The Genre, Composition and Hermeneutics of the Epistle of James
Overview
In The Genre, Composition and Hermeneutics of the Epistle of James, Luke L. Cheung examines the employment of the wisdom genre with a certain compositional structure, and the interpretation of the law through Jesus' tradition of the double love command by the author of the Epistle of James to serve his purpose in promoting perfection and warning against doubleness among the eschatologically renewed people of God in the Diaspora. In particular, he shows how the genre, composition and hermeneutics of James all contribute to the central pastoral concern of this epistle.
Top Highlights
“Gammie (1990:51; italic original) well defines paraenesis as ‘a form of address which not only commends, but actually enumerates precepts or maxims which pertain to moral aspiration and the regulation of human conduct.’” (Page 15)
“There is significant overlapping between the general characteristics of the sub-genre of paraenesis and wisdom instruction. They are both marked by imperatives and aphorisms. One of the most prominent features of James is the presence of a striking amount of imperatives, a total of 52 imperatives and 1 imperatival participle out of 108 verses (BibleWork’s syntactical count).” (Page 37)
“It is basically ‘a text which strings together admonitions of general ethical content.” (Page 13)
“Rather, James is concerned with the pursuit of perfection, with faith coming to its completion through works (of love” (Page 195)
“Ropes is right in seeing James as having close affinity with Jewish wisdom writings. Yet his designation of James as a diatribe is problematic.” (Page 8)
Product Details
- Title: The Genre, Composition and Hermeneutics of the Epistle of James
- Author: Luke L. Cheung
- Publisher: Paternoster Press
- Publication Date: 2003
- Pages: 372