Originally published: 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1982.

The Chair of Saint Peter surveys the history of the papal office from the first century to the current papacy of Pope John Paul II. At the approach of the third millennium, the office of the papacy remains a vital sign of unity in the Catholic church and a link with the earliest church. But the papal office in its current form is the product of a long and conflicted history of evolution. The Chair of Saint Peter is an essential resource for future discussions about the shape of the church to come.

"A fresh, vigorous new translation of the Gospel of Mark."—The American Conservative "Professor Pakaluk provides not only a thrilling new rendering of the ancient Greek text but also provides lively scholarship in the commentary that follows his translation of Mark's sixteen chapters."—The Catholic Thing "This is a very rewarding version of Mark, and even those who have made long study of the text will find a wise and sensitive guide in Michael Pakaluk."—National Catholic Register "Pakaluk's translation and commentary offers us a wonderful way to immerse ourselves anew..."—The B.C. Catholic "Like his translation, Pakaluk's notes do a lot to bring St. Mark and his gospel alive for us."—Aleteia The Gospel as You Have Never Heard It Before... At a distance of twenty centuries, the figure of Jesus of Nazareth can seem impossibly obscure—indeed, some skeptics even question whether he existed. And yet we have an eyewitness account of his life, death, and resurrection from one of his closest companions, the Simon Bar-Jona, better known as the Apostle Peter. Writers from the earliest days of the Church tell us that Peter’s disciple Mark wrote down the apostle’s account of the life of Jesus as he told it to the first Christians in Rome. The vivid, detailed, unadorned prose of the Gospel of Mark conveys the unmistakable immediacy of a first-hand account. For most readers, however, this immediacy is hidden behind a veil of Greek, the language of the New Testament writers. Four centuries of English translations have achieved nobility of cadence or, more recently, idiomatic accessibility, but the voice of Peter himself has never fully emerged. Until now. In this strikingly original translation, atten- tive to Peter’s concern to show what it was like to be there, Michael Pakaluk captures the tone and texture of the sherman’s evocative account, leading the reader to a bracing new encounter with Jesus. The accompanying verse-by-verse commentary—less theological than historical—will equip you to experience Mark’s Gospel as the narrative of an eyewitness, drawing you into its scenes, where you will come to know Jesus of Nazareth with new intimacy. A stunning work of scholarship readily accessible to the layman, The Memoirs of St. Peter belongs on the bookshelf of every serious Christian.

Many biblical scholars treat the apostle Peter as a vague figure in the early church and regard the early tradition as something that cannot be trusted. In Saint Peter: The Underestimated Apostle Martin Hengel rejects the common minimalist view about Peter s role in the Scriptures and in the early church. Arguing that Peter is wrongly underappreciated, Hengel shows that Peter was, in fact, central to developing both the Jewish and Gentile Christian missions. / Though Hengel s work rests on meticulous scholarship, it is written in a manner that any interested reader will find clear and enlightening.

What exactly is the basis for the Catholic Church’s belief in the role of the Pope? What does the Catholic Church mean when it teaches that the Pope is Christ’s Vicar on earth? And what does this teaching mean for Christians of other faith traditions? Robert Stackpole, STD, addresses thought-provoking questions in his book St. Peter Lives in Rome, which has been re-released in this expanded and revised edition. Dr. Stackpole presents new evidence of support from the early Christian era for the papacy and even includes a timeline entitled “Important Dates in the Early Story of the Petrine Primacy.” Readers will be fascinated by this study that clears away misunderstandings about the papacy and clarifies its foundations in Scripture and early Church history.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.