Saint Peter

==== Rome as Babylon ====

Church tradition ascribes the epistles [[First Epistle of Peter|First]] and [[Second Epistle of Peter|Second Peter]] to the Apostle Peter, as does the text of Second Peter itself, an attribution rejected by scholarship. First Peter<ref name="bibleverse|1 Peter|5:13"/> says the author is in "Babylon", which has been held to be a coded reference to Rome.<ref>{{cite book |last=Harris |first=Stephen L. |author-link=Stephen L Harris |title=Understanding the Bible |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-yAQQAACAAJ |edition=8th |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2010 |page=477 |isbn=978-0-07-340744-9|quote='Babylon' became the Christian code name for Rome after Titus destroyed Jerusalem, thus duplicating the Babylonians' demolition of the holy city (587 BCE).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KuauhZijcb4C&pg=PA69|title=Knowing the End From the Beginning|isbn=978-0-567-08462-0|last1=Grabbe|first1=Lester L.|last2=Haak|first2=Robert D.|date=2003|publisher=A&C Black |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4vUkZpLbOooC&pg=PA41|title=The First Letter of Peter|via=google.ca|isbn=978-1-60258-024-4|last1=Feldmeier|first1=Reinhard|year=2008|publisher=Baylor University Press }}</ref> Early Church tradition reports that Peter wrote from Rome. Eusebius of Caesarea states:

{{blockquote|[[Clement of Alexandria]] in the sixth [book] of the Hypotyposeis cites the story, and the bishop of Hierapolis named [[Papias of Hierapolis|Papias]] joins him in testifying that Peter mentions Mark in the first epistle, which they say he composed in Rome herself, and that he indicates this, calling the city more figuratively Babylon by these: "She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings and so does my son Mark. (1 Pet 5:13)"<ref>{{cite web|author=Eusebius|title=Church History Book II Chapter 15:2|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250102.htm|publisher=hypotyposeis.org & newadvent.org|access-date=4 June 2015}}</ref>}}

If the reference is to Rome, it is the only biblical reference to Peter being there. Many scholars regard both First and Second Peter as not having been authored by him, partly because other parts of the [[Acts of the Apostles]] seem to describe Peter as an illiterate fisherman.<ref name="Martin 2009"/><ref>Brown, Raymond E., ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=gk_uAAAAMAAJ Introduction to the New Testament]'', Anchor Bible, 1997, {{ISBN|0-385-24767-2}}. p. 767 "the pseudonymity of II Pet is more certain than that of any other NT work."</ref>

Most Biblical scholars<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MFbHT73BxpAC|title=Women in scripture: a dictionary of named and unnamed women in the Hebrew|isbn=978-0-8028-4962-5|last1=Meyers|first1=Carol|date=28 August 2001|publisher=Island Press }}</ref><ref>*[[L. Michael White]], [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/revelation/white.html Understanding the Book of Revelation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228151125/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/revelation/white.html |date=28 December 2017 }}, [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]
*[[Helmut Köster]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=qWflda5Erq4C&pg=PA260 Introduction to the New Testament, Volume 2], 260
*[[Pheme Perkins]], First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, 16
*Watson E. Mills, Mercer Commentary on the New Testament, 1340
*Nancy McDarby, [https://books.google.com/books?id=i962jBEOJVYC&pg=PA349 The Collegeville Bible Handbook] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222162623/https://books.google.com/books?id=i962jBEOJVYC&pg=PA349 |date=22 December 2022 }}, 349
* Carol L. Meyers, Toni Craven, Ross Shepard Kraemer [https://books.google.com/books?id=NIMam563-fsC&pg=PA528 Women in scripture: a dictionary of named and unnamed women in the Hebrew Bible]{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, p. 528
*David M. Carr, Colleen M. Conway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dJerjvlxCHsC&pg=PA353An Introduction to the Bible: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222162619/https://books.google.com/books?id=dJerjvlxCHsC&pg=PA353An |date=22 December 2022 }}, 353
*Larry Joseph Kreitzer [https://books.google.com/books?id=VNQlTGRm-bEC&pg=PA61 Gospel images in fiction and film: on reversing the hermeneutical flow] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222162610/https://books.google.com/books?id=VNQlTGRm-bEC&pg=PA61 |date=22 December 2022 }}, 61
*By Mary Beard, John A. North, S. R. F. Price [https://books.google.com/books?id=2rtaTFYuM3QC&pg=PA283 Religions of Rome: A history] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222162613/https://books.google.com/books?id=2rtaTFYuM3QC&pg=PA283 |date=22 December 2022 }},
*David M. Rhoads, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4rGPq4fKncIC&pg=PA174 From every people and nation: the book of Revelation in intercultural perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222162614/https://books.google.com/books?id=4rGPq4fKncIC&pg=PA174 |date=22 December 2022 }}, 174
*Charles T. Chapman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qPAiFCpfNUEC&pg=PA114 The message of the book of Revelation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222162615/https://books.google.com/books?id=qPAiFCpfNUEC&pg=PA114 |date=22 December 2022 }}, 114
*Norman Cheadle, [https://books.google.com/books?id=u0Pxziu43BUC&pg=PA36 The ironic apocalypse in the novels of Leopoldo Marechal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222162620/https://books.google.com/books?id=u0Pxziu43BUC&pg=PA36 |date=22 December 2022 }}, 36
*Peter M. J. Stravinskas, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ihHMmu2_NFkC&pg=PA18 The Catholic answer book, Volume 1], 18
*Catherine Keller, God and power: counter-apocalyptic journeys, 59
*Brian K. Blount, Revelation: A Commentary, 346
*Frances Carey, The Apocalypse and the shape of things to come, 138
*Richard Dellamora, Postmodern apocalypse: theory and cultural practice at the end, 117
*A. N. Wilson, Paul: The Mind of the Apostle, 11
*Gerd Theissen, John Bowden, Fortress introduction to the New Testament, 166</ref> believe that "Babylon" is a metaphor for the pagan [[Roman Empire]] at the time it persecuted Christians, before the [[Edict of Milan]] in 313: perhaps specifically referencing some aspect of Rome's rule (brutality, greed, [[paganism]]). Although some scholars recognise that Babylon is a metaphor for Rome, they also claim that Babylon represents more than the Roman city of the first century. According to Lutheran scholar on Revelation Craig R. Koester "the whore [of Babylon] is Rome, yet more than Rome".<ref>Craig R. Koester, ''Revelation'', Anchor Yale Bible 38A (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014), 684.</ref> It "is the Roman imperial world, which in turn represents the world alienated from God".<ref>Craig R. Koester, ''Revelation'', Anchor Yale Bible 38A (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014), 506.</ref>

At that time in history, the ancient city of Babylon was no longer of any importance. E.g., [[Strabo]] wrote, "The greater part of Babylon is so deserted that one would not hesitate to say ... the Great City is a great desert."<ref>Strabo. Geography 16.1.5</ref>

Another theory is that "Babylon" refers to the [[Babylon (Egypt)|Babylon in Egypt]] that was an important [[Babylon Fortress|fortress city]] in Egypt, just north of today's Cairo and this, combined with the "greetings from Mark" (1 Peter 5:13), who may be [[Mark the Evangelist]], regarded as the founder of the [[Church of Alexandria]] (Egypt), has led some scholars to regard the First Peter epistle as having been written in Egypt.<ref>Manley, Gerald T. (1944). [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/1944-2_138.pdf Babylon on the Nile]. In: The Evangelical Quarterly 16.2 pp. 138-146;</ref>