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Peter: Apostle for the Whole Church (Studies on Personalities of the New Testament)

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When we look at the earliest days of the Church, usually two names come to mind: Peter and Paul. As far as St. Paul is concerned, we have many of his writings still intact which give us a very good picture of the person behind the writings. When it comes to St. Peter, we have a bit of a challenge when trying to reconstruct the historical person. We have the gospel stories which at time area less than flattering, the accounts from Acts which may be more flattering, but do not help us understand the person behind the stories. We also have the legends regarding Peter, but these may not be historically accurate.

Pheme Perkins, in her book PETER, APOSTLE FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH, looks at the person of Peter. In her readable and highly informative book, she looks at the varying aspects of Peter's life from a scriptural perspective. She begins with an overview of the life of Peter based on the scriptural references then looks at the ways in which Peter is portrayed in the four gospels. She also looks at Peter's role in Acts as well as in the writings attributed to him. Since her focus is scholarly, she does look at the legendary stories regarding Peter since they do play a role in our understanding of Peter, but the focus of the book is scriptural which is only fitting since she is a New Testament scholar. She also includes a chapter on the role of Peter as Bishop, which will important for Catholic readers.

I had Professor Perkins in class when she completed this work and I anxiously looked forward to its publication. When it was first published, it was difficult to find but its republication by Fortress Press has made it more accessible. Perkins has a keen mind for scripture, and writes in away that is easy for a less trained reader but challenging enough to offer insight to more advanced students and scholars. In this book, she takes a biblical figure she admires and gives him the scholarly attention that is due. It is my belief that this book will become the authoritative study of Peter and a basis for future studies.