Publishing House Mitropolia Olteniei, 2020, ISBN 978-606-731-079-5
The work entitled The Second Catholic Epistle of Saint Peter: Introduction, Translation, Commentary and Theology (Mitropolia Olteniei Publishing House, 2020) is a detailed analysis of the “spiritual testament” of St. Peter the Apostle, a didactic writing that has very close links with both the first Petrine Epistle, as well as the Epistle of St. Jude. The theology of this New Testament book is outlined especially around the Christological, Soteriological and Eschatological ideas, developed through the frequent exhortations addressed to the Christian readers. No other part of the New Testament states so clearly the Inspiration of the Holy Scripture (1:20-21). Also, here we can find the first mention of an already existing collection of Pauline correspondence, seen as an integral part of the Scriptural Canon (cf. 3:15-16). Finally, in addition to its Christological-Soteriological teaching, which can be summarized in the unique expression “partakers of the divine nature” (1:4), the Epistle addresses one of the fundamental themes of New Testament literature: The Parousia (the Second Coming of the Lord). The foreword of the book is written by Rev. PhD Prof. Constantin Preda, from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest, who, in addition to recommending his reading to students, servants of the Holy Altars and all readers of the Holy Scripture, appreciates the scientific nature of the work, which stands out for the accuracy of translations and linguistic analysis, the orthodox hermeneutic tradition, the power of synthesis of the previous commentaries and studies, an exhaustive bibliography and a clear note of originality. Thus, the present Commentary covers an existing gap in the specialized theological literature and is among the newer concerns of biblical scholars, paying attention to the enhancement of the corpus of the Catholic Epistles. The volume is divided into four essential parts, as announced in the subtitle of the writing: an Isagogical Part that reaches the main points related to the authorship, authority, structure and dating of the writing, the actual Translation of the Petrine text (highlighted by the bilingual column that also includes the standard Greek text), a more consistent part embodied in a very elaborate Commentary on the text itself (verse by verse, we could even say word for word), constantly related to the Greek original and also a final part that emphasizes the main Theological Themes of the letter (Triadology, Eschatology Angelology, Soteriology, the Inspiration of the Holy Scripture, etc.).