The Epistle of James in Vaticanus
I've previously posted links to images of the Epistle of James in
Sinaiticus and
Alexandrinus, along with a
few papyri and the
miniscule text, 676. I have now been able to get my hands on some black and white images of Vaticanus, taken from the
1999 edition produced by the
Instituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato in Rome. Below is the breakdown of which verses of James are present in which column of each page. Links to the images of each page are found on the far left:
| Page | Column I | Column II | Column III |
| 1426 | 1:1-11 | 1:11-19 | 1:19-27 |
| 1427 | 1:27-2:8 | 2:8-18 | 2:18-3:1 |
| 1428 | 3:1-8 | 3:8-17 | 3:17-4:8 |
| 1429 | 4:8-16 | 4:16-5:8 | 5:8-16 |
| 1430 | 5:16-20 |
|
|
Labels: Epistle_of_James, manuscripts
Latest Expository Times on James
The latest
Expository Times is out, containing two small articles and one review pertinent to the Epistle of James. Marilyn McCord Adams challenges Luther's critique of James in "Faith and Works or, How James is a Lutheran!" (pp. 462-464 /
PDF). Donald McCorkindale presents a great set of children's activities/lessons taken from the Epistle in "Children’s Ministry: Thoughts with James" (pp. 465-466 /
PDF). Paul Foster in his book review, "Studies on James" (pp. 481 /
PDF) reviews the collection of essays edited by B. Chilton & C. Evans,
The Missionsof James, Peter and Paul: Tensions in Early Christianity (NovTSupp 115; Leiden: Brill, 2005).
NOTE: PDF links above are available only with personal or institutional subscription.
Thanks to
Michael Pahl for the heads-up.
Labels: Epistle_of_James, resources
J. B. Lightfoot's essay, "The Brethren of the Lord"
J. B. Lightfoot wrote a seminal essay titled "The Brethren of the Lord" in his 19th c. commentary on Galatians. The text of this valuable writing is available at
philologos.org. This essay contains an excellent summary of the various options regarding the familial relationship between Jesus and his brothers (including James). It discusses the early evidence, including the opinions of the Church Fathers. For the most part, the scanned text looks great, but the Greek text does not display correctly. Check it out here:
http://philologos.org/__eb-jbl/brethren.htm.
Labels: historical_james
"The Comforter has Come"
James Tabor
posts on James the Just again. This time, in addition to stating that James the Just is none other than the disciple whom Jesus loved in the Gospel of John (
see also here &
here), but James is also the
paraclete:
I have wondered whether the original idea now embedded in latter part of the gospel of John, about the “Comforter” coming, was originally referring to be James. The Greek word is Paraklete and refers to one who represents or advocates. Later Christians personified this one as the “Holy Spirit” but in the various passages found in the Gospel of John “he” is spoken of in a very personal way, in the masculine gender, very much as one would speak of a person. Jesus says of this one that he will be “sent in my name,” and that he will be a Teacher who will remind the community of all that Jesus has taught them. The Ebionites had this idea of the “Christ Spirit” that “hastened through the ages” and rested upon various ones in a successive way. In other words, the spirit of Truth, that was passed on from John to Jesus, was now being passed on from Jesus to James. Jesus tells them that this one “abides with” them and will be “among” them. This one will “not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
I appreciate Tabor's desire to highlight James the Just as a major player in nascent Christianity, but this seems like a stretch. Then again, he does preface his remarks saying, "I have wondered..." and labels his post "Late Night Speculations..."
Labels: controversy
"James the Just in History and Tradition" in Currents in Biblical Research
The
latest edition of
Currents in Biblical Research contains the first of a two part article on James the Just:
Matti Myllykoski, "James the Just in History and Tradition: Perspectives of Past and Present Scholarship (Part I)" Currents in Biblical Research 5 (2006): 73-122.
The article is
available online with a subscription. I look forward to reading it. The abstract is as follows:
James the Just, the brother of Jesus, is known from the New Testament as the chief apostle of the Torah-obedient Christians. Up to the last quarter of the twentieth century, Jewish Christianity was regarded as an unimportant branch of the early Christian movement. Correspondingly, there was remarkably little interest in James. However, in the past two decades, while early Christianity has been studied as a form of Judaism, the literature on James has grown considerably. Now some scholars tend to assume that James was a loyal follower of his brother right from the beginning, and that his leadership in the church was stronger than traditionally has been assumed. Fresh studies on Acts 15 and Galatians 2 have opened new questions about the Christian Judaism of James and social formation of the community which he led. Part II of this article, to be published in a later issue of Currents, will treat the rest of the James tradition—James’s ritual purity, martyrdom and succession, and his role in the Gnostic writings and later Christian evidence. It will conclude with reflections concerning James and earliest Jewish-Christian theology.
Labels: historical_james, resources
Bono the Just + James 1:27
Tyler Williams at Codex recently
posted Bill Hybel's recent interview with Bono of U2. Be sure to check it out.
I'm relatively late in the game as a fan of U2. In my days as a "Christian-music-only-fundie" I shunned the group, but they finally won me over while at Seminary. I am continually impressed with Bono's concern for the plight of the poor. While "Bono the Just" is certainly no ascetic (he is after all, a rock star), his concern for the poor resonates loudly with a major theme of the Epistle of James. This care for the poor is integrated in James' view of Christian faith(fulness), as is illustrated in 1:27, in regard to care for widows and orphans:
| θρησκεία καθαρὰ καὶ ἀμίαντος παρὰ τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ αὕτη ἐστίν, ἐπισκέπτεσθαι ὀρφανοὺς καὶ χήρας ἐν τῇ θλίψει αὐτῶν, ἄσπιλον ἑαυτὸν τηρεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ κόσμου. | Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (Darby) | Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (NIV) |
I've provided Darby's translation along with the NIV to illustrate the tendency to separate sanctification from social concern.
Sean McDonough, of
Gordon-Conwell once noted in a lecture the absence of καί between the phrases ἐπισκέπτεσθαι ὀρφανοὺς καὶ χήρας ἐν τῇ θλίψει αὐτῶν "to visit orphans and widows in their affliction" and ἄσπιλον ἑαυτὸν τηρεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ κόσμου* "to keep oneself unspotted from the world." Interestingly enough, the NIV and every major English translation inserts an "and" in between the two phrases.** Only Darby's translation reflects the absence of a conjunction. While the lack of the conjunction in Greek does not necessitate a lack of a conjunction in English,*** this seems to be a case where a more "wooden" translation would have better communicated the "flavor" of the text. Without the "and," care for widows and orphans is more closely connected to keeping oneself clean of worldly influences. With the "and" inserted it seems easier to conclude that if I have kept myself "unsoiled" and "sanctified" then I at least have half of the game down. Without the "and,"
at least the two aspects of "pure religion" are more closely related and interconnected, so that it is an "all or nothing" deal (a concept that would resonate with James' condemnation of "double mindeness" [1:8; 4:8]).
At most, James is saying that one keeps oneself unspotted from this world primarily by taking care of the vulnerable. I will leave this up to the grammarians to decide. In the meantime, I'm going to brush up on asyndeton.
*
P47 has ὑπερασηίζειν αὐτου̂ς, “to protect them,” while some miniscules (614, 1505) have the plural, ἀσπίλους ἑαυτοὺς τηρει̂τε.
** Based on a comparison of all English versions in BibleWorks 7.0. The ASV, ERV, KJV, NAS, RWB and WEB do have the "and" marked in some way to indicate that the conjunction is not present in the Greek. All other English translations represented in BibleWorks simply include "and."
*** Actually, Mayor suggests that asyndeton in this case serves antithetically, which would imply the translation: "to look after orphans and widows in their distress, but to keep onself from being poluted by the world" (Mayor, ccxxvi; 74).
Labels: Epistle_of_James
James in Papyri
I've stumbled upon a few papyri that contain James:
Update (16 Aug 06): Wieland Willker also lists the following fragment of James on his page, "
The Original Sources":
Also, see
this article by Peter M. Head on several new papyri, including
P100 (listed above).
Labels: Epistle_of_James, manuscripts
Epistle of James in Alexandrinus at CSNTM
CSNTM has also made available a photo facsimile of Alexandrinus, an important 5th c. majuscule text.
Here's the breakdown for James:
Labels: Epistle_of_James, manuscripts
The Epistle of James in Sinaiticus at CSNTM
I posted
earlier on the Epistle of James in Miniscule 676, as found on the CSNTM website. The same organization has recently posted images of the 4th c. majuscule text, Sinaiticus (as found in Kirsopp Lake's 1911 photograph facsimile). Here's the breakdown for James in Sinaiticus:
Labels: Epistle_of_James, manuscripts
13th c. Miniscule (676) of James at CSNTM
Plagued with insomnia, I figured out where the text of the Epistle of James was located in the 13th century miniscule text 676, as available at the
Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts site. The CSNTM site has a great selection of early manuscripts, and it will have much more in the future. In fact, they've recently added images of Sinaiticus. Here's the breakdown for James:
Labels: Epistle_of_James, manuscripts
Free WorldCat on the Epistle of James, etc.
Thanks to Stephen C. Carlson, of
Hypotyposeis, for pointing out that
WorldCat, a library catalog of library catalogs is now available without subscription. This is a fantastic resource, and I highly recommend taking a look. I continually refer students at Gordon-Conwell to this resource, so that they can find virtually every book written and cataloged on a topic that they are studying. For instance, here's a
link to all
books written and cataloged on the Epistle of James, while here is a
link to books on "James the Just."
A hint on searching for resources on books of the Bible: Use "su:bible su:n.t. su:bookname" in your search field, use n.t. for New Testament books but substitute o.t. for Old Testament books, then substitute the name of the biblical book for "bookname." Add "su:1st" or "su:2nd", etc. for books like 1 & 2 Corinthians, etc. See examples:
su:bible su:n.t. su:james (Bible N.T. James)
su:bible su:o.t. su:samuel su:2nd (Bible O.T. Samuel, 2nd)
su:james su:saint su:brother su:lord (James, Brother of the Lord, Saint)
The "su:" limits your search to the subject field, so that you don't end up finding the
BasketWeavers' Bible by N.T. James (if such a book and author existed). Rather, you will only find books with records that have "bible n.t. james" in the subject field (the standard Library of Congress subject heading for all resources on the Epistle of James).
If you only want to see commentaries, then add "su:commentaries" to the search as well.
Labels: bibliography, resources
PhD - a comic strip for grad students
I've stumbled upon a comic strip for grad students. Based at Stanford, PhD (standing for "piled higher and deeper") chronicles the pains
and the joys of being a grad student. I know that many of the folks who read this blog are either seminary/grad students or work with the species on a regular basis, so I figured I'd pass it along. Too bad they don't have a theology or biblical studies grad student in the host of characters... Nonetheless, I can still identify with much of the material.
ENJOY!Labels: humor, Rain
Kloppenborg on James - SNTS 2006
Michael Bird of Euangelion posts the general contents of Kloppenborg's paper presented at the 2006 meeting of the SNTS along with his reactions to the paper. Heres' a "blurb" of the article as provided by Bird:
James 1:1, 'to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora', has routinely been interpreted contrary to its literal sense as an address to Jewish-Christians or to Christians in general living 'metaphorically' in the Diaspora, away from their spiritual home. This paper argues that Jas 1:1 is to be taken in its ordinary sense, and that the letter was (fictively) addressed to Judaeans of the Diaspora (who may have included members of the Jesus movement). The paper is then concerned with the problems of how an author, (ostensibly) writing to a general audience of Judaeans, establishes ethos, according to Aristled [sic?] the key means of persuasion. The author does so by invoking and emulating exemplary figures of Israel's past, in particular Solomon, the hero par excellence of biblical wisdom, and for members of the Jesus movement, Jesus himself.
Sean du Toit of Primal Subversion also comments on Bird's post. I concur with his remarks:
Graham Stanton writes: “once one accepts that Jesus traditions have been used at James 2:8 and at James 5:12, it becomes more likely that the writer has drawn on Jesus traditions elsewhere.” If this is accurate, then we are experiencing the conversion of James. Someone who was a thorough 1st century Jew, has now encountered the Messiah, the LORD JESUS, and this writing represents part of the ‘first-fruits’ of reflection on what that means.
James' epistle blurs the lines between Jewish and Christian writings. If incipient Christianity was seen as a movement within Judaism, rather than a separate movement, it is quite possible - in my own mind - to see the "twelve tribes of the dispersion" as a reference to the greater Jewish community whose eschatological ingathering has been inaugurated by the Glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
Labels: Epistle_of_James, resources
Biblical Studies Carnival VIII
Kevin Edgecomb of
biblicalia has produced the
Biblical Studies Carnival VIII! Besides being a thorough and well written collection of posts from biblioblogdom, the latest carnival mentions the James the Just blog! Thanks a bunch, Kevin.
By the way, don't miss the other fantastic sources available on Kevin's website,
www.bombaxo.com, including an
index to the cross references in Charlesworth's Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and a collection of possible New Testament
allusions the Old Testament Pseudepigrapa.
Labels: blog
Van Halen & the Epistle of James - "Fire in the Hole"
The Epistle of James in pop culture seems to be a fitting topic for this blog, and recently such a reference to the strawy epistle showed up on the blog, "
Colossians 3:16." There, Terry Mattingly's new book,
Pop Goes Religion is highlighted. Mattingly describes an overt reference to James 3 by the glam-metal group, Van Halen, in the song "Fire in the Hole" off of the Van Halen III album:
there's a fire in the hole
fire in the hole
there's a fire in the hole, fire
rudder of ship, which sets the course
does not the bit, bridle the horse
great is the forest, set by a small flame
like a tongue on fire, no one can tame
As Mattingly says, "it doesn't take a degree in New Testament studies" to see the connection with
James 3 in the last stanza. The title of the song itself is a referent to v. 6:
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
Gary Cherone (once a member of the band and co-author of this song) is a Christian and intentionally made reference to James (see Mattingly,
Pop Goes Religion, pp. 2-3).
Labels: Epistle_of_James, humor
