The Elect and the Holy: An Exegetical Examination of 1 Peter 2:4-10 and the Phrase 'basileion hierateuma'

by J.H. Elliott

To avoid these pitfalls [of unsupported presuppositions] and the temptation of accommodating the statements of 1 Peter 2:4-10 to pre-conceived ideas concerning a priesthood of the Church, it would seem advisable-if not imperative-that a study of these verses begin not with a general treatment of such subjects as 'sacrifice' or 'Jewish priesthood' or 'ministry and office in the Early Church' but rather with this text alone. Comparison with other NT statements would be made only after the particular nuance of this section had been determined. In this process attention would be concentrated primarily upon the context of 1 Peter, and the specific import of this text, and the peculiar rather than the common characteristics, would be spotlighted. -from the Introduction The form and content of 1 Peter 2:4-10 reveal that this section was an attempt to describe via the motif of 'election' the character and responsibility of the eschatological People of God, her bond with Jesus Christ, her infusion with the Spirit, her holiness, and her task of witness through the holy life and the proclamation of the saving deeds of God. -from Summaries and Conclusions

Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Sir John Huxtable Elliott, FBA, was an English historian, Regius Professor Emeritus at the University of Oxford and Honorary Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford and Trinity College, Cambridge. He published under the name J.H. Elliott.

Elliott was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was an assistant lecturer at Cambridge University from 1957 to 1962 and Lecturer in History from 1962 until 1967, and was subsequently Professor of History at King's College, London between 1968 and 1973. In 1972 he was elected to the Fellowship of the British Academy. Elliott was Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey from 1973 to 1990, and was Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford between 1990 and 1997.

He held honorary doctorates from the Autonomous University of Madrid (1983), the universities Genoa (1992), Portsmouth (1993), Barcelona (1994), Warwick (1995), Brown University (1996), Valencia (1998), Lleida (1999), Complutense University of Madrid (2003), College of William & Mary (2005), London (2007), Charles III University of Madrid (2008), Seville (2011), Alcalá (2012), and Cambridge (2013). Elliott is a Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, of whose Founding Council he was also a member.

Elliott was knighted in the 1994 New Year Honours for services to history and was decorated with Commander of Isabella the Catholic in 1987, the Grand Cross of Alfonso the Wise in 1988, the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic in 1996, and the Creu de Sant Jordi in 1999. An eminent Hispanist, he was given the Prince of Asturias Prize in 1996 for his contributions to the Social sciences. For his outstanding contributions to the history of Spain and the Spanish Empire in the early modern period, Elliott was awarded the Balzan Prize for History, 1500–1800, in 1999.

His studies of the Iberian Peninsula and the Spanish Empire helped the understanding of the problems confronting 16th- and 17th-century Spain, and the attempts of its leaders to avert its decline. He is considered, together with Raymond Carr and Angus Mackay, a major figure in developing Spanish historiography.

Reviews

[Clark Fobes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly technical, but incredibly satisfying in biblical accuracy and academic rigor. Though Elliott does not give much applicational outworking, he poses his thesis within the application of the use of the popular phrase, "the priesthood of all believers" (Introduction). His conclusions lend themselves to incredibly precise application for the reader to continue to ruminate on his or her own.