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The New Testament letter known as 1 Peter has often been the victim of 'benign neglect' and treated as a pale reflection of some of Paul's epistles. Studies in the forties with the commentaries of E. G. Selwyn and F. W. Beare redressed this situation and more recently, with the work of Leonhard Goppelt in Germany that offers a classification of the possibilities of the letter as a 'social tract' has opened up exciting new interpretatiion.

Dr. J. Ramsey Michaels builds on much of this exegetical and background study in his new commentary, adding fresh detail to the older works and breaking new ground in the interpretation of text that are obscure or much debated, such as the 'spirits in prison' passage in 1 Peter 3:18 - 22, and the reference to 'evangelising the dead' in 4:6. His Introduction will be valued by all students of the New Testament for showing how 1 Peter represents a document of a distinctive, non-Pauline Christianity. Michaels cautiously accepts the tradition that the Apostle Peter was the author of this 'diaspora letter' to Gentile Christians in Asia Minor, even while taking account of the tradition's difficulties. His suggestion that Peter may have written the letter on behalf of the church at Rome as late as the decade of A.D. 70-80 raises anew the question of how closely the issue of 1 Peter's authorship is linked to that of its date.

A blend of theology and ethics is brought to the fore, as 1 Peter is seen as a practical treatise intended to encourage and strengthen faith and hope in God in stressful days. There is a timeliness to 1 Peter and this new commentary on it which will ensure a ready reception for Professor Michaels's thorough and illuminating treatment.