| Summary: | 1 Peter 3:19 is traditionally the major scriptural support for the doctrine of Christ’s descent to the dead (<em>descensus</em>). Present scholarship, however, tends to detach 1 Peter 3:19 from the <em>descensus</em>. The dominant interpretation assumes that the text speaks of Christ’s ascent in proclaiming victory over the fallen angels, and that no association between 1 Peter 3:19 and the <em>descensus</em> existed before the third century. No previous study, however, has focused on how and why 1 Peter 3:19 came to be associated with the <em>descensus</em> in its early reception, nor what bearing the <em>descensus</em> could have on the text of 1 Peter 3:19 itself. Thus, this thesis fills this lacuna by studying 1 Peter’s early reception in relation to the <em>descensus</em> with Origen as the watershed. Chapter 1 introduces the state of scholarship on the relationship between 1 Peter 3:19 and the <em>descensus</em>, as well as the methodology used in this thesis. Chapter 2 begins with a brief survey of twenty early Christian sources which speak about the <em>descensus</em> from a variety of traditions outside 1 Peter, ranging retrospectively from third-century Origen to first-century Paul. Chapter 3 explores the possibility of a second-century reception of 1 Peter 3:19 in relation to the <em>descensus</em>. By analysing two second-century texts, the “Jeremiah logion” and the Gospel of Peter 41-42, I argue for a second-century reception of 1 Peter in relation to the <em>descensus</em> through an organic and dynamic memory of Peter associated with apocalyptic revelation. Chapter 4 discusses Clement’s and Origen’s receptions of 1 Peter 3:19 in relation to the <em>descensus</em>, arguing that both writers stretch 1 Peter 3:19 to the limit of its exegetical boundary. Chapter 5 explores the possible genesis of Clement’s and Origen’s interpretations of 1 Peter 3:19 in relation to the <em>descensus</em>. I argue that their interpretations of 1 Peter 3:19 are indebted to a kind of apocalyptic Petrine memory, which should be seen in line of the Enochic tradition situated within the broader Tour of Hell tradition. Chapter 6 concludes the whole thesis.
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