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In Strangers to FamilyShively Smith reads the Letter of 1 Peter through a new model of diaspora. Smith illuminates this peculiarly Petrine understanding of diaspora by situating it among three other select perspectives from extant Hellenist Jewish writings: the Daniel court tales, the Letter of Aristeas, and Philo's works.
While 1 Peter tends to be taken as representative of how diaspora was understood in Hellenistic Jewish and early Christian circles, Smith demonstrates that 1 Peter actually reverses the most fundamental meaning of diaspora as conceived by its literarypeers. Instead of connoting the scattering of a people with a common territorial origin,for 1 Peter, diaspora constitutes an "already-scattered-people" who share a common, communal, celestial destination.
Smith's discovery of a distinctive instantiation of diaspora in 1 Peter capitalizes on her careful comparative historical, literary, and theological analysis of diaspora constructionsfound in Hellenistic Jewish writings. Her reading of 1 Peter thus challenges the use of the exile and wandering as master concepts to read 1 Peter, reconsiders the conceptual significance of diaspora in 1 Peter and in the entire New Testament canon, and liberates 1 Peter from being interpreted solely through the rubrics of either the stranger-homelessness model or household codes. First Peter does not recycle standard diasporic identity, but is, as Strangers to Familydemonstrates, an epistle that represents the earliest Christian construction of diaspora as a way of life.
While 1 Peter tends to be taken as representative of how diaspora was understood in Hellenistic Jewish and early Christian circles, Smith demonstrates that 1 Peter actually reverses the most fundamental meaning of diaspora as conceived by its literarypeers. Instead of connoting the scattering of a people with a common territorial origin,for 1 Peter, diaspora constitutes an "already-scattered-people" who share a common, communal, celestial destination.
Smith's discovery of a distinctive instantiation of diaspora in 1 Peter capitalizes on her careful comparative historical, literary, and theological analysis of diaspora constructionsfound in Hellenistic Jewish writings. Her reading of 1 Peter thus challenges the use of the exile and wandering as master concepts to read 1 Peter, reconsiders the conceptual significance of diaspora in 1 Peter and in the entire New Testament canon, and liberates 1 Peter from being interpreted solely through the rubrics of either the stranger-homelessness model or household codes. First Peter does not recycle standard diasporic identity, but is, as Strangers to Familydemonstrates, an epistle that represents the earliest Christian construction of diaspora as a way of life.
| Pages | 229 |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 229 x 152 |
| Date Published | 30 Oct 2016 |
| Publisher | Baylor University Press |
| Subject/s | Ancient history: to c 500 CE History of religion Biblical studies & exegesis |
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part 1. Diaspora through the Lens of 1 Peter
- Chapter 1. Chosen Kinship: Imagining Christian Diaspora
- Chapter 2. The Cultic Life: Practices of the Christian Diaspora
- Chapter 3. Provinces and Households: The Relational Matrix of the Christian Diaspora
- Part 2. Diaspora the Way Others Imagine
- Chapter 4. Diaspora Life in Babylon: The Court Tales of Daniel
- Chapter 5. Diaspora in Egypt: The Letter of Aristeas
- Chapter 6. Diaspora in Alexandria: Philo
- Conclusion: Liberating 1 Peter's Diaspora Vision
- Bibliography
- Index
Shively T. J. Smith is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
