Buch, Englisch, 353 Seiten, gebunden, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 744 g
Reading the Letter of James in Light of Ancient Literary Criticism
Buch, Englisch, 353 Seiten, gebunden, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 744 g
Reihe: Studia Aarhusiana Neotestamentica
ISBN: 978-3-525-56484-4
Verlag: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
The author of James presents a speech-in-character in the shape of a letter to establish his ethos (Ch. 2), employing vocabulary and style to signal his education implicitly (Ch. 3 & 4) and includes himself in the categories of sage, teacher and exegete explicitly (Ch. 5). From this standpoint, the author can address the rich as equals, rebuke them and admonish both rich and poor to receive God’s wisdom (Ch. 6).
The comparison with ancient literary criticism shows that the categories at play are the same. The insight that language and ethos are inseparable categories in antiquity provides us with renewed ways to interpret the literary production of early Christianity. Both James and ‘the Classicists’ present a competing epic in the context of the early imperium, the former with an Israelite piety that is superior to contemporary economic and moral categories and the latter with the supremacy of Greek culture as a foundation for Rome.
The letter of James emerges as a document that builds educational ethos as a balance against the rich and powerful, a strategy that calls for a revision of both its rhetoric and socio-economic situation.