Apart from Jesus, there is no character more vividly presented in the gospels than Peter. To talk of Saint Peter is to talk about a man of action. There is a good reason why he is the apostle with the most mentions in the Gospels, and the most referred to in the New Testament (a total of 195 times). In comparison, John, the next most popular disciple, barely reaches 29 references. It is at decisive moments which require a categorical reaction where the leader of the Twelve shines; it is then that Peter —born as Simon Bar-Jonah— has no rival in the inner circle of disciples that followed Jesus of Nazareth. At the same time, during periods of uncertainty and inaction he hesitates, collapses, and shows his all-too human side. With all his virtues and shortcomings, he became Jesus´s man of confidence, and over time, the leader of the nascent Church.
Reconstructing the biography of Simon the Galilean requires throwing the nets over the waters of the many traditions of the leader of the Twelve, the man who is always present at the turning points of the story of Jesus. It has rightly been said that the Gospel of Mark (and thus the gospels of Matthew and Luke) is written from his point of view. It is he whom Jesus calls first when he is working on the seashore; it is Peter who proclaims with blind enthusiasm that his teacher is the Messiah, who confronts him about the consequences and meaning of that title, who cries bitterly for his cowardice, who enters the house of the high priest where the rabbi is held prisoner, and who, after the crucifixion, throws himself into the dark waters, before the sunrise, when he sees him again standing on the shore of the lake.
The primacy of the impetuous fisherman was never in doubt in the early Church. After that tragic Easter celebration where the dream seemed to come to an end, the leader of the Twelve was the first man to go outside, identify himself as a follower of the rebel who had been crucified, and start preaching courageously. Therefore, he set in motion the most vibrant Church in the world.
Considering all this, it is strange that few details about his later life are known. That Simon Bar-Jonah “Cephas,” the man from Galilee, was a historical figure is a fact that no one – not even those who doubt the existence of Jesus – would put in doubt. The textual evidence is traced back to the years he lived in Jerusalem, and at least one contemporary person mentions an encounter with him. But the details are scarce.
Aside from Peter, one of the most important and best known individuals of the New Testament is Paul the Apostle, formerly Saul of Tarsus. A “Hebrew born of Hebrews”, Paul’s conversion to Christianity was unquestionably one of the seminal events in the history of the religion, because it would be Paul who spread Christianity across much of the Mediterranean. In the process, over half of the history recorded in the Acts of the Apostles covers the life of Paul, and over half of the letters of the New Testament were written by him. Many churches and cathedrals in the Western world have been named after him, and on any given Sunday in any number of churches around the world, his writings and the events of his life form the basis of sermons, devotional literature, books, Bible studies, music, movies and prayers.
At the same time, even as Paul’s life and works are better documented than just about any other figure in the New Testament, a lot about him remains mysterious. In addition to what was written in Scripture, other sources have helped to fill in the gaps, particularly a tradition that holds Paul was martyred in Rome during the reign of Nero. Despite the primary source material that comes from the books of the New Testament, primarily Acts and Paul’s own writings, no autobiography of Paul exists, and the Bible did not record the details of his life.
