Upon This Rock

---

space

The book jacket for Frank G. Slaughter’s Upon This Rock proclaims it as “Dr. Slaughter’s finest and most powerful novel.”  In reality, it’s not even one of his better ones.

The novel is a fictional account of the life of Simon Peter—the first man called by Jesus as one of the twelve apostles.   It begins with the 13-year-old Peter’s trip to Jerusalem as part of his coming of age.  It ends decades later as Peter trudges along the road to Rome and his eventual execution. 

There is considerable fertile ground between those two events to flesh out the conflict, setbacks and triumphs of Peter and the fledgling religion.  One would expect a novel of biblical fiction to adhere to the fundamental stories, but to enhance them with creative dialog and perhaps a bit of drama.  But Slaughter rarely colors outside the lines.  He correctly uses dialog straight from the scriptures, but additional discourse is generally lackluster at best.

And Slaughter inexplicably skips some of the highlights of Peter’s life.  For example, the ascension of Jesus into heaven is mentioned in a single sentence almost as an afterthought.  Can you imagine what Peter and the others must have experienced as witnesses to such an event? 

He also ignored the almost bitter conflict between Peter and the apostle Paul—most notably, Paul’s sharp condemnation of Peter in his letter to the Galatians, where he accuses him of hypocrisy.  

These crucial moments in Peter’s story are conspicuously absent.

From the preface, it is evident that Slaughter intended his book to be more of a Bible lesson than a gripping historical novel.  That’s fine.  But if you want a Bible lesson, leave Upon This Rock on the shelf.  Instead, read the four gospels and Acts.  They will provide more drama and certainly more inspiration.

---

Quotes

Simon could understand the particular concern of the Jerusalem Pharisees, who prided themselves upon being the “Guardians of the Law.”  For where they were concerned mainly with physical acts, such as the amount of work to be done on the Sabbath, or the distance that could be traveled without breaking the Law, Jesus taught obedience to the rules of the spirit—principles by which all men might live together in peace and love.

[Peter said,] “I think Judas betrayed Jesus in an act of desperation, hoping the Master would strike down his enemies rather than let himself be put to death.”

---

---

---