JOYCE WAI-LAN SUN is an assistant professor and the librarian at China Graduate School of Theology in Hong Kong. She obtained her PhD in New Testament Studies from the University of Edinburgh, UK and is a trained lawyer. She regularly writes on Christian identity and Christian social ethics and has published a number of academic articles.
Joyce Sun's detailed study of 1 Peter rightly focuses on the author's underlying theological convictions in light of the social-political context of the epistle. She contends that the salvation of God provides the impetus for and the shape of the Petrine instructions concerning social behaviour. Sun's stimulating analysis is historically accurate and exegetically sound, and is a significant and indispensable contribution to the interpretation of the paraenetic materials of 1 Peter in particular, and Petrine scholarship in general. Christians will also find here some helpful insights into how these ancient materials might be contextualized to meet contemporary challenges regarding the relationship between the Christian identity and Christian social engagement and ethics. Jonathan W. Lo Assistant Professor Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary Joyce Sun has convincingly put forward a clear picture of the Petrine theological vision of the "elect exiles of Diaspora" that functions as the driving force of its social behavioural instructions. Not only does Sun's pursuance to the first-century Jewish Diaspora social engagement provide useful contextual information, her comparison of 1 Peter with the social ethics of both the Book of Revelation and the second-century Epistle of Diognetus also represents pioneering efforts to the subject. The Petrine social strategy of "differentiated resistance" and his concern of "ultimate allegiance to God" are important reminders to Christians, whether in the first two centuries or in the twenty-first century, where pagan culture and ideology still permeate different aspects of our secular society. Josaphat C. Tam Associate Professor of Biblical Studies Evangel Seminary, Hong Kong Dr Sun has made a distinctive contribution to the understanding of the Christian identity during the first century in her study of 1 Peter. Her argument that the epistle urged Christians as the elected people of God and resident-aliens to employ the strategy of "differentiated resistance" in their social engagement is very convincing. Luke Cheung Vice-President and Professor in Biblical Studies China Graduate School of Theology, Hong Kong This is a valuable study of 1 Peter, which argues that the letter's social behavioural instructions are primarily shaped by the author's theological vision, and that the reasons for distinctive behaviour are therefore primarily religious. Comparing 1 Peter's stance with that evident in Diaspora Jewish literature and in two other early Christian texts - the Book of Revelation and the Epistle to Diognetus - enables Joyce Sun to develop her argument that 1 Peter displays a form of "differentiated resistance." is depiction of the letter's social stance is thus more nuanced than many previous attempts to assess its view of the wider world and also of clear relevance to contemporary Christian communities negotiating comparable situations. David G. Horrell Professor of New Testament Studies Director, Centre for Biblical Studies, Department of Theology and Religion University of Exeter This new study of 1 Peter and the question of what kind of response to their cultural situation the text summons of its original readers rightly emphasizes that the primary basis for that summons is theological. Convictions about God and Christ shape the exhortations. Sun also introduces a helpful nuance into the previous scholarship on this text in her category of "differentiated resistance," in which believers were urged to engage their setting with critical judgment, accepting what they could, but resisting at any point that threatened their allegiance to God. Sun also shows that the policy advocated in 1 Peter has continuing relevance for Christians today. I commend this study heartily. Larry W. Hurtado Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology School of Divinity, New College, University of Edinburgh
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