Date of Award

10-16-2023

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Theology

First Advisor

Edmondo Lupieri

Abstract

At the center of First Peter’s rhetoric stands an exhortation to “follow” in Christ’s footsteps (2:21). Several scholars have suggested (sometimes off-handedly or in a singular footnote) that this specific exhortation utilizes the technical language of “discipleship,” but only to support a particular piece of the letter’s paraenesis (2:18–25). I contend that such a suggestion, while a helpful place to start, does not go far enough. With this study, I propose that we may read First Peter comprehensively as a summons to discipleship in accord with ancient understandings of education, exemplified in the multifaceted system of Hellenistic paideia. I argue that First Peter’s social strategy consists in calling its audiences to (re)embody the social role of disciples or students in relation to a teacher, and that this is its primary means of encouraging those audiences to endure their present suffering. I demonstrate this with attention to three principal features: (1) the letter’s exhortations to maintain loyalty (πίστις) toward God amid the specifically verbal forms of suffering that its audiences face; (2) the depiction of the audiences’ relationship with God as one characterized by the reciprocity of benefaction (χάρις); and (3) exhortations within First Peter to habituate behaviors and attitudes understood as standard expectations of students in relation to their teachers throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. Together, these aspects of First Peter’s rhetoric lead me to conclude that its first-century Anatolian audiences would understand themselves to be addressed by this letter as disciples of a teacher—and summoned to act accordingly. Reading First Peter as a summons to discipleship, I contend, illumines the nature of First Peter’s exhortations in at least two significant ways. First, the educational context of discipleship makes sense of First Peter’s distinctive emphasis on suffering by recognizing it as part of the letter’s pedagogical program. The pedagogical context of ancient discipleship, in other words, assists us to understand First Peter’s presentation of its audiences’ suffering as a consequence of “doing good” and as in accordance with God’s will; First Peter may therefore be read as an attempt to “make sense” of its audiences’ suffering and to cope with it appropriately. Second, given that “disciple” constitutes an established social role or position throughout the ancient Mediterranean world, I suggest that this comprehensive reading of First Peter is further illumined by a nuanced “social identity approach” to the letter. First Peter’s summons to discipleship can be understood as a construction of its audiences’ social identity through its emphasis on the social self-identification of “disciple.” This social identity not only becomes a means of solidifying their commitment to God and Christ, but it also provides a means by which they may endure their present circumstances. Together, these points demonstrate the efficacy and value of reading First Peter as a summons to discipleship, provide avenues for considering the letter’s significance among the dynamic corpus of early Christian literature, and promote First Peter’s continued relevance for the academy and Christian communities today.

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