Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PETER, PREACHING OF

An early Christian work extant only in fragmentary quotations, primarily in Clement of Alexandria (Misc. 1.29.182; 2.15.68; 6.5.39-41; 6.5.43; 6.6.48; 6.7.58; 6.15.128; Ecl. proph. 58). While Clement attributes it to the Apostle Peter, Origen doubts its authenticity (Comm. in Jn. 13.17), and Eusebius considers it noncanonical (HE 3.3.2). The gnostic writer Heracleon quoted it, and the apologists Theophilus and Aristides seem to have known it. These witnesses point toward an early 2nd-century composition, possibly in Egypt.

The fragments feature missionary speeches by Peter, but also include the resurrected Christ’s instructions as he sends the apostles to preach to all the world. The work emphasizes monotheism, rejecting both Greek and Jewish worship in favor of that of Christians, the “third race.” Proof from Scripture is valued: the apostles “say nothing apart from Scripture”; Peter claims that Christ’s coming, his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension are all found in Scripture.

The Preaching is related both to early Christian apologetic works (emphasis on monotheism, attacks on pagan and Jewish worship) and to early missionary literature (e.g., Acts of the Apostles).

Bibliography. W. Schneemelcher, “The Kerygma Petri,” in New Testament Apocrypha, ed. W. Schneemelcher and R. McL. Wilson, rev. ed., 2 (Louisville, 1992): 34-41.

Martin C. Albl

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PETER, PREACHING OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)