Burning Down The Temple

One particular detail in the Gospel of Peter has long struck me as a sure sign the author had authentic early oral traditions passed down to him apart from or in addition to the canonical Gospels. The reference to the disciples being in hiding after Jesus’ arrest because it was feared they would set fire to the temple surely would not have been invented by a Christian, and certainly not after the accusation that they had started the fire in Rome. This detail fits well the prominence of Jesus’ prediction(s) about the temple’s destruction and it is historically plausible. Is there a better explanation than that this is a genuine piece of historical data that made it down the decades to the author of this Gospel?

There are entries on James Tabor’s and April DeConick’s blogs today too (in fact, they are what inspired me to post this one).