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Their names are famous: Peter, Matthew, Thomas, John, Judas.

But who were the men that became known as the apostles of Jesus?

Tom Bissell's new book, "Apostle," traces these religious figures back 2,000 years to the flesh-and-blood men that inspired the biblical portrayals. The project took Bissell nine years, and he traveled the world — from Rome to Kyrgyzstan — interviewing scholars, priests and a Vatican archaeologist in his research. He visited the apostles' supposed tombs, which are scattered from India to Turkey to Spain. 

Bissell joined MPR News host Kerri Miller to talk about his travels and how the identities of the apostles have evolved over the centuries.

"The New Testament is not a historical document," Bissell said. "There's very little archaeological history that could even hope to confirm anything in the New Testament."

Bissell, who grew up Roman Catholic but is no longer religious, unpacks the Bible's conflicting accounts of the apostles' lives. The gospels each treat Jesus's inner circle slightly differently, particularly the fate of Judas.

The first reference that suggests Jesus had been betrayed to authorities comes from the letters of Paul, which were written long before the gospels. Paul does not say who was responsible. By the time the gospel writers put the story down, however, the betrayer had a name: Judas, one of the apostles. Bissell sees this a literary development.

"Paul can talk about Jesus being betrayed, but without a named figure doing the betrayal, it lacks this crucial poignancy," Bissell said. "When you tell the story of it, you need a character, you need him to be in there, and you need him to struggle with this."

"All four gospel writers deal with [Judas] slightly differently. Mark and John don't indicate that he killed himself; Matthew and Luke both indicate that he did. Every gospel writer, I think, was dealing with a kind of blank slate when it came to 'How do we tell this story?' And they all told it slightly differently."

To hear the full discussion with Tom Bissell on "Apostle," use the audio player above.

If you go: Tom Bissell reads from "Apostle" and holds a discussion on his research

 Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis

A small group discussion on the book will be held before the reading, at 6 p.m., at Uptown Church, 1219 W 31st St., Minneapolis. Complete event details are available from 

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Their names are famous: Peter, Matthew, Thomas, John. But who were the men that became known as the apostles of Jesus? Tom Bissell chases that question in his new book, "Apostle."

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