Endnote 3 – Peter: How a Flawed Disciple Became Jesus’ Successor on Earth

For a thorough analysis of the variants of the story of Peter’s denial in the Gospels, which concludes that the underlying historical facts involve Jesus’ recognition that actions will bring on a violent response by Jerusalem authorities and that his disciples will fail to measure up in the crisis; that Judas betrayed Jesus; and that Peter denied being one of his followers, and the others fled, see Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah (New York: Doubleday, 1994), pp. 587–621. The dramatic expansion of the denial scenes in the Passion accounts probably reflects Peter’s later prominence as a leader of the Jerusalem community.