The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Peter, the apostle S 341

byname, Peter, derives from Jesus himself. Peter is portrayed as brash, almost foolhardy. Among many famous incidents is an occasion when Peter tried to join Jesus as he walked on water. He sank. Peter’s fallibility came to a climax the night Jesus was on trial. Peter denied knowing Jesus three times in a row. After Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter seems to have been the leader of the earliest church. Luke’s GOSPEL makes him the first to see the empty tomb after the women discover it. Some New Testa ment passages mention him first among those to whom the risen Jesus appeared. According to the book of Acts, Peter preached the first public sermon at the Jewish festival of Pente cost (Shavuot; see J EWISH FESTIVALS ). In P AUL ’s letters Peter appears first as the leader of the church in J ERUSALEM , then as a missionary to the Jews. Paul may mean that Peter preached to the Jews in the diaspora, that is, Jews living outside Palestine. In the important early dispute over whether Christians of non-Jewish origin should be required to observe the T ORAH , Peter seems to have taken a mediating position. He agreed with Paul against James that non-Jewish Christians did not need to observe the Torah. At the same time, he aroused Paul’s anger when he was reluctant to associate fully with such non observant Christians. Legend says that toward the end of his life Peter traveled to Rome. He became the first bishop of the church there and was executed, probably during the persecutions under Emperor Nero (ruled, 54–68). According to the nonbiblical Acts of Peter, he insisted on being crucified head down ward. He felt that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus. Several ancient writings bear Peter’s name. Two letters in the New Testament claim to be written by him. It is doubtful that Peter wrote the first. It is almost certain that he did not write the second; it simply expands the letter of Jude. Writings outside the B IBLE that bear Peter’s name include the Gospel of Peter, the Kerygma (“Preach ing”) of Peter, the Acts of Peter, the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, the Letter of Peter to

At the same time, it should be realized that these and other persecutions did not take place equally at all times. Religious persecution tends to arise in times of crisis or rapid change in a soci ety, when it seems important to the authorities or to popular opinion to maintain common sym bols of community, and to draw sharp boundaries between who’s “in” and who is excluded by the social order lest it self-destruct. If a society has a single generally accepted religion, as do the major ity, religion naturally becomes a way of defining those boundaries and determining who is part of the social order and who is not. The temptation then is to try to get rid of the latter. Only when religious freedom becomes part of what is held to characterize the society and its values is this temp tation averted. Religious persecution, moreover, is often political as well as religious. It may be expressed in religious terms, but it is usually engaged in because the authorities or the community thinks the unacceptable religion is in some way a threat to its power and its ability to control things as well as false on some theoretical level. Religions have also been persecuted for economic reasons, such as the supposed wealth of the unpopular FAITH or its members. So long as some religions are con sidered more unacceptable than others, or more threatening to the state and the social order than others, forms of religious persecution are likely to persist. See also H OLOCAUST , THE . Peter, the apostle In the Christian N EW T ES TAMENT , the most important of J ESUS ’ disciples or messengers. The Roman Catholic Church appeals to Peter to support its claim that the Pope is sup posed to govern the church throughout the world ( see PAPACY , THE ). According to the New Testament, Peter was a fisherman by trade. He worked with his father and his brother Andrew. Peter was one of the first disci ples Jesus called, and he was a member of an inner circle with James and John. His name was Simon or Simeon; according to the New Testament his