Chapter One

It makes sense to focus on Easter. The resurrection is both the fulfillment of prophecy and the event that transforms disciples into apostles. Easter has historical meaning—the details are given in gospel narratives, each writer offering a version shaped by different nuances. Easter has indirect meaning that is also historical—Peter, who denies that he knows Jesus, later becomes a bold witness to the faith. These historical events take on mystical overtones, even within scripture itself, as in Paul's remembrance of an encounter with the Risen Lord:

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me