Terrance Callan, «The Style of the Second Letter of Peter», Vol. 84 (2003) 202-224

Readers of the Second Letter of Peter have often commented on its style, usually in negative terms. This essay examines the style of 2 Pet more thoroughly than has been done heretofore, using Cicero’s discussion of style, and that of other ancient writers, as a framework. This examination shows that 2 Pet largely conforms to ancient canons of style and should be seen as an example of the grand Asian style. Recognition of this may help readers avoid unthinking assessment of 2 Pet’s style by standards not accepted by its author, and develop greater appreciation of its style in terms of its author’s own aims and standards.

sublimity, namely, asyndeton and repetition, as well as the trope periphrasis. Watson has also noted rhetorical question in 3,4, and polyptoton in many passages ⁶².

III. Asian Style

        More often than 2 Pet has been identified as an example of the grand style, it has been identified as an example of Asian rhetoric⁶³. The relationship between the two typologies of style, grand - middle - plain, and Attic - Asian - Rhodian is not clear. It is tempting to see them alternative names for the same thing: grand = Asian, middle = Rhodian, plain = Attic. However, since Cicero and Quintilian discuss both, but do not relate them in this way, there is little basis for this equation of the two. Most likely there are Attic, Asian and Rhodian versions of each of the grand, middle and plain styles.

        Unfortunately few examples of Asian style survive, and our understanding of it mainly derives from somewhat critical references to it. Following Cicero (in Brutus 325), Eduard Norden distinguished two kinds of Asianism — the refined and the bombastic. Norden presents Hegesias of Magnesia as an example of the former. His style was characterized by 1) replacement of the period with short, choppy sentences; 2) each of which had a marked rhythm; and 3) unusual usage, e.g., nonsensical metaphors and absurd paraphrases (cf. Cicero, Orator 230-31). Norden presents the Nemrud-Dagh inscription as an