Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
The aim of this study is to extract the world vision underlying 1 Peter, and to give
an account of the competing frameworks of thought active in the text. A semiotic
literary method, devised by Wolmarans (1994), was used to supply answers to the
following questions:
Why was the letter written?
Against what type of socio-historical situation does the letter react?
What alternatives does 1 Peter supply?
How is the reader moved to alternative attitudes, views and actions?
The letter was subdivided into smaller analytical units and analysed in two basic
steps, namely a structural analysis and a pragmatic (or transactional) analysis. The
structural analysis included a syntactic and semantic examination, and a
representation of the unit in a logical form. The pragmatic analysis included
remarks on the epistle's communicative strategy, a description of the unacceptable
practical situation, the actual textual world, and a description of how the text
wants the world to be, the alternative textual world. An account is also supplied of
the ways in which the implicit reader is moved from the actual textual world to the
alternative possible world by means of transuniversal relations.
The application of the method resulted in a new interpretation of the descent of
Jesus into Hades (3:19; 4:6). It is argued that its function was to proclaim final
punishment to the fallen angels of the Noah tradition and the souls of the wicked
humans in the time of Noah. 1 Peter 4:6 is translated and interpreted in a novel
way as: "For this reason Jesus proclaimed himself to the dead, in order that they
may be judged for living according to human principles in the flesh, and in order
the [the living] may live according to the principles of God in the spirit.
The reason why the epistle was written is found in an oppressive social
environment. The heads of households oppressed their slaves and wives verbally
as well as physically, while Christians in general experienced verbal oppression in
a heathen environment. Generally, an absence of brotherly love is experienced in
Christian communities, as well as authoritarian styles of leadership.
The epistle therefore supplies an alternative way of coping with an oppressing
reality. It also calls to a strong and imminent eschatological vision, retains but
reinterprets social relations in the household in more humane terms, and uses the shepherd flock metaphor to reinvent relations of authority in Christian
communities.
Strategies used in the epistle to persuade its implicit readers, is Messianic-eschatological
reinterpretation of Old Testament texts, the words of Jesus, some
Pauline traditions, analogical arguments (especially viewing Christians as resident
aliens) and topoi, for example that no one would ill treat somebody who acts good.
The epistle is dated around 90-95 AD and viewed as pseudepigraphic.