Plutarch of Chaeronea and the Epistle of James on Communal Behaviour

Abstract

Despite the obvious differences between Plutarch's parties and James's churches, a careful look at the opening προβληματα of Plutarch's Quaestiones convivales sheds a helpful light upon the issues addressed in the Epistle of James. In both texts, the problems of quarrels, equitable seating arrangements and communal leadership are brought to the fore out of an assiduous concern for harmony. Nonetheless, unlike Plutarch, James does not ground his prescriptions for congregational peace in the friendship of the community but in ethical norms set up by God.