Research on 1 Peter: A Survey of Scholarly Literature Since 1985

Abstract

This article examines the scholarly literature on 1 Peter that has appeared since 1985, providing a comprehensive bibliography. Topics of discussion include authorship, date and historical setting, recipients and provenance, unity, genre, structure, sources, nature of the ethic (whether conformist or nonconformist), controlling metaphor, social-scientific analyses, and theology (including Christ’s proclamation to the spirits in 3.18-22).

Intertextuality and Methodological Bias: Prolegomena to the Evaluation of Source Materials in 1 Peter

“…Subsequent studies would do just that, insisting that the Pauline connections were not as strong as previously suggested and stressing the distinctive character of 1 Peter (Shimada 1998a; 1998b; Herzer 1998). These efforts led to the formation of the modern consensus: ‘Rather than literary dependence, the trend now is to view the affinities between 1 Peter and Pauline literature, as well as parallels with other New Testament literature, as arising from the use of common tradition in early Christianity’ (Dubis 2006: 209; cf. Webb 2004: 380).…”

Suffering from a Critical Oversight: The Persecutions of 1 Peter within Modern Scholarship

“…Now, after seemingly endless discussion on the matter, a consensus opinion has clearly emerged. In the judgment of most modern critics, ‘the persecution of 1 Peter is local, sporadic and unofficial, stemming from the antagonism and discrimination of the general populace’ (Dubis 2006: 203; cf. Webb 2004: 382-83; Cothenet 1988: 3703; Elliott 1976: 251-52).…”

“…What is more, it is not just the ‘unofficial’ view of persecution that has become established within scholarship. A comparison of other surveys of research will reveal how uniformly interpreters have understood the developmental process by which both positions have arrived at their current level of acceptance (note, e.g., Elliott 2000: 98; Dubis 2006: 202-203). Normally, when the topic is reviewed, a very clear chronological progression is presented: within early critical scholarship, many interpreters tended to adopt the ‘official’ persecution theory, which attempted to situate the persecutions in 1 Peter among one of the empire-wide pogroms carried out during the respective reigns of three notorious Roman emperors: Nero, Domitian, and Trajan.…”