Letters of Jude and Second Peter

Alternate Titles

• Paranoia and the slaves of Christ

Description

Aichele uses the framework of semiotics to approach the New Testament books Jude and 2 Peter. The letter of Jude has a strong resemblance to a section of 2 Peter. Both use an authoritarian title for Christ which is absent everywhere else in the New Testament. Both are concerned about the corruption of the Church by alternative ideas claiming to be Christian. But the books have differences from each other as well.

Description

This Guide surveys the more important historical, socio-cultural, theological, and literary factors we must grapple with in understanding the two letters of Jude and Second Peter, between which there are very strong similarities. It appears that the letter of Jude was almost entirely 'plagiarized' by the letter of Second Peter. George Aichele's main approach is the method of semiotics, examining signifying mechanisms in each of the texts both independently and when they are read together. In both of the letters, Jesus Christ is called the 'master', with a Greek word that means 'slave-owner', and the authors of both books refer to themselves and other Christians as the slaves of Christ. Furthermore, both writings report situations of paranoid fear within Christian communities of their time as they picture heretical infiltrators who threaten to pervert and perhaps even destroy the community. In addition to this, in an adventurous excursion, the letter of Jude is read intertextually with the classic science fiction/horror film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel 1956), in order to explore the dynamics of paranoia.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The letters of Jude and Second Peter: paranoia and the slaves of ChristSheffield Phoenix Press2012-01-01
• Letters of Jude and Second PeterBloomsbury T & T Clark2017