This thesis investigates the shaping of Christian social behavioural instructions by the author’s theological vision in 1 Peter. The notion that these instructions are de facto derived from the author’s theological conviction as his ultimate concern is more often assumed or neglected, than seriously considered in Petrine scholarship. This thesis aims at adding one more dimension to scholars’ discussion by seeking an empathic understanding of the Petrine mode of Christian social engagement from “an insider” perspective of the author’s own theological vision as his primary concern. Besides paying attention to the more obvious meaning and the literary features of the text, historical data of the socio-political background of 1 Peter are also employed as an entrance to understand imaginatively the author’s vision and the implications of his social ethics. In the exegetical study of the Petrine text with particular reference to the author’s extensive use of Old Testament language, Jesus Christ is shown to be underscored in 1 Peter as the Jewish expected Messiah but who has submitted to human suffering as a resident-alien on the cross. Christians are also perceived as “elect exiles of Diaspora” on earth inheriting the self-understanding and eschatological hope of the Jewish Diaspora. The Petrine social strategy of “differentiated resistance” is thus understood as a token of Christians’ solidarity with the Messiah Christ and a congruent behavioural expression of their identity as “elect exiles of Diaspora”. “Ultimate allegiance to God” is seen to be the overriding boundary of Christians’ accommodation to the pagan culture to ensure their remaining in the grace/salvation of God. In the historical study of the Jewish Diaspora’s social engagement, it is demonstrated that the Petrine appropriation to Christians of Jewish self-definitions includes the Jewish social strategy in the Diaspora which also reflected a form of “differentiated resistance”. Theological conviction as the primary consideration of the early Christians when formulating their social strategies is then further demonstrated by the comparison of 1 Peter with Revelation and the Epistle to Diognetus. The thesis concludes with a reflection on the continuing significance of 1 Peter to Christians’ social engagement in the modern world and on the possible cooperation between the theological approach and socio-historical approach to investigate biblical texts.

Rebirth language has traditionally been associated with the initiation rite of baptism and relegated to discussions within this limited framework. Analyses of 1 Peter—where rebirth language is particularly dominant—have focussed almost exclusively on a baptismal framework for understanding this language. However, a detailed reading of the letter does not reveal any association between rebirth and Christian rites of initiation. Whatever action, activity or idea triggered the use of this language, its role in the letter has never been adequately explored. This study employs socio-rhetorical analysis to examine the role of rebirth language within the letter of 1 Peter and within its larger cultural and textual context. Rebirth language is employed in the key opening section of the letter and, within the framework of familial language, serves as a central distinctive of the letter’s recipient-focussed argument. As part of the familial metaphor, rebirth highlights the readers’ identity as children whose πατήρ (“father”) is God. A comprehensive analysis of all other extant (first century) texts employing rebirth language, reveals that, while 1 Peter’s use of such language shares some points of contact with other expressions of rebirth, the meaning of rebirth in 1 Peter is not directly tied to any related language. More likely, 1 Peter contains cultural allusions to the developing idea of rebirth that is also shared—in different ways—with other extant materials. No other source, however, contains the same usage and implied meaning of rebirth language as 1 Peter. Instead, 1 Peter’s author, building upon the powerful father-child analogy, intends to shape his readers’ self-perceptions using this language to provide a sense of identity without encouraging extensive alienation from the larger society. 1 Peter’s use of rebirth language builds upon and intensifies the cultural familial metaphor in order to help firmly establish the recipients’ Christian identity in the midst of their associations and interactions within their social context.

Rebirth language has traditionally been associated with the initiation rite of baptism and relegated to discussions within this limited framework. Analyses of 1 Peter—where rebirth language is particularly dominant—have focussed almost exclusively on a baptismal framework for understanding this language. However, a detailed reading of the letter does not reveal any association between rebirth and Christian rites of initiation. Whatever action, activity or idea triggered the use of this language, its role in the letter has never been adequately explored. This study employs socio-rhetorical analysis to examine the role of rebirth language within the letter of 1 Peter and within its larger cultural and textual context. Rebirth language is employed in the key opening section of the letter and, within the framework of familial language, serves as a central distinctive of the letter’s recipient-focussed argument. As part of the familial metaphor, rebirth highlights the readers’ identity as children whose πατήρ (“father”) is God. A comprehensive analysis of all other extant (first century) texts employing rebirth language, reveals that, while 1 Peter’s use of such language shares some points of contact with other expressions of rebirth, the meaning of rebirth in 1 Peter is not directly tied to any related language. More likely, 1 Peter contains cultural allusions to the developing idea of rebirth that is also shared—in different ways—with other extant materials. No other source, however, contains the same usage and implied meaning of rebirth language as 1 Peter. Instead, 1 Peter’s author, building upon the powerful father-child analogy, intends to shape his readers’ self-perceptions using this language to provide a sense of identity without encouraging extensive alienation from the larger society. 1 Peter’s use of rebirth language builds upon and intensifies the cultural familial metaphor in order to help firmly establish the recipients’ Christian identity in the midst of their associations and interactions within their social context.

From beginning to end, the epistle of 1 Peter is concerned with responding to the conflict in which the Anatolian readers have presently become involved. Nevertheless, throughout the history of Petrine scholarship the nature of this problem has generated significant disagreement. Within the most recent discussion, however, a general consensus has been reached. Virtually all commentators now tend to agree that this conflict is a kind of unofficial, local hostility which arose sporadically out of the disdain from the general populace and which was expressed primarily through discrimination and verbal abuse. Ultimately, though, this position rests on a number of undemonstrated contentions which have never been examined through comprehensive and detailed socio-historical inquiry. The present study is intended to take up the question afresh and to thereby rectify the significant missteps through which the topic has been previously approached. Our purpose is to determine the nature of suffering in 1 Peter by situating the letter against the backdrop of conflict management in first-century CE Asia Minor. To do so, we seek to understand the different means by which conflict was dealt with in Roman Anatolia and how the persecutions of 1 Peter fit into this larger context. Part of this goal is to examine how conflict affected different social groups within the community as a way of determining the various forms of suffering to which specific members may have been prone. Therefore, our efforts consist of an attempt to differentiate the readers’ troubling experiences by providing a detailed “social profile” of the letter’s recipients and to contextualize the conflict situation by locating the problem and its subsequent resolution strategies within the world of first-century CE Asia Minor

Conversations concerning the missional posture of 1 Peter have been dictated largely by the now (in)famous debate between David Balch’s assimilationist position over and against John Elliott’s more sectarian position. More recent work has sought to bridge the gap between Balch and Elliott with a variety of more nuanced positions such as Miroslav Volf’s “Soft Difference”. Most of the discussion revolves around the practicalities of cultural engagement and what it might mean for church members to interact with the world as “Christians” in an increasingly hostile environment. The present thesis takes a step back from the coal face of missional engagement to focus on how that mission is shaped. More particularly, I am concerned with how 1 Peter utilises the language of divine calling (καλέω) that appears in five specific instances (1:13–21; 2:4–10; 2:18–25; 3:8–17; 5:6–14), alongside central events and motifs from the Old Testament, to cultivate a narrative that forges a distinct Christian identity and mission, that has its basis in Israel’s history and the life of Christ. Our concern with narrative and cultural interaction leads us to consider the relevant Petrine texts, through the dual lenses of Social Identity and Narrative Transportation theories which reveal how various groups interact, and how narratives shape actions and beliefs respectively. I argue that through the language of calling, and with the assistance of key OT motifs, 1 Peter seeks to develop a Christian identity that might be best described as “elect sojourners”; that believers are those who are elect of God and yet rejected by the world. This identity manifests itself in a life of “resident-alien-ness”—in the world, yet no longer of the world—that consequently leads to various forms of suffering. Amid such suffering, 1 Peter calls the church to a priestly ministry—representing God to the people, and the people to God—through a life geared towards blessing, even when such a life leads to suffering. This is the life to which the Anatolian believers have been called: a life of holiness as a priestly community, committed to the gracious endurance of suffering, and of blessing those who would oppose them.

Evaluations of the stance of 1 Peter toward the Roman Empire have for the most part concluded that its author adopted a submissive or conformist posture toward imperial authority and influence. Recently, however, David Horrell and Travis Williams have argued that the letter engages in a subtle, calculated (“polite”) form of resistance to Rome that has often gone undetected. Nevertheless, discussion of the matter has remained largely focused on the letter’s stance toward specific Roman institutions, such as the emperor, household structures, and the imperial cults. Taking the conversation beyond these confines, the present work examines 1 Peter’s critique of the Empire from a wider angle, looking instead to the letter’s ideology or worldview. Using James Scott’s work to think about ideological resistance against domination, I consider how the imperial cults of Anatolia and 1 Peter offered distinct constructions of time and space—that is, how they envisioned reality differently. Insofar as these differences led to divergent ways of conceiving the social order, they acquired political valences and generated potential for conflict. 1 Peter, I argue, confronted Rome on a cosmic scale with its alternative construal of time and space. For each of the axes of time and space, I first investigate how it was constructed in cultic veneration of the emperor, and then read 1 Peter comparatively in light of the findings. Although both sides employed similar strategies in conceptualizing time and space, they parted ways on fundamental points. We have evidence that the Petrine author consciously, if cautiously, interrogated the imperial imagination at its most foundational levels, and set forth in its place a theocentric, Christological understanding of the world.

The aim of this study is to prove that neither 1 Peter 3:19 nor 1 Peter 4:6 refers to the Christian doctrine the ‘Descensus Christi ad Inferos’. The meaning of these two verses has long been debated (cf. Dalton 1989:27-28), and is very often seen as a reference to Christ’s descent into Hades (cf. Feinberg 1986:309). This study will be done by means of a parallel study. The first part of this study will involve the doctrine of the ‘Descensus’; looking at its origin and its development. It will be argued in this section that the roots of this doctrine can be found in Jewish-Christianity and not pagan mythology as has been suggested (cf. Bousset 1907:224ff&Beare 1945:145). The discussion of the doctrine is necessary, since we do need to know more about the doctrine to see whether it is the referent in 1 Peter. The second part of the study will then engage in the meaning of 1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6. This section will be very context driven. We will start with an introduction to 1 Peter, discussing all the preliminary questions (i.e. author, date, audience&form). This will be followed by a structural analysis of 1 Peter. Here it will be argued that the letter should be understood in terms of metaphors, with the ‘Diaspora’ as the controlling metaphor (cf. Martin 1992). The verses under discussion, form part of the third metaphor-cluster namely the ‘Sufferers of the Dispersion’, while the name of our subsection is’ The Righteous Sufferer’. By means of the grammatical analysis, and the influence of the pseudepigraphal book 1 Enoch, it will be shown that these verses do not allow themselves to be interpreted as references to the Descent of Christ into Hades. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Ancient Languages / unrestricted

German text / Die vorliegende Arbeit setzt sich mit der zentralen Leidensthematik des Ersten Petrusbriefes auseinander. Einer vorläufigen Betrachtung der Entwicklung und des Gebrauchs des zentralen Leidens- Begriffs folgt die ausführliche Untersuchung und Darstellung der Urheber des Leidens und der Ursachen und Gründe für rechtes und falsches Leiden. Es folgt unter Berücksichtigung einiger kulturanthropologischer Einsichten und moderner psychologischer Analysen bezüglich der Wirkung von verbaler Gewalt eine Betrachtung der Arten und Formen des Leidens sowie der Begründungen und Ziele des Leiden. Der zweite Hauptteil untersucht Verhaltensanweisungen, Trost und Anleitung zur Leidensbewältigung, die der Verfasser seinen Empfängern zukommen lässt. Dabei wird zum einen ein Vergleich zwischen den Aussagen des Ersten Petrusbriefs und der antiken Konsolationsliteratur vorgenommen, zum anderen zwischen den vorgeschlagenen Bewältigungsstrategien des Briefes und den Strategien der modernen Sozialpsychologie zum hilfreichen Umgang mit Diskriminierung und Verfolgung. Abschließend werden die zentralen Beobachtungen zusammengefasst. / This dissertation addresses the central theme of suffering in the First Epistle of Peter. After a detailed survey of research, it begins with an examination of the development and use of the terminology for suffering. This is followed by a thorough examination of the origin of suffering and the causes and reasons for right and false suffering. Careful attention to Greek lexicography and grammar is combined with rhetorical criticism. Analysis of both the forms of suffering and the reasons and purposes of suffering is combined with insights from cultural anthropology and modern studies of the effects of verbal violence. The second main part examines the behavioural instructions, comfort and ways of coping with suffering. Furthermore, 1 Peter is compared with the comfort given in various ancient consolation literatures. In addition, the strategies for coping with discrimination and suffering in 1 Peter are compared to insights from modern social psychology. A concluding chapter summarises the results and reflects on their present-day significance. / New Testament / M. Th. (New Testament)

The principal aim of this study is to discern what has shaped the author of 1 Peter to regard Christian suffering as a necessary (1.6) and to-be-expected (4.12) component of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ. Most research regarding suffering in 1 Peter has limited the scope of inquiry to two particular aspects—its cause and nature, and the strategies that the author of 1 Peter employs in order to enable his addressees to respond in faithfulness. There remains, however, the need for a comprehensive explanation for the source that has generated 1 Peter’s theology of Christian suffering. If Jesus truly is the Christ, God’s chosen redemptive agent who has come to restore God’s people, then how can it be that Christian suffering is a necessary part of discipleship after his coming, death and resurrection? What led the author of 1 Peter to such a startling conclusion, which seems to runs against the grain of the eschatological hopes and expectations of Jewish restoration ideology? This thesis analyzes the appropriation of shepherd and fiery trials imagery, and argues that the author of 1 Peter is dependent upon Zechariah 9-14 for his theology of Christian suffering. Said in another way, the eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14, read through the lens of the Gospel, functions as the substructure for 1 Peter’s eschatology and thus its theology of Christian suffering. In support of this hypothesis, this study highlights the fact that Zechariah 9- 14 was available and appropriated in early Christianity, in particular in the Passion Narrative tradition; that the shepherd imagery of 1 Pet 2.25 is best understood within the milieu of the Passion Narrative tradition, and that it alludes to the eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that the fiery trials imagery found in 1 Peter 1.6-7 and 1 Pet 4.12 is distinct from that which we find in Greco-Roman and OT wisdom sources, and that it shares exclusive parallels with some unique features of the eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that Zechariah 9-14 offers a more satisfying explanation for the modification of Isa 11.2 in 1 Pet 4.14, the transition from 4.12-19 to 5.1-4, why Peter has oriented his letter with the term διασπορά, and why he has described his addresses as οἶκος τοῦ θεοῦ; and finally that 1 Peter contains an implicit foundational narrative that shares distinct parallels with the eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14. We can conclude that 1 Peter offers a unique vista into the way in which at least one early Christian witness came to understand and to communicate the fact that Christian suffering was a necessary feature of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ.

German text / Die vorliegende Arbeit setzt sich mit der zentralen Leidensthematik des Ersten Petrusbriefes auseinander. Einer vorläufigen Betrachtung der Entwicklung und des Gebrauchs des zentralen Leidens- Begriffs folgt die ausführliche Untersuchung und Darstellung der Urheber des Leidens und der Ursachen und Gründe für rechtes und falsches Leiden. Es folgt unter Berücksichtigung einiger kulturanthropologischer Einsichten und moderner psychologischer Analysen bezüglich der Wirkung von verbaler Gewalt eine Betrachtung der Arten und Formen des Leidens sowie der Begründungen und Ziele des Leiden. Der zweite Hauptteil untersucht Verhaltensanweisungen, Trost und Anleitung zur Leidensbewältigung, die der Verfasser seinen Empfängern zukommen lässt. Dabei wird zum einen ein Vergleich zwischen den Aussagen des Ersten Petrusbriefs und der antiken Konsolationsliteratur vorgenommen, zum anderen zwischen den vorgeschlagenen Bewältigungsstrategien des Briefes und den Strategien der modernen Sozialpsychologie zum hilfreichen Umgang mit Diskriminierung und Verfolgung. Abschließend werden die zentralen Beobachtungen zusammengefasst. / This dissertation addresses the central theme of suffering in the First Epistle of Peter. After a detailed survey of research, it begins with an examination of the development and use of the terminology for suffering. This is followed by a thorough examination of the origin of suffering and the causes and reasons for right and false suffering. Careful attention to Greek lexicography and grammar is combined with rhetorical criticism. Analysis of both the forms of suffering and the reasons and purposes of suffering is combined with insights from cultural anthropology and modern studies of the effects of verbal violence. The second main part examines the behavioural instructions, comfort and ways of coping with suffering. Furthermore, 1 Peter is compared with the comfort given in various ancient consolation literatures. In addition, the strategies for coping with discrimination and suffering in 1 Peter are compared to insights from modern social psychology. A concluding chapter summarises the results and reflects on their present-day significance. / New Testament / M. Th. (New Testament)