So Much for Straw || A Blog about the Epistle of James

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently read Margaret Mitchell’s essay “The Letter of James as a Document of Paulinism” in Reading James With New Eyes, edited by and Kloppenborg

The Main Idea
Mitchell pushes back against recent scholarship that “reads the Epistle of James on its own terms” and, as a result, ignores any possible relationship to Pauline thought. This approach is an academic cop-out that assumes no relationship rather than proving its absence

Not only was James aware of a corpus Paulinum, says Mitchell, but his writing actually emerged from within Pauline tradition as a “compromise document which has as one of its purposes reconciling ‘Paul with Paul’ and ‘Paul with the pillars’” (79).

The support
Mitchell then builds a characteristically thorough and detailed case that the author of James knew Galatians, Romans and 1 Corinthians and sought to rectify some seemingly contradictory thinking, especially between Galatians and 1 Corinthians.

Additionally, she provides testimony from early witnesses, John Chrysostom in particular, that reconciling Paul with Paul was of interest to many other preachers/teachers.

The takeaway
Mitchell’s argument represents the zenith, and probably the downswing, of the James vs. Paul pendulum as she offers a balanced and mediating viewpoint of the literary context of earliest Christianity. Responsible scholars can no longer ignore the questions of relationship between James and Paul, as Mitchell has shed light upon a plausible understanding the situation.

In addition, the essay is filled with fascinating linguistic parallels between James and Paul that deserve attention from student of the Epistle of James.

New Testatmanet Perspectives has posted an interview with Darian Lockett, author of Purity and Worldview in the Epistle of James. Lockett offers some interesting insight into his personal journey as well as into his approach to James.

Craig Blomberg has posted a list on Zondervan’s Koinania blog about his top seven non-commentary books on James this decade. See the post here.

Update: view Dr. Blomberg’s response in the comment section of the link above.

Of the 7 books, I’ve read number 6 and number 4.

#6 Robert L. Webb and John S. Kloppenborg, eds., Reading James with New Eyes: Methodological Reassessments of the Letter of James is a collection of essays representing works emerging from SBL’s emphasis on new methodological approaches to James (e.g. not historical-critical).

Each essay provides a fascinating treatment of James, and I recommend it as a helpful introduction to recent scholarship on the epistle.

#4 David H. Edgar’s Has God Not Chosen the Poor? The Social Setting of the Epistle of James, which is a revision of his 1996 dissertation at the University of Dublin.

However, Blomberg’s summary appears inaccurate. He states that Edgar’s thesis claims that James was written “to encourage the poor Jewish-Christian tenant farmers persecuted by their rich, non-Christian landlords.” After working through the monograph, however, I can’t say I came across any such reference.

Edgar uses a socio-rhetorical method to discern the identity of the πτωχοι that James refers to on several occasions. Rather than tenant-farmers, Edgar claims that these poor ones are actually “wandering radicals” that depend on local communities for support as they travel the land proclaiming the word of God (see the conclusion in 3.4). The community to which James writes, however, tends to favor wealthy patrons over these wandering radicals.

I will post a more thorough summary of Edgar’s work soon.

“Therefore, St. James’ epistle is really and epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it.” (from Selected Writings of Martin Luther, ed. Theodore G. Tappert, 2007).

Many years have passed since Luther’s first translation in 1522, but his infamous derision of James lives on. It’s as if it is impossible to write anything about James without tipping the cap to Luther (and I acknowledge that this post perpetuates this trend).

However, the past several decades have seen a revived interest in scholarship on James as scholars probe this undermined work.

This blog represents a bit of my contribution to this effort as I begin to orientate myself to the world of James. James. Though no seems quite sure of its exact makeup, it appears that James consists of much more than straw alone.