Introduction

This introduction chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the way in which the figure of Peter is rewritten time and again in the canonical gospels. It suggests that the link between Peter and Mark was created by some of the gospel's earliest readers, and that they based their identification on a careful reading of the gospel. The book explains that Matthew's portrayal of Peter is ambiguous and that the portrayal echoes Matthew's ambiguous relationship to the Gospel of Mark. It focuses on Peter in Luke and Acts and on Luke's rewriting of Mark's and Matthew's Peter narratives. The book presents understanding of John's figure of Peter, and examines the way in which John recasts the synoptic Peter narratives. During the last 30 years there has been an increasing appreciation of the gospels' literary design and of the gospel writers as authors and innovators rather than compilers and transmitters.