The Apocalypse of Peter in Context (Studies on Early Christian Apocrypha, 21)

The Apocalypse of Peter in Context offers scholarly inquiries into this complex and frequently overlooked early Christian text from different angles. By extending the boundaries of traditional analyses, this collection of essays elucidates the eschatological beliefs prevalent in nascent Christian communities and the formative influences that gave rise to perceptions of heaven and hell. Through new approaches to authorship, transmission, and materiality, it explores this early apocryphal text's complex relationship with Jewish literature of the Second Temple period and its reception in (Late) Antiquity and the Middle Ages in various branches of Christianity. It also presents the first comprehensive English translation of the entire Ethiopic transmission context and further possible Ethiopic witnesses never critically edited and translated before. The result of a multidisciplinary conference, this collection provokes new insights and stimulates further research on this captivating witness to a distinct branch of apocalyptic thought within early Christianity.