Dag Tessore
Saint Peter: A Man in Search of God
(San Pietro: un uomo alla ricerca di Dio, Città Nuova, Rome, 2007; 175 pages). Original in Italian.
Available also in Spanish and Portuguese.
A
fluent book, easy to read, but at the same time precise at the
historical-scientific level (and for this reasn there are quotations and
notes). Beside the biographical and historical facts of Apostle Peter’s life
and the picture of the social and cultural background in which he lived, great
importance is given, also through a re-reading of his Letters, to the interior
and spiritual path of this man searching for God. Some pages are also devoted
to legendary episodes that have been handed down by apocryphal sources, as they
are indeed evocative, and, no matter how authentic they are, they have greatly
influenced Peter’s image as it became known in the Church’s tradition.
Certainly the person of the Apostle has been envelopped in such a dimension of
faith and even of pious legend through the centuries, that to write a biography
of him as we could do with a “normal” historical person seems daring and
unusual. However, the sources on which this book is based (the New Testament,
some apocryphal hagiographic tales, especially the Acts of Peter and the
Homelies of St.Clemens, the works of the Church Fathers and of ancient
historics, as well as recent historiographical and archeological studies) are
sufficient for reconstructing with enough accuracy the interior and exterior
path of one of the most eminent and significant personalities of Christianity.
INDEX
OF CHAPTERS
1. The
years of childhood and youth
2. The
encounter with Jesus
3. Daily
life with Jesus
4. Towards
Christ’s Passion
5. Death and
Resurrection
6. The
beginning of Christian community
7. The
relation with the Jews
8. Pagans’
conversion begins
9. Herod’s
persecution and Jerusalem’s Council
10. Towards
Antiochy
11. Peter
in Rome
12. The
struggle against Simon the Magician
13. Nero’s
persecution and the First Letter of Peter
14. Peter,
first pope?
15. The
captivity in Mamertin Prison
16. Saint Peter’s martyrdom in Vatican
Where to buy this Book (11 €): Amazon, Libreria del Santo
The other Books of Dag Tessore
