Self Introduction

1,830 views Streamed live 9 hours ago CENTRE PLACE

A short book in the New Testament strongly argues for a literal apocalypse, when Jesus Christ would return to bring final judgement. Ironically, its author called his opponents false teachers, even though he himself wrote pseudonymously, claiming to be the apostle Peter. Most scholars agree that the letter we now call 2 Peter dates from the second century AD, and its author also included almost the whole Epistle of Jude in his letter. What do we know about 2 Peter, Jude, and their authors? Who were these Christians who, already at this time, were interpreting the stories of divine punishment in the Hebrew Bible and the promise of the Second Coming in symbolic, non-literal ways? Although the Bible includes two epistles that claim the Apostle Peter as their author, modern scholarship has concluded that each was written in highly literate Greek by two different authors — neither of which was the historical fisherman from Galilee. The Second Epistle of Peter takes the form of a farewell discourse — a Greek form usually written in the name of a distinguished leader or thinker after their death. The author is consciously writing after the apostolic age has ended, long after any disputes between the historical Paul and Peter over Christians adherence to Jewish Law had concluded. He is aware that Paul’s letters have been collected and are already being read as authoritative (though he himself does not quote from them). The author of Second Peter believes deeply in a literal apocalypse. But because the first generation of Christians who had known Jesus had all passed away, many other Christian thinkers had begun to insist that the prophecy “this generation shall not pass away” before Christ’s Second Coming could no longer be understood literally. In attacking his enemies as “false teachers,” the author of Second Peter uses a template, the Epistle of Jude. Written in an early generation, Jude’s letter is a brief diatribe against its author’s rivals. Second Peter quotes or reworks 19 of Jude’s 25 verses, ironically proving in his attack on “false teachers” that he himself is not Peter, as he claims. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will compare the Epistles of Jude and Second Peter to consider what we can know about the authors and context of each. Join the livestream to participate in the discussion and to ask questions of our lecturer during the Q&A. This lecture is part of our series exploring Christianity and the Bible from an academic perspective through history, mythology, archaeology, theology, and biblical studies. In this presentation we focus on Biblical criticism, the Epistle of Jude, the Second Epistle of Peter, and Biblical errancy. 📚 Browse our catalogue of free lectures at https://www.centreplace.ca/lectures Your generous support allows us to offer these lectures at no cost. Please consider making a donation (tax deductible in the US and Canada):