A Spirituality of Perfection: Faith in Action in the Letter of James

A Spirituality of Perfection: Faith in Action in the Letter of James Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press, 1999. Pp. vii + 192. Paper. $17.95. ISBN 0814658954. Edgar, David Hutchinson Has God Not Chosen the Poor? The Social Setting of the Epistle of James Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 206 Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. Pp. 261. Cloth. $110.00. ISBN 1841271829. Jackson-McCabe, Matt A. Logos and Law in the Letter of James: The Law of Nature, the Law of Moses and the Law of Freedom Supplements to Novum Testamentum 100 Leiden: Brill, 2001. Pp. xiii + 281. Cloth, $153.00. ISBN 9004119949. Matthias Konradt University of Bonn 44869 Bochum, Germany Whereas only a few monographs on the epistle of James appeared in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the situation has radically changed in the last decade. At the same time, the focus has shifted. Instead of the traditional concentration on 2:1426 and on the comparison with Paul, the perspective has opened up considerably, and the individual theological significance of James and its themes has been more strongly recognized. In opposition to the classical, derogatory assessment of Martin Luther, the letter has therefore undergone a thorough rehabilitation most recently. In the present review, three newly published monographs documenting these new interests will be presented. [Full Review]

A Spirituality of Perfection: Faith in Action in the Letter of James Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press, 1999. Pp. vii + 192. Paper. $17.95. ISBN 0814658954. Edgar, David Hutchinson Has God Not Chosen the Poor? The Social Setting of the Epistle of James Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 206 Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. Pp. 261. Cloth. $110.00. ISBN 1841271829. Jackson-McCabe, Matt A. Logos and Law in the Letter of James: The Law of Nature, the Law of Moses and the Law of Freedom Supplements to Novum Testamentum 100 Leiden: Brill, 2001. Pp. xiii + 281. Cloth, $153.00. ISBN 9004119949. Matthias Konradt University of Bonn 44869 Bochum, Germany Whereas only a few monographs on the epistle of James appeared in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the situation has radically changed in the last decade. At the same time, the focus has shifted. Instead of the traditional concentration on 2:1426 and on the comparison with Paul, the perspective has opened up considerably, and the individual theological significance of James and its themes has been more strongly recognized. In opposition to the classical, derogatory assessment of Martin Luther, the letter has therefore undergone a thorough rehabilitation most recently. In the present review, three newly published monographs documenting these new interests will be presented. [Full Review]

A Spirituality of Perfection: Faith in Action in the Letter of James Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press, 1999. Pp. vii + 192. Paper. $17.95. ISBN 0814658954. Edgar, David Hutchinson Has God Not Chosen the Poor? The Social Setting of the Epistle of James Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 206 Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. Pp. 261. Cloth. $110.00. ISBN 1841271829. Jackson-McCabe, Matt A. Logos and Law in the Letter of James: The Law of Nature, the Law of Moses and the Law of Freedom Supplements to Novum Testamentum 100 Leiden: Brill, 2001. Pp. xiii + 281. Cloth, $153.00. ISBN 9004119949. Matthias Konradt University of Bonn 44869 Bochum, Germany Whereas only a few monographs on the epistle of James appeared in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the situation has radically changed in the last decade. At the same time, the focus has shifted. Instead of the traditional concentration on 2:1426 and on the comparison with Paul, the perspective has opened up considerably, and the individual theological significance of James and its themes has been more strongly recognized. In opposition to the classical, derogatory assessment of Martin Luther, the letter has therefore undergone a thorough rehabilitation most recently. In the present review, three newly published monographs documenting these new interests will be presented. [Full Review]

Has God Not Chosen the Poor? The Social Setting of the Epistle of JamesJournal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 206Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. Pp. 261. Cloth. $85.00, ISBN 1841271829.Matt A. Jackson-McCabeNiagara UniversityLewiston, NY 14109The last two decades have witnessed the steady decline of Dibelius’s vastly influentialreading of James as an eclectic collection of admonitions, lacking anything more than asuperficial “catchword” continuity and devoid of any coherent theology or generativesocial situation (James: A Commentary on the Epistle of James [11th ed.; revised byH. Greeven; trans. by M. A. Williams; Hermeneia; Philadelphia, Fortress, 1975]). In thisrevision of his doctoral thesis under Seán Freyne at the University of Dublin (1996),Hutchinson Edgar seeks to reexamine particularly this last issue through a rhetorical andsocial-historical analysis of the letter.The first chapter begins with a critical survey of the variety of starting points chosen inpast studies of James. The integrative approach of rhetorical analysis, particularly asexemplified by W. H. Wuellner (“Der Jakobusbrief im Licht der Rhetorik undTextpragmatik,” LB 43 [1978]: 5–66), is deemed the most potentially productive. Theremainder of the chapter delineates the specific sociolinguistic and rhetoricalpresuppositions that will inform Hutchinson Edgar’s analysis. Language, he states, mustbe understood above all functionally, as “a sign-system to express and exchangemeanings between people” (39). As such exchanges are both carried out in andexpressive of specific social and cultural settings, a clear understanding of the sociallyconstructed reality in which a given text was produced is of critical importance forunderstanding the meanings conveyed. In the case of an ancient text such as James, then,social-scientific studies of early Christianity are especially useful. Specifically,Hutchinson Edgar’s analysis is marked by a heavy dependence on the work of GerdTheissen (esp. Social Reality and the Early Christians [Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1992])and various studies by Bruce Malina.The second and third chapters examine the way the text of James constructs therelationship between the participants in the exchange that it, as letter, represents. [Full Review]

Logos and Law in the Letter of James: The Law of Nature, the Law of Moses and the Law of Freedom Supplements to Novum Testamentum 100 Leiden: Brill, 2001. Pp. xiii + 281, Cloth, $100.00, ISBN 9004119949. Joel B Green Asbury Theological Seminary Wilmore, KY 40390-1199 In the not-so-distant past, it was a common and largely justifiable complaint that the second letter collection within the New Testament, the General Epistles, included the orphaned children of New Testament scholarship. The appearance of several dissertations and monographs on these documents in recent years has begun to address this lacuna. For a sign of the health of this fresh interest we need look no further than to the publication of this revision of an important dissertation submitted at the University of Chicago in 1998. This well-crafted study is marked by clarity of argumentation, salutary attention to detail, and exegetical acumen. That almost three hundred pages could be devoted to a single phrase in the Letter of James, “the implanted logos that is able to save your souls” (1:21), is perhaps evidence enough that this is a study concerned especially with historical background, but this should not cause us to overlook the care Jackson-McCabe has taken in attempting to weave his findings concerning “the implanted logos” into the cloth of the letter read as a whole. Stated briefly, arguing against almost the whole of the history of interpretation, Jackson-McCabe has it that James’s use of the phrase “the implanted word” derives from a Stoic theory of human reason, even if that theory has undergone adaptation within the historical and theological horizons of Jewish and Christian tradition. [Full Review]

A Spirituality of Perfection: Faith in Action in the Letter of James Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1999. Pp. viii + 192, Paperback, $17.95, ISBN 0814658954. Christopher Bowman Memorial Church of the Brethren Martinsburg, PA 16662 With an engaging, pastoral and scholarly voice, Patrick Hartin appeals both to ecclesial and academic worlds. The helpful combination is not by chance. The style of his examination of James reflects the nature of the letter itself. This enigmatic letter is presented as a unified and generative combination of wisdom tradition’s scholarship and a pastoral concern for the community of faith. Then he combines these two elements in his exploration of the overarching principle of “perfection” which weaves together the major themes of the book. Hartin understands the letter’s audience designation, “the twelve tribes of the Dispersion” (1:1), as literal (believers outside the physical boundaries of Palestine) unlike Martin Dibelius, Timothy Cargal, and Robert Wall, for example, who see the title as metaphorical (“believers outside the boundaries of truth”). Therefore, the purpose of the letter is to encourage a community of believers in their faith as members of the reconstructed covenant community. James’ community is not seen by Hartin as literally withdrawing, Qumran-like, from society. Yet James is calling the community to metaphorically withdraw from the values and motives of this world. James provides “instructions and values [which] are countercultural” and which set believers apart from the existing social order. Thus Hartin’s quote of Leo G. [Full Review]

A Spirituality of Perfection: Faith in Action in the Letter of James Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1999. Pp. vii + 192, Paperback, $17.95, ISBN 0814658954. Christopher Bowman Memorial Church of the Brethren Martinsburg, PA 16662 With an engaging, pastoral and scholarly voice, Patrick Hartin appeals both to ecclesial and academic worlds. The helpful combination is not by chance. The style of his examination of James reflects the nature of the letter itself. This enigmatic letter is presented as a unified and generative combination of wisdom tradition’s scholarship and a pastoral concern for the community of faith. Then he combines these two elements in his exploration of the overarching principle of “perfection” which weaves together the major themes of the book. Hartin understands the letter’s audience designation, “the twelve tribes of the Dispersion” (1:1), as literal (believers outside the physical boundaries of Palestine) unlike Martin Dibelius, Timothy Cargal, and Robert Wall, for example, who see the title as metaphorical (“believers outside the boundaries of truth”). Therefore, the purpose of the letter is to encourage a community of believers in their faith as members of the reconstructed covenant community. James’ community is not seen by Hartin as literally withdrawing, Qumran-like, from society. Yet James is calling the community to metaphorically withdraw from the values and motives of this world. James provides “instructions and values [which] are countercultural” and which set believers apart from the existing social order. Thus Hartin’s quote of Leo G. [Full Review]