December (Web-only) 2003

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Michael Card is an award-winning musician with over 20 albums to his credit. He is also the author of numerous books including his most recent, A Fragile Stone: The Emotional Life of St. Peter. When looking for books on the apostle, Card learned that little had been written about him, despite the fact that he is mentioned hundreds of times in the New Testament. Card decided to write his own book.

When did you decide that you were going to write books in addition to writing music?

It came as a result of doing so much preparation for each record. I would spend a year getting ready to write ten songs on a given topic or a given biblical book, and then I would have piles of notes. I was saying so much in concert people would say, "Would you not talk so much and just play?" It occurred to me—I'll write all the other stuff that wouldn't fit in a song in a book.

What has your fascination with Peter as a character in scripture been?

In the course of teaching a home Bible study class on Acts, I realized I had labeled him and not listened to his life. I had a very shallow view of this wonderfully complex follower of Jesus who, I think, is the primary disciple.

You say when you read about him you saw him as complex and a "fragile stone".

The complexity thing fascinates me. He's not just popping off; there's usually a reason that he says and does the things that he does. I think he often said the right thing. He said what nobody else had the guts to say.

You have this amazingly courageous man who will jump in front of 600 armed soldiers by himself with a sword and start swinging away. Until he perceives that Jesus has given up, he would never have been able to see—even though Jesus told him it would happen—that Jesus would surrender to the ...