Temple, Exile and Identity in 1 Peter will generate a fresh and perhaps even a new understanding of the main themes of 1 Peter, which include questions of identity, suffering, hope, holiness, and judgment. Mbuvi explores the temple imagery in the epistle of 1 Peter and focuses on the use of cultic language in constituting the new identity of the Petrine community. He contends that temple imagery in 1 Peter undergirds the entire epistle.

1 Peter directly connects the community's identity with the temple by describing it in terms reminiscent of the temple structure. He calls the...