Peter: Jewish Christian?

[CollegeKid]

I was reading on an online encyclopedia (Wikipedia.org) that many historians and scholars believe St. Peter to have been the leader of the Jewish Christians in the first century, who believed that Christ was only a prophet, not a God-man. The site said that (obviously) Pauline, or trinitarian Christianity is the form that survives today and that the Christians under St. Paul claimed that later in his life Peter switched to their form of Christianity. Has anyone ever heard this before? I found it confusing, due to Peter’s numerous professions of faith that Christ was the Son of God in the Bible.

 

[DianJo]

Wickepia is not a real reliable source. It’s interesting and all but people of all stripes can add or subtract from the content no matter where it comes from. I’d go to a more stable source. Try here, at CA, the Library and their links and try www.newadvent.org, the Catholic encyclopedia.

Of course, there are many people here that can hook you up with many other resources. Essentially, Peter did preach to the Jews but he was a staunch Jesus supporter all the way - no back sliding. Their information is faulty. Read the Acts of the Apostles and Peter’s letters in the bible for a start.

 

[juno24]

I have not heard anything specifically about your topic, but I would just like to caution you that Wikipedia is not really a credible source. Keep in mind that the entries there are created by the users, and can modified by anyone who chooses to do so. While knowledgable people may post there, take whatever you find on Wikipedia with a grain of salt.

 

[CollegeKid]

Thanks guys. I have to confess I really didn’t have much of an idea as to how credible Wikipedia is, I’ll try and find some more reliable sources.

 

[Nekic]

DianJo:

Wickepia is not a real reliable source.

Wow, really!?!?!?!?!?!
I go there all the time when i have a question about anything!!! I thought it was tops!!!

…oh, well…

 

[viktor_aleksndr]

St. Peter was a Jew. He could be a christian jew but i doubt that he doubted the divinity of Jesus Christ. If after Christ’s ressurection he still live with Jewish belief then what he did as an apostle of Christ was all rubbish. If he lived as a jewish then until his death he still waiting for the messiah that prophet Isaiah prophecised.

 

[rwoehmke]

viktor aleksndr:

St. Peter was a Jew. He could be a christian jew but i doubt that he doubted the divinity of Jesus Christ. If after Christ’s ressurection he still live with Jewish belief then what he did as an apostle of Christ was all rubbish. If he lived as a jewish then until his death he still waiting for the messiah that prophet Isaiah prophecised.

Most of the first Christians were Jews. They attended Synagogue or Temple on Saturday and celibrated the Eucharist on Sunday. When Paul started converting the Gentiles he argued that since salvation came only through Jesus following the Mosiac Law was no longer a valid way to Salvation for Christians. For the Jewish converts it was not either/or for quite a long period of time, but both/and until Paul’s view finally prevailed for all converts. To be a Jewish convert who followed the Mosaic laws was not to deny that Jesus was the Messiah. I would expect as there were several different forms of Judaism that even Jewish converts were not all that uniform in their religous practices. The major difference between a practicing Jew and a practicing Jewish Christian would be the conviction that Jesus was the messiah and he had come. So Peter’s life as a Jewish convert would not have been rubbish. Even in our contemporary world all Christians by definition believe in Jesus, but differ widely in how the live out and practice this Faith. Of course as Catholics we have it all.

 

[tkdnick]

CollegeKid:

I was reading on an online encyclopedia (Wikipedia.org) that many historians and scholars believe St. Peter to have been the leader of the Jewish Christians in the first century, who believed that Christ was only a prophet, not a God-man. The site said that (obviously) Pauline, or trinitarian Christianity is the form that survives today and that the Christians under St. Paul claimed that later in his life Peter switched to their form of Christianity. Has anyone ever heard this before? I found it confusing, due to Peter’s numerous professions of faith that Christ was the Son of God in the Bible.

I would say that Wikipedia is correct in that Peter was a Jewish Christian. That’s about all…

 

[DianJo]

Nekić:

Wow, really!?!?!?!?!?!
I go there all the time when i have a question about anything!!! I thought it was tops!!!

…oh, well…

Oh, we’re not saying that it’s a bad source. It’s just that anyone, meaning the users, can “update” or add information at anytime. It’s not something from a truly scholarly soruce. Some of the information may be incorrect or outdated or even not really historical, especially on a topic such as this.

I just wouldn’t use it as my only source and I would certainly verify the information I found there before posting it as fact.

 

[CollegeKid]

Is Encyclopedia Britannica Online a good one?