The Book of 2nd Peter

First, a little about me. I am a Roman Catholic Christian, and take for granted that the Sacraments of the Church and the historic episcopate are an inseperable consequence of the Gospel, though I do give Reform theologians a great deal of credit for confronting the Medieval Church.

This group is academic in nature, not devotional. Our main focus will be to rely on English, Greek and Latin translations to exegetically search out the message and meaning of this epistle. As a secondary goal, we'll study historical sources to develop and share apologetic models that explore the theological strength of the epistle and its place in the Canon. Let's not allow critics any more opportunities to dismember our Canon and our faith.

Textual variants in the epistle can and should be brought up and considered. After all, doctrine is derived from language, and textual variations may or may not effect how we are to understand the epistle's content. All of this can be discussed as well as the thoughts and reflections of the Church Fathers.

I have been instructed to wait a week before getting this started, so look for the first round to begin late next week [8/16/09]. We'll be delving into the four essential themes of the Epistle. Most Study Bibles and commentaries follow an identical pattern, so it shouldn't be difficult to follow along with whatever sources you are using. Here are the themes:

Christian Virtues and Moral Excellence [1:5-1:15]
Evidence of Christ’s Divine Authority [1:16-1:21]
Dangers of False prophets [2:1-2:22]
The Certainty of Christ’s Return [3:1-18]

We will cover each in turn, and exhaust each division before going onto another. Obviously, there will some overlap, especially where a single word is found across multiple verses.

It is also fine to use 'scripture to interpret scripture' but, let's limit our references to either parallel passages, or those where the writer intended to inculcate the teaching found outside his own writings. Otherwise, we end up with all kinds of confusing conclusions from rather arcane formulas for Hermeneutics.

If you are already familiar with the theology of Peter's Second Epistle, then feel free to focus on the secondary goals I mentioned in the outline [e.g. historical and literary criticism].

I think that about does it for my syllabus, other than to remind you to cite your sources so that interested parties can test and examine your work.

Warmly,

Jesse Toler