Author: Darian Lockett
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0567114740
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241
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Book Description
Arguing against restricting the meaning of purity language to the individual moral sphere (as many commentaries do), the central argument of Purity and Worldview in the Epistle of James is that purity language both articulates and constructs the worldview in James's epistle. Lockett offers a taxonomy of purity language, applied as a heuristic guide to understand the function of purity and pollution in the epistle. Through this analysis the study concludes that James is not calling for sectarian separation, but rather demonstrates a degree of cultural accommodation while calling forth specific socio-cultural boundaries between the readers and the world.
Author: A. Boyd Luter
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725260743
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 217
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Book Description
In this volume, A. Boyd Luter initially makes the case that the Letter of James was the first New Testament document and that it was written for a primarily Messianic Jewish audience in the Diaspora. Its early origin places James as the foundational Messianic Jewish Scripture of the new covenant era. That, however, is a drastically different take on the letter’s dating, audience, and purpose from the long-held supersessionist view in which Israel is replaced by the church. In the supersessionist understanding, James is one of the later New Testament books, originating supposedly at a time when it was already expected for the church to be symbolically “the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” And, since a common first impression of the letter is that its style is reflective of Old Testament wisdom literature, it was taken as dealing with practical issues of the Christian life through a staccato format much like Proverbs. Instead, through the elegant literary vehicle of an overarching inverted parallel structure, the Letter of James communicates its author’s approach to issues among his Messianic Jewish audience related to spiritual growth and purity, as well as putting away class-based favoritism and the relationship between faith and works.
Author: Jojan Jose
Publisher: Notion Press
ISBN: 1947349503
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225
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Book Description
This book is an explanation of the author’s investigation into James’ concept of God, using the historical-critical approach as a hermeneutical tool to find out how it was important to different realms of the early Messianic community and its significance to Christians today. The Epistle of James faced lot of struggles to be included in the New Testament. For various reasons, the book was not considered for early canonization. The main reason was the view that there were less theological aspects in the content of the book. Martin Luther described this book as “an epistle of straw.” Respectively, scholars like Martin Debelius, J. H. Ropes, E. J. Goodspeed and A. M. Hunter also underscore the nature of its relatively limited theology by highlighting other aspects of the Epistle of James. Therefore, this book attempts to investigate James’ theological concepts by looking into his use of the concept of God in the socio-political, religious and economic settings of the people in the text.
Author: Eric F. Mason
Publisher: SBL Press
ISBN: 0884143945
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 361
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Book Description
Foundational essays for students of New Testament epistles This accessible introduction to contemporary scholarship on the Epistle of James begins with chapters that consider possible sources and backgrounds used by the author of James, the genre and literary structure of the book, and its major theological themes. Building on this foundation, subsequent chapters examine James through social-scientific readings, perspectives of Latin American immigrants and the marginalized, and major recent developments in textual criticism. The final chapters in the volume address the relationship between the epistle and the historical James, reception of the epistle in the early church, and major Catholic and Protestant interpretations of the book in the Reformation era. The contributions in this volume distill a range of important issues for readers undertaking a serious study of this letter for the first time. Features An introduction to contemporary scholarship on this important but often-overlooked text Clear explanations of all technical terms and themes In-depth discussions of the importance of Jewish Scripture and interpretative traditions, Greco-Roman philosophy and Jewish wisdom motifs, and biblical perspectives on justice, wealth, and poverty
Author: James Riley Strange
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9781433108815
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
In The Moral World of James, James Riley Strange compares the moral system in the Epistle of James with other Greco-Roman and Judaic texts. The author of the epistle prescribed moral practices in a world in which other people, both pagan and Jewish, had long been expressing similar concerns, and more would continue to take up the task centuries after Christianity was well established in the Roman Empire. In this fresh and thick analysis, Strange's systemic comparison of texts (among them works of Plato, Plutarch, Epictetus, and Aelius Aristides, as well as Greek Magical Papyri, tractates of the Mishnah, and the Community Rule of the Dead Sea Scrolls) reveals how James's vision of a distinctive way of community life was both part of and distinct from the moral and religious systems among which it emerged.
Author: Alicia J. Batten
Publisher: Paulist Press
ISBN: 0809146207
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 121
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Book Description
The past thirty years have witnessed a dramatic increase in interest in the Letter of James. This book provides a detailed survey of the most important scholarly opinions being considered today, including theories of authorship. The author thoroughly examines essential themes found in James, such as a critique of wealth, testing and trials, exhortation to receive wisdom from above, and apocalyptic tendencies. The author also discusses the ongoing debate about whether the text had any connection with the Pauline tradition. This book sheds light, not only on the content, structure, and rhetoric of the letter itself, but also on the development and diversity of ancient Judaisms and Christianities. Book jacket.
Author: Robert J. Foster
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161532634
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268
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Book Description
"What was the function of the four characters from Jewish history and tradition in the Letter of James? Robert J. Foster analyses James' use of these characters and argues that despite each of them being tested to the extreme they all remained wholly-committed to God"--
Author: Margaret Aymer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350008842
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 113
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Book Description
In this guide Margaret Aymer introduces the letter of James, countering arguments that it is of limited theological value and significance for early Christianity. Aymer focuses on James' theology of God's divine singularity and immutability, and of God's relationship to the community as father and benefactor. These are theological foundations for its emphasis on community actions of belief, humility and mutual care. Aymer introduces and examines the letter's stand against empire, not least in regard to wealth. Divine power is envisioned as an alternative power to that of the Romans, though in some respects it can seem equally brutal. Aymer concludes by focusing on those addressed by James's homily, the exiles in diaspora. Engaging the psychology of migration, she unpacks the migrant strategy underlying James's call to living 'unstained'. Finally, Aymer encourages student to ask what it might mean now for twenty-first-century people to take seriously a separatist migrant discourse not only as an interesting ancient writing but as a scripture, a lens through which its readers can glimpse the possibilities for how lives are to be lived, and how contemporary worlds can be interpreted and engaged?
Author: John Paul Heil
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1621893723
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 226
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Book Description
This book proposes a new and comprehensive chiastic structure as well as a new unifying theme for the Letter of James. In accord with this structure that organizes its oral performance, the words "worship to live by" express what the letter as a whole is exhorting its audience to adopt. "Worship" includes not only liturgical worship but also the ethical behavior that complements it, so that the result is a holistic way of worshiping God. And the words "to live by" embrace the worshipful conduct by which to live out presently one's birth to a new life as a believer before the final coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with a view to the future eternal life to be granted at the last judgment as the outcome of such worship. In short, the Letter of James urges its audience to practice the worship to live by now in order to live eternally.
Author: J. Alec Motyer
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830825118
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 252
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Book Description
The apostle James addressed his readers directly and pointedly, using vivid images from ordinary life and attention-gripping statements. In this revised BST volume, J. Alec Motyer's rich exposition brings James's letter to life for today's readers, drawing out memorable themes such as the link between enduring trials and maturity, the implications of careless and evil words, the need for purity, and more.
