This book explores 1 Peter against the backdrop of apocalyptic thought within early Judaism and Christianity, especially the concept of messianic woes (an expectation that a period of suffering and tribulation would preface the coming of the Messiah). It focuses upon 1 Peter's most eschatologically charged passage, 4:12-19, and argues that the messianic woes pattern shapes both this pericope as well as the book as a whole.