James: Diaspora Rhetoric of a Friend of God. An Introduction and Study Guide by Margaret Aymer

Abstract

Reviewed by: James: Diaspora Rhetoric of a Friend of God. An Introduction and Study Guide by Margaret Aymer Annemarie de Kock-Malan Aymer, Margaret. 2017. James: Diaspora Rhetoric of a Friend of God. An Introduction and Study Guide. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark. Paperback. ISBN 978-1350008830. Pp. 112. $20.95. This book is part of a study guide series on the NT. Aymer starts with the appropriate introductory questions that one would expect from this type of book and calls them “questions of identity.” These introductory questions, she acknowledges, have been considered to be enigmatic by many scholars. She gives various arguments about the possible author of James, emphasising the prominence of figures with the name “James” in the early church. Also the question of James being a pseudonymous writing comes to the fore. This is followed by questions surrounding the type of Greek used in the letter, as well as the acceptance of it in the early church. The relationship to the Pauline corpus in the NT is also discussed. The dating and genre type of James are discussed, also by means of different arguments from scholars. Although Aymer is compelled, especially as part of a study guide series, to survey different arguments in terms of the introductory questions of James, she also makes her own voice heard in this regard: James is an ancient epistolary sermon or homiletic letter, an encyclical from James the Just, the head of the early Christian church in Jerusalem to communities that were, for the most part, Jews who had come to believe in the messianic claims of Jesus of Nazareth and part of the early Christian movement. These communities were … in diaspora … James assumed they knew who he was … James wrote to these sisters and brothers … to call them to a pattern of faith and life. (p. 18) [End Page 531] According to Martin Dibelius, the structure and argument of James are unstructured paraenesis. Aymer rightly acknowledges that this hypothesis has endured, because James starts as an ancient letter but it does not follow the structure of an ancient letter. Aymer then argues that James has the structure of an ancient speech. She continues to analyse the argument of James by means of the rules of ancient rhetoric, namely: exordium, propositio, probatio, and peroratio. By using this method, Aymer gives a brief but efficient summary of the content of James. “Listening to James” taps into the oral culture of the first century and correctly places the emphasis on the rhetoric and rhetorical strategies in the letter. The third introductory aspect that Aymer addresses is the theology and ethics of James. The portrayal of God, the first audience’s relationship with God, familial and economic metaphors used by the author regarding God, Jesus Christ, the eschatological emphasis in James, and the nature of the community are discussed. Aymer argues that the author of James did not necessarily develop a theology that is doctrinal as such, but it addresses the ethical living out of the Christian faith, especially when facing challenges. James in particular stresses that faith without works is dead. Aymer makes a deeper enquiry into this ethical living out of the faith by focusing in the next step of her argument on the world in which the first addressees lived. She does this by analysing the relationship between James and “kyriarchy” (a term coined by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza to describe the rule of the emperor, lord, slave master, and husband over all wo/men regarded as subordinate to them). Aymer makes the argument that James critiques kyriarchy when it comes to class and economic issues. James stands against this type of kyriarchy of the day and also calls his audience to “live in active critique” of this exploitive system(55). In contrast with James’s critique of the system’s exploitation of the poor and vulnerable, Aymer criticises James for not following the same pattern of critique when it comes to gender and sex in his day and age. Aymer argues, rightfully, that this letter is a product of its time, especially regarding gender and sex issues, for it seems to mirror the treatment of gender and sex in the...