In most every listing of Jesus' disciples, Peter's name is first. His influence in the early church was enormous and universally acknowledged. By virtue of his position, he was easily the most powerful figure in the Christian community.
The first epistle of Peter was written to a group of Christians living in Asia Minor near modern day Turkey. It was written to encourage them during a period of great religious persecution.
Christians were targets of attack mainly because they did not participate in pagan religious practices. Since they were the ones who abandoned the so-called gods of the people, Christians were blamed for everything from natural disasters to economic downturns. They were even more vulnerable because they were often strangers in a city, having been driven out of other cities by persecution. These early Christians often had little security, low social status (some were even slaves) and had little recourse to government protection.
There is a lot of debate about who wrote these books. Early church tradition affirms that the apostle Peter wrote these letters sometime after 67 AD. Critics argue that the vocabulary and literary style could not have been Peter's.
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