2 Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter: Towards a New Perspective Biblical Interpretation Series Editors-in-Chief Paul Anderson (George Fox University) Jennifer L. Koosed (Albright College, Reading) Editorial Board A.K.M. Adam (University of Oxford) Colleen M. Conway (Seton Hall University) Nijay Gupta (Portland Seminary) Amy Kalmanofsky (Jewish Theological Seminary) Vernon Robbins (Emory University) Annette Schellenberg (Universität Wien) Johanna Stiebert (University of Leeds) Duane Watson (Malone University) Christine Roy Yoder (Columbia Theological Seminary) Ruben Zimmermann (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) volume 174 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bins 2 Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter: Towards a New Perspective Radboud Prestige Lectures by Jörg Frey Edited by Jörg Frey Matthijs den Dulk Jan G. van der Watt LEIDEN | BOSTON This volume is based on the Radboud Prestige Lectures delivered by Jörg Frey in Nijmegen in 2016. The Radboud Prestige Lectures provide a forum for cutting-edge research in New Testament and Early Christian Literature. The lectures are published by Brill Academic Publishers along with responses by scholars from all over the world. This unique format allows for in-depth discussion among leading scholarly voices. Previous publications based on Radboud Prestige Lectures include: – Alan Culpepper—Creation Stories in Dialogue: The Bible, Science, and Folk Traditions (edited by Alan Culpepper and Jan van der Watt), Leiden: Brill, 2015. – Pieter W. van der Horst—Saxa judaica loquuntur: Lessons from Early Jewish Inscriptions, Leiden: Brill, 2014. – Michael Wolter—The Quest for the Real Jesus (edited by Jan van der Watt), Leiden: Brill, 2013. For more information about the Radboud Prestige Lectures, please visit https://www.ru.nl/theology/ radboud-prestige-lectures/radboud-prestige-lectures/ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Frey, Jörg, editor. Title: 2 Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter : towards a new perspective :  Radboud prestige lectures by Jörg Frey / edited by Jörg Frey, Matthijs  den Dulk, Jan G. van der Watt. Other titles: Second Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter Description: Boston : Brill, 2019. | Series: Biblical interpretation series,  ISSN 0928-0731 ; volume 174 | “This volume is based on the Radboud  prestige lectures delivered by Jörg Frey in Nijmegen in 2016”—ECIP t.p.  verso. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019010445 (print) | LCCN 2019016952 (ebook) |  ISBN 9789004399549 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004390249 (hardback : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Peter, 2nd—Criticism, interpretation, etc. |  Apocalypse of Peter (Greek-Ethiopic version)—Criticism, interpretation,  etc. Classification: LCC BS2795.52 (ebook) | LCC BS2795.52 .A13 2019 (print) |  DDC 227/.9306—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019010445 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 0928-0731 ISBN 978-90-04-39024-9 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-39954-9 (e-book) Copyright 2019 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi, Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. Contents Contributors vii 1 Introduction: A Second Look at Second Peter 1 Matthijs den Dulk 2 Second Peter in New Perspective 7 Jörg Frey 3 The Apocalypse of Peter as the First Christian Martyr Text: Its Date, Provenance and Relationship with 2 Peter 75 Jan N. Bremmer 4 Petrus-Diskurse in Alexandria: Eine Fortführung der Gedanken von Jörg Frey 99 Tobias Nicklas 5 The Second Letter of Peter, Josephus and Gnosticism 128 Terrance Callan 6 2 Peter, the Johannine Epistles, and the Authority of “Eyewitness” Apostolic Tradition 147 David R. Nienhuis 7 Reading 2 Peter 3 in the Light of the Apocalypse of Peter and the Sibylline Oracles 160 Jeremy Hultin 8 ‘In Aegyptum, ut denuo disseratur de me’ 196 Martin G. Ruf 9 Does the Apocalypse of Peter Help to Determine the Date of 2 Peter? 217 Paul Foster vi Contents 10 2 Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter Revisited: A Response to Jörg Frey 261 Richard Bauckham 11 2 Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter: Concluding Reflections 282 Jörg Frey Index of Ancient Sources 307 Index of Modern Authors 324 Contributors Richard Bauckham (Ph.D., Cambridge) is Emeritus Professor of New Testament Studies and Bishop Wardlaw Professor in the School of Divinity, University of St. Andrews. Jan Bremmer (Ph.D., Leiden) is Emeritus Professor of Science of Religion and Comparative Religious Studies at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen. Terrance Callan (Ph.D., Yale) is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at the Athenaeum of Ohio. Matthijs den Dulk (Ph.D., Chicago) is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Radboud University. Paul Foster (DPhil., Oxford) is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity in the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. Jörg Frey (Dr. theol., Dr. theol. habil., Tübingen) is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Zurich. Jeremy F. Hultin (Ph.D., Yale) is Visiting Associate Professor of Biblical Languages at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. Tobias Nicklas (Dr. theol., Regensburg) is Professor of New Testament Exegesis and Hermeneutics at the Fakultät für Katholische Theologie, Universität Regensburg and Research Associate at the Department of New Testament, University of the Free State, South Africa. viii Contributors David Nienhuis (Ph.D., Aberdeen) is Professor of New Testament Studies at Seattle Pacific University. Martin Ruf (Ph.D., Utrecht) teaches classical languages at the Gemeentelijk Gymnasium Hilversum. Chapter 1 Introduction: A Second Look at Second Peter Matthijs den Dulk In 2015, Jörg Frey’s commentary on 2 Peter and Jude was published in the Theologischer Handkommentar zum Neuen Testament series.1 This commen- tary results from many years of studying these intriguing early Christian texts and is one of many significant achievements in Frey’s exceptionally fruitful career. The present volume arises out of a number of key insights Frey devel- oped during his decade-long study of 2 Peter. In the next chapter, based on his Radboud Prestige Lectures delivered in Nijmegen in 2016, Frey presents a new perspective on 2 Peter that draws on these insights. In the chapters that follow, Frey’s new perspective is discussed by eight specialists in the field, who respond to his proposal in ways both critical and constructive. The final chapter consists of Frey’s rejoinder to these critiques. Building on and extending the work of Wolfgang Grünstäudl,2 the key contention of Frey’s new perspective is that 2 Peter depends on the Greek (Ethiopic) Apocalypse of Peter (not to be confused with the Coptic document by the same name found at Nag Hammadi). Previous scholarship has also posited a literary relationship between the two documents but construed the direction of influence in the opposite direction. Richard Bauckham’s work in particular convinced many that the Apocalypse of Peter postdates the canonical letter.3 Frey sees the relationship between the canonical and the noncanonical 1  Jörg Frey, Der Brief des Judas und der zweite Brief des Petrus, ThHK 15/II (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2015). English translation: Jörg Frey, The Letter of Jude and the Second Letter of Peter: A Theological Commentary (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2018). 2  Wolfgang Grünstäudl, Petrus Alexandrinus: Studien zum historischen und theologischen Ort des Zweiten Petrusbriefes, WUNT 2/315 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013). 3  See especially Richard J. Bauckham, “2 Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter,” in The Fate of the Dead: Studies in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, NovTSup 93 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 290–303. Bauckham’s many studies on the Apocalypse of Peter were instrumental in drawing attention to this previously somewhat neglected text. See, in addition to the study cited above, Richard J. Bauckham, “The Two Fig Tree Parables in the Apocalypse of Peter,” JBL 104 (1985): 269–87; idem., “The Apocalypse of Peter: An Account of Research,” ANRW 2.25.6 (1988): 4712–50; idem., “The Martyrdom of Peter in Early Christian Literature,” ANRW 2.26.1 (1992): 539–95; idem., “The Apocalypse of Peter: A Jewish Christian Apocalypse from the Time of Bar Kokhba,” in The Fate of the Dead: Studies in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, NovTSup 93 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 160–258. (first published in Apocrypha 5 [1994]: 7–111; the 1998 version is cited © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004399549_002