Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church

by Stephen K. Ray

Book Overview

Ray, a former Evangelical Protestant and Bible teacher, goes through the Scriptures and the first five centuries of the Church to demonstrate that the early Christians had a clear understanding of the primacy of Peter in the see of Rome. He tackles the tough issues in an attempt to expose how the opposition is misunderstanding the Scriptures and history. He uses many Protestant scholars and historians to support the Catholic position. This book contains...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0898707234
• ISBN13: 9780898707236
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Ignatius Press
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Awestruck...

After reading opinions by James White and William Webster on the same subject, I thought I'd been given the full truth. But Mr. Ray's further, deeper development on White's/Webster's study showed me that I had only been given an incomplete story. What else about the Protestant faith is only "partially" developed ? Mr. Ray's presentation is overwhelming. One particular nugget in the goldmine of truth was not detailed in the New Testament, Old Testament, or the Church Fathers. It was a geography lesson on Caesarea Philllipi. It had never dawned on me what a long journey this was for Jesus and his disciples. The significance of the journey and the rock have come into focus! I am now dedicating myself to learning what other partial truths have been developed fully by the catholic church.

A Recent Convert to the Catholic Church

Already in the First Century you see the Church of Rome exercising it's jurisdiction and Vicar of Christ Role with St. Clement's Letter to the Church at Corinth! So please if you know anybody asking questions about Catholic Teaching please share this book. My sponsor (I'm a recent convert to the Catholic Church) gave this book to me as a gift and I must say it's created a zeal in me for obedience to our Pope. It has been most helpful to me also at my campus (UW-Madison) where Roman teaching can often be unpopular. Thank you Mr. Ray.

Great Book

The discussion was excellent in that it chronicled the Office of the Papacy both in Scripture and in history. It is an excellent source book and demonstrated excellent research techniques especially in the Early Church Fathers documentation and reference. There are a great deal of footnotes, but unlike some books, these footnotes are very readable and useable either in a discussion as a Catholic Christian Apologist or as a bibliography in a paper. I highly recommend this book.

"Rock" solid!

Matthew 16:18 has long been one of the most disputed verses in Scripture between Catholics and Protestants. From the Catholic perspective, this verse points to the office of the Pope where Jesus grants divine authority to Peter and his successors. Obviously, this interpretation does not sit well for Protestants who deny this authority. But do Protestants correctly interpret this verse as well as other verses regarding the Papacy? The answer is no and this book will explain why. The office of the Pope will come alive for you as the author takes you through the Old and New Testaments as well as the writings of the earliest Christians outside of biblical times. The author left no STONE unturned (pardon the pun) as he methodically destroys any attempt to disprove the Papacy in Scripture. An insightful book and a must read for both Protestants and Catholics. Reviewed by Gospel Truth.

It helped me under stand the Catholic position.

Upon This Rock was a well written and thought out book. It gave all the sources that he used and helped me to understand the depth of the Catholic position. I do not agree with Mr. Ray's conclusion but now I realize I may well be wrong. I think one goal of this book was to defend the Catholic Church and show why the church claims the authority it does. I have to admit many of my presuppositions have been changed and his work has helped me understand and even respect the faith of Catholics that much more.