The Apocalypse of Peter remains one of the most enigmatic and intriguing texts of early Christian literature. The narrative is pungent with apocalyptic imagery of eternal reward and, especially, punishment – blasphemers hanging by their tongues, fornicators hanging by their thighs (it could be worse), and others having their internal organs eaten by worms. The text itself has been a matter of much discussion and debate. How does one reconcile the longer Ethiopic version (possibly translated from a lost Arabic version) with the sometimes divergent shorter Greek version, both of which are believed to derive from a Greek original from the second century CE? And what is the relationship of this text to 2 Peter, the Pseudo-Clementines, Pauline literature, and perhaps other texts?

These and other questions were the focus of a conference in Zurich in 2021, the results of which appear in this volume. It is impossible to summarize here the arguments and contributions of all sixteen essays, but several general observations can be made. The word “Context” in the title provides a critical and accurate indication of what the reader will encounter. These are not essays focused on the minutia aimed only at specialists on this particular text; rather, the authors adroitly locate their contributions within broader textual, philosophical, historical, and theological perspectives. The reader benefits greatly from J. Frey’s introductory essay that positions all discussions of the Apocalypse within wider conversations about Petrine traditions, epistles, and pseudepigraphy. T. J. Kraus succinctly orients the reader to the complexities presented by the Greek and Ethiopic witnesses in establishing a single working text of the Apocalypse, if that is even desirable. With this groundwork laid, the reader can then engage this collection of excellent essays in English and German that pursue intertextual, social historical, theological, and reception historical lines of inquiry. The volume includes a new translation of the Ethiopic version by E. J. Beck.

Scholars of Second Temple Judaism, Hellenistic philosophy, early Christianity, and epigraphy will all find material of great interest in the volume, which effectively situates the Apocalypse of Peter in Context.