Another characteristic of many Festschriften is that they often do not have a common theme or topic, but contain various studies dealing with very diverse topics and fields.
At the same time, there are also some that strive to have a main covering theme. I might mention a couple of these from my own library, for instance
The Gospel to the Nations. Perspectives on Paul's Mission. In Honour of P. T. O'Brien (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press, 2000)
A, Andrew Das & Frank J. Matera (eds.),
The Forgotten God. Perspectives in Biblical Theology
Essays in Honor of Paul J. Achtemeier on the occasion of his Seventy-fifths Birthday (Louisville; Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), and now this one, mentioned below:
Kent E. Brower and Andy Johnson (eds.),
Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament. Dedicated to Alex R.G. Deasley
(Grand Rapids, Mi., Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007)
In this lastmentioned volume, there is an article by Joel B. Green, 'Living as Exiles: The Church in the Diaspora in 1 Peter,' pp. 311-325.
The volume as such is interesting, dealing with a very central aspect of early Christian preaching in the New Testament. The editors, in their Itroduction, states that "this volume intentionally approaches the issue of holiness from an ecclesial standpoint and participates in a larger discussion indicating a renewed interest in the theme of holiness of God and of the people of God (p.xvi). The volume thus have both a theological and practical focus, dealing with NT texts whose ultimate aim is to stimulate "to imagine enew what it might meant to be a publicly identifiable people who embody God's very character in their particular social setting (xvii).
In dealing with 1 Peter (who also published a commentary on 1 Peter this year, cf. below), Green too adopts this rather pastoral approach to the topic, commenting on the issues (one might say the facts) and influences from our contempoary world that make it difficult to hear what the witness to holiness in 1 Peter is about (312).
Green then first deals with Peter's Model Readers ('model readers' here used as a term taken from U. Eco), and their social setting: Diaspora and its challenges. Here he comments on the obvious descriptions of 'exiles and strangers', stating that "Their election by God serves as the theological basis of their life as aliens". Hence here he also disagrees with attempts of understanding these descriptive terms as a reference to the readers economic status. The encouraged behavior in the letter are grounded in their identity as God's people in the world, belonging to another household , one headed by God. Hence they also are to be located on the "margins of acceptable society" (316).
It is also important for Peter, according to Green, that his 'model readers' identify themselves with Israel, that is the Israel as interpreted by the suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, end pending revelation of Jesus Christ; they are 'in Christ.'
Furthermore, Green finds that "Peter narrates the story of Israel as though it were our story"(318ff). This is the story we are to 'inhabit'. Cf. here 1 Pet 2:4-9. Second, that this life is characterized as a life in the diaspora, that is, as a kind of in-between life, as a journey of growth, suffering and hope.
Then, concerning the holiness aspect, Green emphasizes that "Peter underscores the work of the holy spirit, to make us holy" (320ff). Instead of reading the role of the spirit in 1:1-2 as 'instrumental', he opts here for the translation of "in the sanctification of the spirit," focusing on the readers as relocated in a new space "in the realm of holiness engendered by the Holy Spirit" (321). In this way, according to Green, Peter prepares the way for his description of the believers as a 'spiritual house' in 2:5ff. Then for Green, the holiness of 1 Peter is that the Christians consider holiness in a threefold way, that is holiness as a human vocation ('to be like God'), holiness as conversion and engagement ('to work out the nature of holiness as aliens in the world, but not, however, as separated from the world'), and holiness as the imitation of Christ (cf. the descriptions of the sufferings of Christ in the letter).
Finally then, the admonitions of Peter do not suggest a withdrawel from the world, but to live openly in the world, in the ordinary realities fo life, in a way what he calls " a holiness of engagement."
What I like in this book is the focus on a single, comprehensive theme, holiness and ecclesiology. Furthermore, I also find myself in agreement with the aspects of Green's article on 1 Peter, as its main aspects are in agreement with my own understanding of the Christian life as set forth in this letter as not one of accomoodation, but as one of living as Christians in the world, but 'as Strangers in the Light.
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