaean/zealot
12. Doubting Thomas