Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Dr. Robert Shaffern, via phone on August 21st, 2026. Some of the questions/answers have been rearranged, edited, and paraphrased to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
What makes your account of Peter’s life different from those already written?
One of the main things is that I portrayed Peter in his context and in his circumstance. He had a family, business partners, he was a man who had a lot of ordinary things to look after. After the calling of Jesus, Peter received more responsibilities and he handled those gracefully. I think Catholic dads would relate to him.
We have a few scenes where it shows the ordinariness of Peter (1st century Jewish fisherman in Galilee). Peter is a story of nature and grace. By nature he was a good man; by grace he became a saint.
One of the things of the denial story that has struck me is that Peter nearly pulled it off. The other disciples fled when Jesus was arrested, but Peter and John followed from a distance. When he was confronted by the courtyard worker (in the “11th hour”) he denied Jesus.
Peter’s leadership of the 12 is underscored after Jesus’ ascension. He suggests the replacement for Judas. He is the one who also addresses the great crowd at Pentecost. Peter is not the hesitant figure he was prior to the Resurrection, he now speaks with the authority of a prophet.
It’s a story that never ceases to be human. Even in Acts, Paul rebukes Peter for only eating with Jewish converts and not with pagan converts. Peter was open to rebuke and he listened to people but without challenge to his leadership position.
Why did you choose to write about Peter?
Peter fascinated me for some time. As a boy I read the Bible and his story drew me in. I even picked him as my confirmation saint. There’s a handful of saints I considered close friends and he was one of them. Before my book came out there Michael Grant wrote a biography about Peter that lacked a certain personal connection to the saint. When you have a personal connection to the saint you will have a different perspective.
I wanted the book to be a literary experience for anyone who picked up the book and to be a good read. I knew the book would not be very long since there’s not a ton of source material on Peter.
Why do you think you could do justice to Peter?
If you think you have something important or interesting to say about someone it suggests that you can do justice on the subject.
Someone told me once that publishing is like raising a flag and seeing if someone takes a cannonball shot at it. I think I wrote something sober and measured on the topic of Saint Peter. And I hope it helps people develop friendship with Peter.
What does your account have to contribute to church life today?
I think one of the things going on today is there’s a lot of noise out there, and in the church too. It’s not an easy time in the church; secular culture has gone against Catholicism. Peter experienced this too. He battled the culture. People outside the community gave Christians a hard time and he also had to deal with arguments within the church.
While the church is not of the world she lives in the world. The persecution of some of the Jewish and some of the Roman authorities against Christians didn’t deter Peter.
We have this beautiful religion that has been handed down over the ages because of saints like Peter.
One of the things my friends and I in college wanted to do is to help pass the faith to others.
How difficult (or easy) a project was the writing of this book?
Writing is always an exercise of humiliation. It’s really an ongoing thing.
But my book really was a labor of love. I enjoyed working on this book more than the others I’ve published. The chance to read the source material (the Bible, early church fathers, and church historians) was a really nice enterprise.
There was an element of difficulty. Writing a book is difficult, while this was my fourth book I think this is the one I took the most pleasure in working on.
What might Peter say to Pope Leo XIV?
I have actually gotten this question a lot. The role of the bishop of Rome is different than it originally was. I think Peter would largely give the same advice to Leo, namely, that it is imperative to find time for serious prayer. Christian holiness begins with the self, and prayer is healing and nourishing. For those of us old enough to remember John Paul II, his prayer life emanated a spiritual force.
Peter would reinforce the importance of quiet time for prayer.
How did your own life as a Catholic contribute to this book?
There are about half a dozen saints (Aquinas, Augustine, Peter, Bonaventure, John Henry Newman) who are my fallback guys. They are the saints I remember in prayer. As a scholar and lifelong Catholic I have relied on these saints.
I think having heavenly intercessors point us to Christ. In Catholicism we are bombarded with all these arrows to Christ.
Saints inculcate humility and gratitude in us. You can’t have gratitude without humility. And you can’t have happiness without gratitude.
“Gratitude is the measure of happiness,” wrote G.K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy. Anyone who has contentment as some measure of gratitude.
Sometimes, our familiarity with certain stories needs to be enriched by noticing details. Peter being a fisherman, so had to know how to handle a boat under stormy conditions. So he had a know-how unique to his profession. He must also have been a young man with great physical health and strength. Jesus had a strategy for evangelization not only for the 12 but also with the 72 disciples mentioned in Luke. The strategy was the followers would go two-by-two to tell about Jesus. Since neither he nor the 12 couldn’t be everywhere at once, the 72 were sent out to see where people were open to the Gospel. If a town were receptive, either Jesus or one of the 12 would follow up. The church employed that same strategy of visiting/evangelization after the Ascension.
Jesus told the Apostles to first go to the Jews. They next preached to the god-fearers (pagans receptive to Judaism). Finally, they reached the Gentiles.
What will readers take away from having read this book?
I hope they feel closer to Peter and they appreciate him more than prior to reading the book. Finally, to take his life and use them to reflect more deeply on their Catholic faith and their own relationship with Jesus.
Where to find the book:
Amazon and Angelico Press
About Robert W. Shaffern
Robert W. Shaffern is professor of history at the University of Scranton. His chief area of study is the history of the Christian church.
