Details

<p>List of Plates ix</p> <p>Series Editors’ Preface xii</p> <p>Preface xiv</p> <p>Acknowledgements xviii</p> <p>Introduction 1</p> <p>James 1:1–11: Trials, Endurance, Wisdom, and the Exalted Poor 63</p> <p>James 1:12–27: Trials, Endurance, and Doers of the Word 99</p> <p>James 2:1–13: Deeds of Faith, the Chosen Poor, and the Law of Liberty 143</p> <p>James 2:14–26: Faith without Works Is Dead 173</p> <p>James 3:1–12: The Power and Danger of Speech 204</p> <p>James 3:13–4:12: The Fruits of Wisdom versus Friendship with the World 219</p> <p>James 4:13–5:6: The Sovereignty of God and God’s Judgment upon the Rich 252</p> <p>James 5:7–11: The Patience of the Faithful and the Compassion of the Lord 278</p> <p>James 5:12–20: Speech and Actions in the Community of the Faithful 288</p> <p>Biographies 317</p> <p>References 323</p> <p>Index of Names 331</p> <p>Index of Subjects 335</p>

"...This commentary offers a fascinating read of the multifarious ways in which James has been interpreted and appropriated through the centuries." - Review & Expositor

<p><b>David B. Gowler</b> is The Dr. Lovick Pierce and Bishop George F. Pierce Chair of Religion at Oxford College, Emory University, and Senior Faculty Fellow, Center for Ethics, Emory University, USA. He has published dozens of books, articles, book chapters, and book reviews, and since 1991 has served as co-editor of <i>Emory Studies in Early Christianity</i>.

<p>This unique commentary on James by an outstanding New Testament specialist, David B. Gowler, provides a broad range of original perspectives on how people have interpreted, and been influenced by, this important epistle. <p>The author explores a vast array of interpretations extending far beyond theological commentary, sermons, and hymns, to also embrace the epistle's influences on literature, art, politics, and social theory. The work includes examples of how successive generations have portrayed the historical figure of James the Just, in both pictorial and textual form. Contextualizing his analysis with excerpts from key documents, including artistic representations of the epistle, the author reviews the dynamic interactions between the James and Jesus traditions and compares James's epistle with those of Paul. The volume highlights James's particular concern for the poor and marginalized, charting the many responses to this aspect of his legacy. Drawing on sources as varied as William Shakespeare, John Calvin, Charles Schultz's <i>Peanuts</i>, and political cartoons, this is an exhaustive study of the theological and cultural debates sparked by the Epistle of James. <p><i>James Through the Centuries</i> is published within the Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries series. Further information about this innovative reception history series is available at <b>www.bbibcomm.info</b>.

<p>“Gowler’s commentary locates James not only at various intersections in the history of learned commentary, from Chrysostom to Kirkegaard, but even more richly in the history of icons, mediaeval woodcuts and other artistic representations, in monastic rules, hymnody, literature, political polemics, and much more. This is a breathtaking survey of the ways, both overt and subtle, that James has become embedded in multiple aspects of Western culture.”<br /> —<b><i>John S Kloppenborg, University of Toronto</i></b></p> <p>“In an engaging manner, David Gowler tells the story of the reception of the letter of James through the centuries. Along the way we meet an eclectic group of interpreters, some well-known and others not. The result is that we learn not only about how James was read in scholarly circles, but also among the more marginal, outside of the academy. Such a story is indeed a tribute to the letter of James.”<br /> —<b><i>Alicia Batten,</i></b> <b><i>Conrad Grebel University College at University of Waterloo</i></b></p>

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