Then along comes author, theologian and songwriter Michael Card with "A Fragile Stone," and that vision shatters into a million stained-glass pieces. When called by Jesus, "the rock" is actually quite soft.

True, Card says, Simon bar-Jonah was a fisherman by trade, and he was not formally educated. Nonetheless, true to Jewish tradition, he would have studied the Scriptures as a boy. And Simon would have had a strong Galilean accent which, Card writes, "would have sounded harsh to the rest of the people in Judea."

While those facts may not surprise some biblical students, consider these:

ä Simon is mentioned almost 200 times in the New Testament, while the "beloved" disciple John is mentioned only 31 times.

ä Despite Jesus having given Simon the new name "Peter," the Messiah only once calls him by that name — in Luke 22:34.

ä When the disciples are listed, his name is always the first, and he is the first confess to Jesus his sinful state.

ä He is also rebuked more often by Jesus than any other disciple.

Card’s research eventually painted a diverse musical portrait in the CD "A Fragile Stone" and accompanying book by the same title.

What led him to dig into the apostle who is revered by Catholics as the first pope and cherished by Protestants as "the rock?"

"Well, I was asked to teach a class on the book of Acts and I really felt like I met him for the first time," Card recalled in a recent telephone interview from his home just south of Nashville. "I’m so much a Gospels guy and I made all of the assumptions that I think most people make about Peter from the Gospels."

Card said the first 12 chapters of Acts revealed a new disciple to him. "I saw a person that was a lot more emotionally complex than he was given credit for and just got interested." A further study of the disciple’s letters confirmed that "This is not the guy who just puts his foot in his mouth the way he is presented."

The complexity is revealed in Simon Peter’s devotion to Jesus and the knowledge of his sinfulness and betrayal. Consider the resurrection story found in Mark 16, where Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome are at the tomb and are told by an angel, "go, tell his disciples and Peter."

"I think the ‘and Peter’ business in Mark is interesting," Card said, noting that the Gospel of Mark "is basically Peter’s Gospel.

"Mark recorded and interviewed Peter to write that Gospel. So it’s interesting in that only Mark gives that detail," Card said. "And I think it speaks, first of all, how devastating his betrayal was because I think part of what that ‘and Peter’ indicates is that Peter might have believed that he had forfeited his ability to be a follower of Jesus anymore. I mean, certainly, I would have."

Card believes it also speaks of a special relationship between Jesus and Peter.

"I’m fairly adamant about the fact that if Jesus had a best friend it was Peter," he said.

The first resurrection appearance to a disciple was to Peter, which is alluded to in Luke 24:34 and mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:5; however, it is not recorded in any of the Gospels, nor is the appearance to James — which "mystifies" Card.

"I’m sort of irritated that the Gospel writers didn’t put that in there," Card said. "But I wonder if maybe the content of that appearance to Peter was so emotional and perhaps so painful that none of them could bring themselves to record it."

If Peter was, indeed, the "best friend" of Jesus, why does John refer to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved?"

"I think John is still a very humble person; I don’t think he’s claiming any exclusivity by that (phrase)," Card said, pointing out that "John doesn’t even sign his own Gospel."

"I think what that (phrase) means is that — as we should — John derived his identity from the fact that he was loved by this man. ... John would encourage all of us to understand ourselves that we’re the disciples that Jesus loved."

Card notes that John is the youngest disciple and that maybe Jesus "loved up on John because he was the youngest. I mean, John’s probably 12 or 13 years old — which is pretty amazing, isn’t it?"

Is it not possible, Card was asked, that Jesus viewed Simon not in light of who he was when called into discipleship, but who he could be once he answered the call and allowed the Savior to work in his life?

"I think that’s whole point!" Card said, and then he excitedly drives home that premise.

"I think that’s where people have gotten Peter wrong, especially preachers who sort of present him as this person who had all of these promising characteristics. I don’t think that was it at all.

"Jesus didn’t call him ‘Peter’ because he was strong. The title of the book tries to stress the fact that he is a very emotionally fragile person and he is a person who clings to his Judaism. Even after Jesus has declared all foods clean — you know, the Cornelious affair — Peter is still keeping kosher even though Jesus clearly had showed that he didn’t want him to anymore.

"He is a person who very stubbornly clings to his definition of the Messiah. Even when Jesus tells him he’s gonna be crucified, Peter rebukes him and says, ‘No, that’s never gonna happen to you,’ because that doesn’t go along with his view."

Card said that when Jesus first sees Simon in Mark, he says, "‘You are Simon; you will be — future tense — the rock.’ And that didn’t happen for years."

That’s the way it was with the disciple, Card said. "Most of the time Peter is with Jesus, Peter does not get it."

"John will go far as to say Peter will see the empty tomb, and walk away wondering to himself what had happened. It’s amazing how he doesn’t get it — even when John does. John sees the empty tomb and believes; Peter still doesn’t understand.

"We can only guess what emotional state he was in," Card said. "He probably experienced what you and I would refer to as a nervous breakdown. So, where he is emotionally when he sees the empty tomb, he clearly doesn’t remember yet that Jesus had said he would be raised from the dead when other people clearly remember that he had said that."