Comparison of Humans to Animals in 2 Peter 2,10b-22 113 from The Story of Ahikar 8.15/18 to describe humans’ return to circumstances from which they have been rescued as 2 Peter does in 2,22. Such negative comparison of humans to animals can be rather dangerous. Richard Sorabji has shown in detail how the idea that animals are irrational supported the conclusion that humans could make any use of animals they chose (41). Comparing humans to animals might support a similar conclusion about those humans. The author of 2 Peter is certainly not drawing such conclusions himself, and his comparison of humans to animals is nuanced and complex. However, his comparison of his opponents to animals could provide the foundation for such a conclusion by others (42). The Athenaeum of Ohio Terrance CALLAN 6616 Beechmont Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45230 SUMMARY A striking feature of 2 Peter 2,10b-22 is the author’s multiple references to similarities and differences between humans and animals. This essay illuminates this aspect of 2 Peter 2,10b-22 by investigating comparison of humans to animals by writers older than, and (roughly) contemporary with, 2 Peter. Comparison of humans to animals is very common in the ancient world. Such comparison can be neutral, positive, or negative. 2 Peter’s comparison of humans with animals is of this last kind. Although 2 Peter’s negative comparison of humans to animals is generally similar to comparisons made by others, the specific ways 2 Peter compares them are unique. (41) SORABJI, Animal Minds, 107-219. (42) This essay is scheduled to be published in R.L. WEBB – D.F. WATSON (eds.), Reading Second Peter with New Eyes (Library of New Testament Studies; London). Such a reading of 2 Peter can be seen in Robert Paul Seesengood’s paper, “‘Irrational Animals, Creatures of Instinct, Bred to Be Caught and Killed’: Hybridity, Alterity and Name-Calling in 2 Peter 2”, presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.