When we get it wrong: Peter, Christ and our path through failure

Union with Christ

WHEN WE GET IT WRONG:
Peter, Christ and our path through failure
By Dominic Smart
Paternoster Press
104 pages. £5.99
ISBN 1 85078 378 0

I was a little disheartened when I received this book to review; a grainy figure with head in hands on the cover, and a title which suggested introspection and angst. I couldn't have been more wrong!

Instead of navel-gazing, Dominic Smart leads the reader into an engaging and penetrating study of the apostle Peter, from his first encounter with Christ, through discipleship, betrayal and reinstatement. The Peter we meet is astonishingly like me, and possibly you - at turns independent, enthusiastic, failing, embarrassed... And as we learn about Peter, we see Christ's staggering treatment of him, just as he treats us; welcoming, warning, rebuking and forgiving. With a lightness of touch familiar episodes are broken open and vital lessons of discipleship brought out. I found myself mulling over Smart's phrases and driven to prayer, marvelling afresh at our union with Christ, the central theme of the book.

When so many books on discipleship provide either mushy sensitivity or 'how to' practicality, this short volume restores a biblical balance; Christ-exalting and pastorally real. Buy it, read it and give it to as many saints as you can.

Sarah Allen,
Gunnersbury, W. London

© Evangelicals Now - July 2002
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Main Articles

• Should faith be on file?
  How much personal information does your employer know about you?
• Congo: I will never forget Bobenga
• Sexual temptation in the workplace
• Nothing to boast about...
• A biblical theology of the city
• Infant death syndrome South African-style
• Monthly column on the arts
  They think it's all over
• Monthly column for youth leaders
  Giving the talk
• Monthly column on hymns and songs
  Sheer greed
• Letter from America
  Suffering and silence
• Reaching neighbours
  Some practical steps for house-to-house visiting
• Monthly column on student work
  Urban myth or student drift?
• The Breakfast, the Healing & the Stuck Head
  Questions about Rodney Howard-Browne

Other articles

• Alien Nation
• Legacy
• Amazing
• First things first
• Knowing Christ
• Will the next Archbishop please stand up?
• The Good Doctor: Philip Doddridge of Northampton - A tercentenary tribute
• A Single Parent's Guide to Better Money Management
• When we get it wrong: Peter, Christ and our path through failure
• Islam in Britain today
• The Tide is Running Out
• After the Puritans: The Axminster Independent Church 1660-98
• The Saint and his Saviour
• Shannon
• The Marriage Course - An introductory video
• Christianity Explored
• I am Sam