To many of us, the word “love” has largely become meaningless, particularly in a social media context. More personally the word may trigger a range of thoughts, from joy and peace to betrayal and anger. At the same time, it may fill us with a kaleidoscope of emotions that change from day to day or hour to hour, including joy, wonder, and wholeness, or their antitheses, grief, numbness, and emptiness.

As incredible as it may sound, there is one faith that claims that God is love. They say that at one moment in history this God became a human like us as Jesus the Messiah, and that he will return one day to establish a new earth, one that is joined to heaven.

We have the writings of a number of the eyewitnesses of that unique person. This small volume contains some of the words of one of those eyewitnesses, framed by narratives that try to imagine what life was like for him before and after the time he was with Jesus. The narratives are based on the available evidence but should be read as historical fiction…

From the Introduction to AUTHENTIC Simon Peter.