Basic Orientation to the Letter
Who wrote the letter?
The letter presents itself as from Jude who is the brother of James and so also the brother of Jesus (Matthew 13.55 and Mark 6.3) but many scholars now question this and argue that it is from a later unknown writer although why he should choose to identify as Jude is far from clear. The author clearly knows Jewish literature which is not in our Old Testament. In the words of Davids - "Was Jude the author of Jude? God alone knows, but the arguments against his authorship do not have the type of historical data needed to establish them".
When was it written?
If it is indeed from Jude it probably dates from the late 50s or 60s AD but we don't know when Jude died (it could even have been as late as 90AD). Scholars rejecting Jude as author date it to after that in the first century and some think it should be dated after 100AD. One issue here is whether 2 Peter relies on Jude which would mean it has to be earlier than 2 Peter.
Introducing the Epistle of Jude
Biblical Theologians
Mark Alan Powell has resources based on his Introducing the New Testament (Baker 2009)
His page on Jude has various resources for students and teachers including the following PDFs:
Which Jude? Jude Confusion in the Bible and in the Church
Peter Davids on James, Peter and Jude were more important than they seem
Gene L. Green's "Introduction to Jude" from his Baker Exegetical Commentary (2008) on Jude and 2 Peter.
Peter David's "Introduction to Jude" from his Pillar New Testament Commentary (2006) on 2 Peter and Jude
Dr Thomas L. Constable's expository notes on Jude (2015 edition, 30pp) with references to various (mainly conservative) commentaries are available in HTML and as downloadable PDF.
Biblical Training Website
This website has a number of helpful introductory resources including
Dr Thomas Schreiner's New Testament Survey
2 Peter and Jude (43 mins)
Dr Craig Blomberg's Introduction to the New Testament
Jude and 2 Peter (54 mins)
Dr Bill Mounce's New Testament, Its Structure, Content and Theology
1 & 2 Peter, Jude (1 hr 5 mins) - transcript
Luther Seminary's Enter the Bible Website
This has resources on Jude by David Stewart including
Fulcrum Articles on Jude
- Week 5 – Reading 2 Peter and Jude
- Jude: Introduction to Jude
- Jude: Guide to Online Academic Resources
- Jude: Guide to Commentaries
This “author” stands for those providing the resources for Fulcrum’s Reading the NT project. If you wish to contribute suggestions please email [email protected].