Professional Documents
Culture Documents
IF THE ISSUE OF GENRE were merely one of taxonomy, the fierce controversy and endless discussion which it engenders would not be worth the
trouble. While the system builder in the soul of the scholar might secretly
lament the loss, literary studies as a whole would surely benefit from the
elimination of one more futile debate. But the search for the appropriate
generic category is neither vain nor futile, for it is fundamentally concerned
with the pursuit of meaning. If, for example, we were to read the maxim of,
say, Jas 1:19 as a piece of traditional paraenesis regarding human conduct in
common situations, our response would not be the same as if we were to see
it as an epistolary exhortation to a gathered community. Hence, the effort
expended in identifying the genre of a work such as the Epistle of James must
be considered energy well spent, despite the disagreements which inevitably
emerge as an unhappy by-product.
The most influential voice in the early part of this century regarding the
genre of James' epistle was that of the Heidelberg scholar Martin Dibelius.
Inheriting a deep skepticism concerning the epistolary form of James' work
from his critical predecessorsalready W. M. L. de Wette voiced doubt "ob
diese Schrift als ein wirklicher Brief verfasst und versandt worden sei"1
Dibelius judged the opening salutation to have been artificially prefixed to
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101
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104
of the divine word, which must be "done" and not merely heard. In good
Deuteronomic fashion the "word" of 1:18 is now described as
21
, becoming even in 1:25. Once we have
properly observed the significance of the epistle's character as a letter to the
diaspora, these once puzzling terms assume a new significance. We need not
search long to discover that the dispersion of Israel was associated with
"slavery," from which divine liberation was characteristically expected (see,
e.g., Bar 4:32; 2 Mace 1:27; T. Iss. 6:2; T. Napht. 4:2; Mos. 3:14; Josephus
A J. 4.8.2 190; 4.8.46 313; Philo Praem. 164).22 For James, the community's
formative message was the law which would be written on the hearts of God's
people and associated with the anticipated ingathering of dispersed wanderers
from the servitude to which they were subjected.
II. Instructions to the Christian-Jewish Associations
Having illuminated the generic background of James' letter, we turn next
to the content of its epistolary instructions. While the letters to the Jewish
Diaspora mentioned above display a family resemblance in their implied
setting and covenantal motif, the specific content of the admonitions imparted
to the communities of the Diaspora was as varied as the occasions which pro
voked the respective compositionthe celebration of a festival, the impending
death of a revered prophet, or simply the author's apprehensions for the
continued purity of his scattered coreligionists. In the case of James' epistle,
the author's instructions represent neither the typical topoi of Jewish wisdom
literature nor the familiar motifs of early Christian paraenesis. Rather, a
peculiar principle of selection has been at work, highlighting communal issues
21
The internalization of the divine word may signify an intensive occupation with the
study of the Law (Isa 51:7; Ps 37:31; Josephus Ap. 2.18 178 [ . . .
]), or what is accomplished by a divine act (Jer 31:33; 1QH
4.10; also, judging from the use of the verb mn [uaVa nsmin rwVi], 4Q504 1-2 ii. 13, a document
best understood "in the context of a pre-Qumranic phenomenon," according to E. Chazon, "Is
Divrei Ha-MeDorot a Sectarian Prayer?" in The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research [ed.
D. Dimant and U. Rappaport; STDJ 10; Leiden: Brill, 1992] 17). Jas 1:21 falls in the latter
category. Note that the "circumcision of the heart" in Let. Barn. 9:1-8 is termed
in v. 9. While pagan authors were certainly familiar with the distinction
between written documents and internalized teaching (e.g., Plutarch Moralia 779C, 780C), there
is little in James* letter to suggest that he borrows the Stoic idea of innate Reason.
22
For a brief discussion of the use of motifs of slavery and freedom to depict the Deutero
nomic pattern, see S. Vollenweider, Freiheit als neue Schpfung (FRLANT 147; Gttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1989) 133-45. In the case of Josephus, however, L. H. Feldman ("The
Concept of Exile in Josephus," in Exile [ed. Scott], 172) notes that "Josephus clearly regarded
the exile as everlasting and never foresees an end to it."
See the insightful remark of L. T. Johnson ("The Social World of James: Literary
Analysis and Historical Reconstruction," in The Social World of the First Christians: Essays in
Honor of W. A. Meeks [ed. L. M. White and O. L. Yarbrough; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995] 195
n. 78), "The group is always being addressed in James even when individual cases are being
considered; the exhortation in the majority of ancient paraenetic texts is to the individual."
24
B. Reicke, Diakonie, Festfreude und Zehs in Verbindung mit der altchristlichen Agapenfeier (UU 1951/5; Uppsala: Lundequistska Bokhandeln, 1951) 320-47.
25
On the Greco-Roman associations, see P. Foucart, Des associations religieuses chez les
Grecs: Thiases, ranes, orgeons, avec le texte des inscriptions relatives ces associations (Paris:
Klincksieck, 1873); W. Liebenam, Zur Geschichte und Organisation des rmischen Vereinswesens
(Leipzig: Teubner, 1890); J.-P. Waltzing, Etude historique sur les corporations professionnelles
chez les Romains, depuis les origines jusqu' la chute de l'Empire d'Occident (4 vols.; Louvain:
Peeters, 1895-1900); F. Poland, Geschichte des griechischen Vereinswesens (Preisschriften . . .
von der Frstlich Jablonowskischen Gesellschaft zu Leipzig 38; Leipzig: Teubner, 1909); A. Boak,
"The Organization of Gilds [sic] in Greco-Roman Egypt," 68 (1937) 212-20; E. Ziebarth,
Das griechische Vereinswesen (reprint, Wiesbaden: Sandig, 1969; original, 1896); M. San Nicol,
gyptisches Vereinswesen zur Zeit der Ptolemer und Rmer (2 vols.; Mnchener Beitrge zur
Papyrusforschung und antiken Rechtsgeschichte 2; 2d ed.; Munich: Beck, 1972); J. S. Kloppenborg, "Collegia and Thiasoi: Issues in Function, Taxonomy and Membership," in Voluntary
Associations in the Graeco-Roman World (ed. J. S. Kloppenborg and S. G. Wilson; London:
Routledge, 1996) 16-30.
26
Note especially the evidence of Pliny Ep. 10.96. Cf. Origen Cels. 1.1; Tertullian Apologeticus 38-39. Regarding the Christian churches' closest organizational relatives, the Jewish
synagogues, Josephus (A.J. 14.10.8 214-16) records a letter of Julius Caesar likewise equating
the Jewish assemblies with . The epigraphic evidence for the structure of the Jewish
communities in the diaspora reveals administrative titles frequently parallel to those in pagan
associations (e.g., , ; cf. Poland, Geschichte des griechischen Vereins
wesens, 337-67; yet on the distinctives of Jewish models of leadership, see J. T. Burtchaell, From
Synagogue to Church: Public Services and Offices in the Earliest Christian Communities [Cam
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992] 265-67). Note the conclusion of E. M. Smallwood
(The Jews under Roman Rule, from Pompey to Diocletian: A Study in Political Relations
[SJLA 20; 2d ed.; Leiden: Brill, 1981] 133): "though the synagogues resembled collegia superficially
in holding regular meetings and in possessing communal funds, they differed radically from
them in other respects: their functions were wider than those of collegia, since they were respon
sible for the organization and administration of all aspects of the life of the community and not
for a single aspect, religious worship, alone." On the relationship between the early church and
108
If anyone during the meeting ( ) enters a fight (), let him pay
on the following day a fine of ten drachmai if he participated in it, and without fail
34
let him be (made to be) expelled after his fellow eranistai have cast a vote.
A. Raubitschek, "A New Attic Club (RANOS)," The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 9
(1981) 93-98.
35
M. Weinfeld, The Organizational Pattern and the Penal Code of the Qumran Sect: A
Comparison with Guilds and Religious Associations of the Hellenistic-Roman Period (NTOA
2; Fribourg: Editions universitaires; Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1986). Cf. also M. Klinghardt, "The Manual of Discipline in the Light of Statutes of Hellenistic Associations," in
Methods of Investigation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Khirbet Qumran Site: Present Realities
and Future Prospects (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 722; ed. . O. Wise et al.;
New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1994) 251-70; S. Walker-Ramisch, "Graeco-Roman
Voluntary Associations and the Damascus Document: A Sociological Analysis," in Voluntary Asso
ciations (ed. Kloppenborg and Wilson), 128-45. H. Bardtke ("Die Rechtsstellung der QumranGemeinde," TLZ 33 [1961] 93-104) was the first to draw attention to the similarities between the
organization of the Qumran sect and the pagan associations. Even in", one of the self-appellations
of the Qumran community, is best explained as a parallel to the Greek term used of
pagan associations (B. Dombrowski, "" in 1QS and : An Instance of Early Greek
and Jewish Synthesis," HTR 59 [1966] 293-307). For an additional example of a religious asso
ciation in the eastern Mediterranean, see the Palmyran inscription published by J. Teixidor, "Le
thiase de Blastor et.de Beelshamn d'aprs une inscription rcemment dcouverte Palmyre,"
CRAIBL (1981) 306-14.
36
This is Charlesworth's translation of 1QS 5.24-6.26 (E. Qimron and J. H. Charlesworth, "Rule of the Community," in The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts
with English Translations 1: Rule of the Community and Related Documents [Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project; ed. J. H. Charlesworth; Tbingen: Mohr (Siebeck);
Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994] 25-27).
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defined; rather, the author's primary purpose lay in the regulation of those
typical communal squabbles which were consistently a source of concern in
the ancient world.
III. Conclusion
Luke Johnson is correct, of course, in suggesting that the consideration
of the text as a "real letter" is dependent upon the judgment regarding the
authenticity of its authorial claim.38 But leaving this question aside for another day, we can reasonably conclude from the self-presentation of the text
that, regardless of the hand which held the reed, it was intended to be read
as a "covenantal letter to the Diaspora," offering consolation and instruction
in view of the hope of the expected restoration. Indeed, if our depiction of
the story implied in the composition of the Epistle of James is sound, we are
confronted not with a paraenetic letter addressed to a group of individual
persons but with an encyclical regulating matters of perpetual concern to
ancient voluntary associations. Its fundamental purpose is to warn the assembled Christian congregation not to commit the error of presumption against
God by assuming that their worship without obedience will impress the
Father of lights who has called them to a new existence as the first fruits of
the expected regeneration. Rather than being driven by the hybris which
assaults the honor of others and orders the life of the community without
deference to divine authority, the community is to be characterized by a
gentleness which restrains the tongue and reveres the poor. When the Epistle
of James is read in this manner, as a communal instruction to a gathered
congregation rather than as an ethic for individual believers, it will yield new
information on the internal dynamics of the first-century church.
Johnson, Letter of James, 24.
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