The student who presented in my historical Jesus class on the twelve disciples mentioned that disciples – i.e. apprentices or students – were normally younger people. We tend to think of Jesus’ disciples as older, but the possibility that they may have been teenagers was drawn to mind by a humorous video Mark Goodacre shared (which in turn was sparked by something I posted about the aforementioned meeting of my class on the historical Jesus):
Well, that certainly explains why Thaddeus isn’t famous, doesn’t it?
The student who presented also mentioned as a consideration the typical age at which people shift religious allegiances, which I also thought was interesting.
Jesus was perhaps not like other teachers. But perhaps he was more like them than is sometimes assumed. What age do you think his students typically were?
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