Description: This commentary on the second epistle of Peter offers a fresh examination of a key New Testament text. Relying on newly available research, A. Chadwick Thornhill brings a multi-pronged approach to his study through his use of a range of methods including narrative theology, and historical, social, cultural, literary, rhetorical, discourse, and linguistic analysis. Thornhill challenges existing paradigms pertaining to the composition of 2 Peter, asks new questions regarding authorship and genre, and revisits the identification of the text as a pseudonymous testament, as it has most recently been understood. His study enables new insights into the letter's message as it would have been understood in its ancient context. Written in an accessible style, Thornhill's commentary concludes by offering reflections on 2 Peter's contributions to the theology of the New Testament and its relevance for the late modern world.
Brief description: A. Chadwick Thornhill is Professor of Biblical and Theological studies at the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity at Liberty University.
Review Quotes: '2 Peter is quite a difficult piece of literature to lay out in a readable manner. Professor Chad Thornhill has managed that task in the style of the best of the evangelical scholarly tradition. He not only tackles all the difficult issues of introduction, such as authorship, style, and canonicity, with careful listening to the full range of positions before coming to measured conclusions, but does so in a readable manner. Likewise in the commentary text, he proceeds carefully and thoroughly, but also makes his arguments clear to less scholarly readers by putting Greek in parentheses after the translation, while not sacrificing scholarly thoroughness. He is to be congratulated for this significant contribution to Petrine scholarship and his demonstrating to the church the importance of 2 Peter.' Peter H. Davids, Chaplain, Our Lady of Guadalupe Priory, Georgetown, Texas