Catholic and Enjoying It!
Some guy has just written a book called the Book of Peter which he claims is based on lost or hidden writings of Clement. There is a website that gives a preview at www.bookofpeter.com
To me this simply appears to be a case of a Protestant discovering writings that the Catholic Church has always known about ie. The Homilies of Clement, and the apocryphal writings attributed to Peter. Not being a great biblical scholar myself I thought I might see what you make of it.
Your take sounds about right. I’m always leery of stuff that claims to “complete” the Bible or reveal something nobody ever heard of before. The apostolic deposit of faith has been public in the Church for 2000 years. It is incorrigibly non-elitist. Gnostics claim secret knowledge. Christians insist the whole megillah is public and requires only an open heart, not special decoder rings. 1 Clement is available on line and anybody can read it. It’s a fine specimen of teaching from an early Pope. No Big Secrets are hidden therein. Just normal Catholic teaching. Some people have a cow because Clement credits the legend of the Phoenix. Such people need to get a life and realize that he’s a teacher fishing for a good homily illustration. Big whoop.
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