Crisis in the church is not a new phenomenon. In fact, the
church has always been 'and probably always will be 'involved in
some kind of crisis. Even in the apostolic period, which is
regarded by many as the church's golden age, there were serious
crises coming both from the outside, as in 1 Peter, and from the
inside, as in Jude and 2 Peter. The three short New Testament
letters treated in "1 Peter, Jude and 2 Peter" illustrate the
problems early Christians faced as well as the rhetorical
techniques and theological concepts with which they combated those
problems.
In the first part of this volume, Donald Senior views 1 Peter as
written from Rome in Peter's name to several churches in northern
Asia Minor 'present-day Turkey 'in the latter part of the first
century CE. The new Christians addressed in 1 Peter found
themselves aliens and exiles in the wider Greco-Roman society and
suffered a kind of social ostracism. But they are given a marvelous
theological Vision of who they have become through their baptism
and pastoral encouragement to stand firm. They are shown how to
take a missionary stance toward the outside world by giving the
witness of a holy and blameless life to offset the slander and
ignorance of the non-Christian majority and possibly even to lead
them to glorify God on the day of judgment.
In the second part of this volume, Daniel Harrington interprets
Jude and 2 Peter as confronting crises in the late first century
that were perpetrated by Christian teachers who are described
polemically as intruders in Jude and as false teachers in 2 Peter.
In confronting the crises within their churches, the authors appeal
frequently to the Old Testament and to early summaries of Christian
faith. While Jude uses other Jewish traditions, 2 Peter includes
most of the text of Jude as well as many distinctively Greek terms
and concepts. It is clear that for the authors, despite their
different social settings, what was at stake was the struggle for
the faith.
"Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, is a professor of New Testament at
Boston College School of Theology and Ministry in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. He has written numerous works, including "What Are
We Hoping For? New Testament Images, Why Do We Hope? Images in the
Psalms, and Jesus Ben Sira of Jerusalem: A Biblical Guide to Living
Wisely, " al published by Liturgical Press. Harrington is editor of
the "Sacra Pagina" series, for which he also authored "The Gospel
of Matthew" and coauthored "The Gospel of Mark."
"Donald Senior, CP, is president of Catholic Theological Union
in Chicago, where he is also a member of the faculty as professor
of New Testament. He is the general editor of the acclaimed
"Catholic Study Bible" (Oxford University Press, rev. ed., 2006),
coeditor of "The New Interpreters Study Bible "(Abingdon Press,
2003), and editor-in-chief of"The Bible Today." His publications
include the four-volume "The Passion series" (Liturgical Press),
"Jesus: A Gospel Portrait" (Paulist Press, rev. ed., 1994), "What
Are They Saying About Matthew?" (Paulist Press, rev. ed., 1996),
and a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew ("Matthew." Abingdon
Press, 1998). He is past president of the Catholic Biblical
Association of America. In 2001 Pope John Paul II appointed him as
a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and he was
reappointed in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI."
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