Nurslings, Milk and Moral Development in the Greco-Roman Context: A Reappraisal of the Paraenetic Utilization of Metaphor in 1 Peter 2.1-3

Abstract

A scholarly tradition exists linking the nursling-milk metaphor in 1 Pet. 2.1-3 with Jewish (or Jewish-Christian) motifs from, for example, the Odes of Solomon and Qumran. This article attempts to broaden the cultural associations of this metaphor to include the broader Greco-Roman world—specifically the role of the wet nurse, the idealized mother, and formative moral development of the child through breast-feeding and childminders ( nutrix and nutritor). This article will then link these cultural referents to the rhetorical strategy of this section of 1 Peter's paraenesis.

Children in the New Testament

“…In contrast, more attention has focused on the rapidly shifting early stages of life. Studies of children include explorations of New Testament and Early Christian conceptions of when life begins (Playoust and Aiken 2008; M.J. Smith 2022a); the place and role of infants in New Testament and early Christian households (Achtemeir 1989; Kügler 2014); and the metaphorical role of infants, especially in 1 Peter (Francis 1980; Achtemeir 1989; Tite 2009; T.W. Martin 2014; Lindeman Allen 2020a) and the letters of Paul (van Rensburg 1986; Fowl 1990; Gaventa 1991; Aasgaard 2007; McNeel 2013, 2014).…”