Pheme PERKINS, Eloise ROSENBLATT, and Patricia MCDONALD, 1-2 Peter and Jude. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2022. xxxviii + 320 pages, HB, $49.95. ISBN 978-0-8146-8206-7. Reviewed by Thomas SIMMONS, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069.

The Liturgical Press – the publishing house of the breathtakingly picturesque Benedictine abbey of Saint John’s in Collegeville, Minnesota – began an undertaking a few years back to publish a complete set of feminist scriptural interpretative studies of each book in the Bible. (Some – Psalms, for example, merit several books.) The series is titled “Wisdom Commentary.” This volume is the 56th in the series. Its three parts analyze three lesser-read New Testament epistles: 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and Jude.

The monograph utilizes a welcoming and engaging organizational structure. A few NSRV verses are set within boxes along the top of a page, allowing easy reference. Other inset boxes contain various digressions on nuanced translation issues. And diverse – occasionally opposing – opinions of other scholars are also inset throughout the primary text, providing lively examinations from different viewpoints. The divergent voices make for a more captivating read. By means of contrast, they maintain the reader’s attention.

The book thoroughly dissects these epistles’ didactic shortcomings while maintaining an outlook of reverential utility. 2 Peter is criticized for its singlemindedness: “The pastor’s solution is to pillory those who disagree with what he considers mainstream teaching as stupid people who twist and misinterpret not only Paul but all the Scriptures” (198). Jude, likewise, engages in “bullying” (283). Still, the book notes, it is possible to learn even from those we find offensive. While Jude’s rhetorical strategy might be ineffective, “if we are inclined to domesticate God and to undervalue what we have received as Christians, Jude may have something to teach us” (284).

The commentary on 2 Peter is noteworthy. Deploying an historical-critical analysis, this section contrasts Pliny the Younger’s correspondence with Emperor Trajan with the forensic accusatory style of the epistle. “The attack on evildoers, threaded through the letter, mimics an accusatio in a judicial process and is modeled on the speech of a prosecutor in a court setting” (119). Though employing elegant Greek, it is a one-sided argument. “There is no inclusion of a defense speech for the accused” (120). Perhaps, though, the reader – the intended audience – is a panel of judges in the religious community.

Moreover, perhaps the epistle arose out of the same social milieu – the same communities – as Pliny’s letter (circa 109-111 CE) asking for guidance from Rome on how to deal with recalcitrant believers. 2 Peter may have been “composed after accusations had been brought against the Christians by Gentile neighbors or disgruntled former members” (132). If it was, then the disgruntled offenders singled out by the author of 2 Peter may have been the very same individuals who ratted out their former friends to Pliny. This represents a very interesting and original assertion.
My only quibble is that the sequencing of the discussion of 2 Peter followed by Jude ought to have been reversed. According to some scholars, 2 Peter is the last book composed, chronologically-speaking, in the Bible; sometime between 100 and 110 CE. It borrows from Jude (as well as from Revelation – such as in its reference to Christ as the morning star). This book would read smoother, therefore, if its discussion of Jude preceded its analysis of 2 Peter. In all other respects, this is an intelligent, thoughtful, well-written feminist interpretative work.