Sources, and Possible Results
RECONSTRUCTING THE SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS MILIEU
OF JAMES: METHODS, SOURCES, AND POSSIBLE RESULTS
Oda Wischmeyer
1. DEFINITIONS OF THE TERM "MILIEU"
Let me begin with some reflections about the term "milieu." The term does not belong to the well-known vocabulary in historical studies or historical theory.!
"Milieu" was introduced in the nineteenth century by Hippolyte Taine, who used it in connection with his theory of the sociology of art, which he thought to some degree to be based on science.? In his work "Histoire de la Littérature Anglaise"
Taine uses the three terms of race, milieu, and moment "as the three principal motives or conditioning factors that lie behind any work or art. .
. By 'milieu' he meant the circumstances or environment that modified the inherited racial disposition" while "race" is defined as "the inherited disposition or temperament that persists stubbornly over thousands of years."> The term was sharpened and differentiated in subsequent discussion of social history and sociology. A helpful definition reads: "Unter M(ilieu)s versteht man . . . soz(iale) Einheiten, die durch die Koinzidenz einer Reihe von Strukturmerkmalen, wie Religion, regionale Tradition, wirtschaftl(iche) Lage, kulturelle Orientierung u(nd) schichtenspezif(ische)
Zusammensetzung der intermediaren Gruppen, gekennzeichnet sind. M(ilieu)s als gesellschaftl(iche) Gro&Sgruppen weisen Gemeinsamkeiten insbes(ondere) in drei Dimensionen auf: geteilte Standards der Sinnkonstruktion, der Werte und
Normen; ein gemeinsames Netzwerk v(on) Institutionen .
. u(nd) geteilte Ritualisierungen des Alltagsund Festtags-Lebens." This definition is especially useful for our inquiry about the milieu of James because it names a number of crucial
1. It does not appear as lemma in, e.g., "Grundbegriffe der Geschichte," "Der Neue Pauly," and other standard encyclopaedias.
2. Hippolyte Taine, Philosophie de l'art. (2 vols.; Paris: Hachette, 1881).
3. "Art. 'Race, Milieu, and Moment'," in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. Micropaedia,
7:368.
MATTHEW, JAMES, AND DIDACHE
parameters: ideas of religion and ethics, values and behavior, and circumstances of life shared by the group to which the author belonged. These parameters provide elements of the milieu that influenced his convictions and the literature he wrote.
2. WHAT IS SOCIAL MILIEU? (CONSIDERATIONS ON METHOD 1)
The underlying assumption for asking such a question is that there indeed was something like a homogeneous or uniform milieu whose traces we are able to recover from the letter of James and that might enable us to reconstruct the social milieu of the community to which the author belonged and for which he wrote.
Furthermore, the question suggests that we are indeed able to identify a certain group connected to this milieu. With Malina, one might assume that this group is a fictive kin group of a certain number? of persons, who define themselves by belonging to this group.° Methodologically, the basis for all attempts to reconstruct James's milieu is a thorough analysis of the vocabulary the letter uses to describe groups, and of the way it addresses its readers. We have to consider whether and how the group or problems of the group or of groups in general do feature in the letter. In this respect, we especially have to discuss the beginning of the letter (1:1) and the figures of speech used in addressing the readers in the wider corpus of the letter.
A second issue is the question how the author depicts or touches the social milieu. Is it one distinct milieu of a single group, or are different sceneries mentioned? Does the author differentiate within the group or the groups? Are there indications of structures, of hierarchies and leadership functions, or of struggle within or among groups? Are there parties or subgroups? How can we define the author's place in the scenario? What about meetings and rites? What about mutual help and solidarity? Finally, are there traces of a collective identity, so that we might be able to reconstruct an in-group to which the author belongs or for or against whom the author writes his letter?
3. OBSERVATIONS ON THE SOCIAL MILIEU (SOURCES 1)
Following terms are important indicators of the author's understanding of the group to whom he wrote his letter:
+ Twelve tribes in the dispersion (Siaonopa, only in 1:1)§ + (My) (beloved) brothers (1:2 and more often)
4. See Bruce J. Malina, The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology
(3rd ed.; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 214-17.
5. Malina, New Testament World, 214-17.
6. See 1 Peter 1:1.
THE SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS MILIEU OF MATTHEW
« Your assembly (ovvaywyh, 2:2) ¢ A brother or a sister (2:15)7 « Anyone among you (5:13 and elsewhere, notice 5:19) e Assembly (éxxAnoia, 5:14) * To confess sins to each other and pray for each other (5:16, cf. 5:19)
The author's vocabulary in addressing his audience does not provide much evidence of the group he belonged to or was addressing. The author and his literary audience are connected with each other, and he addresses them with terminology taken from metaphorical kinship, but at the same time also as teacher with a teacher's authority (1:16 pi) mAavaobe; 1:19 tore; 2:5 axovoate; 2:20 BédeIc dé yv@vat; 2:22 BrAémetc; 2:24 dpate; and elsewhere, particularly 3:1-2). He writes from a certain position of distance: it is "your' " assembly and "your" problems
(2:2; particularly 4:1-5:6).
The author's vocabulary for special groups within the above-mentioned brotherhood is partly rather general, partly more specific, but mostly has the function of a literary figure: e Orphans and widows (1:27) ¢ The poor and the rich (chapter 2 and elsewhere)
« Teachers (3:1, note the following "we" which makes clear that the author puts himself into this special group of teachers which he wants to remain a very small one) ¢ Traders (4:13-17, metaphorically expressed and addressed) e The rich (5:1-6, see above) ¢ The elders of the assembly (5:14) On the whole, we only find a limited section of aspects connected to the author's social world, and of his conceptions concerning the social world around him and his addressees. The author's perception of the social world is rather poor and simple. It is not an issue that is in the focus of his interest, nor is structures, hierarchies and authorities in the community. Only npeoBvtepot are mentioned.
This is certainly too little evidence to speculate about real hierarchies in the community.
We only find two sentences in which the author refers to "wars" and "battles" among the addressees: 4:1 and (only as an allusion) 4:11 as well as 5:9. 4:1 belongs to a specific ethical discourse® and, in opposition to 1 Corinthians, the passage does not reflect actual parties or conflicts within a specific Christian community. The fictitious discourse in 2:14-19 and the subsequent ethical-theological
7. It is interesting that the author refers to "sisters" concerning support and subsidy, but constantly addresses only "brothers."
8. See Christoph Burchard, Der Jakobusbrief (HNT 15/1. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000),
165-66
MATTHEW, JAMES, AND DIDACHE
5iSayr} of 2:20-26, which is written as diatribe,? throw some light on the conflict that took place within or between the Christian groups the author addresses. The author apparently is particulary interested in general ethical issues and notices and blames different di5axai over these issues.
In general, the author himself as well as his addressees belongs to the citymilieu (4:13-17).!° But there is no sign of particular "Lokalkolorit" in James,!! and we do not have any indications either about where the author lived!? or about the location of the addressees.!3 The metaphors taken from nature (1:11) or rural milieu (3:12; 5:4, 7) are part of the rhetoric strategies to express ethical concerns. The author likes to sketch different social milieus, but uses popular rhetorical instruments of simplification, exaggeration, and opposition (e.g. "poor and rich"). Both milieus are depicted in the literary scene in chapter 2. The traders seem to belong to the group of the "rich" as we learn from the literary scene of chapter 4. The farmer belongs to the group of the "poor" within this special social logic. It is obvious that the author is not interested in the real social milieus as an independent issue, but only uses imaginary social milieus illustratively within the literary strategy of his general ethical discourse.
The letter contains a number of interesting references to community gatherings and rituals. I already mentioned the brief literary scene in chapter 2, which documents that social differences play an important role in an imaginary gathering where the higher ranking person can expect to be honored in a special way.
The social rank in this literary situation results from the wealth a person displays through jewels and garments as well as from the rank the person is granted by the assembly. In chapter 5 the author gives some advice on ritual practices of the group (anointing). For him, the community should be a place of mutual consolation and spiritual help. The passage is a good example of how important ethical admonition is for the author.
9. See Oda Wischmeyer, "Rémer 2.1-24 als Teil der Gerichtsrede des Paulus gegen die
Menschheit," NTS 52 (2006): 356-76.
10. See Ekkehard W. Stegemann and Wolfgang Stegemann, Urchristliche Sozialgeschichte:
Die Anftinge im Judentum und die Christusgemeinden in der mediterranen Welt (2nd ed.; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1997), 219-305; Burchard, Jakobusbrief, 6.
11. Burchard, Jakobusbrief, 7.
12. Ibid.; nor is Jerusalem ever mentioned.
13. The "twelve tribes in the diaspora" is an ecumenical address that refers to the whole
Imperium Romanum.
14, See Malina, New Testament World, 27-57.
THE SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS MILIEU OF MATTHEW
4. WHAT Is RELIGIOUS MILIEU? (CONSIDERATIONS ON METHOD 2)
Contemporary theory is very cautious in defining religion.!5 If we define religion from a functional perspective we can ask questions that help us in reconstructing the religious system of a specific author and his addressees. Gerd
Theissen's threefold conception of religion is based on a semiotic understanding of religion ("Die urchristliche Religion als autonome Zeichenwelt"!6), which then continues to an analysis of important theological ("Mythos und Geschichte"!7) and ethical concerns in early Christianity, as well as of central rites.
On the basis of this theoretical framework, we should begin by looking for something like a valid and perhaps homogeneous theory of explaining the kéop10¢ in terms of myths or historical narratives, which also generates a construction of ethical values combined with the general explanation of the world and the destiny of mankind.!8 We have to look for ideas of gods, goddesses or deities, for the salvation of mankind or of special groups, for rites as well as for ritual and ethical advice. So far the issues concern the general function of religion.
There is a second issue that is more closely related to our text, namely, the question of where the letter positions itself in the wider range of contemporary religions.!? What should his readers think about the author's religion? Which religion is he teaching in this letter? And does he teach "religion" at all? Or does he only mention some religious identity markers in order to point out to his
15. See Hubert Cancik and Burkhard Gladigow "Introduction," in Handbuch religionswissenschaftlicher Grundbegriffe (eds. H. Cancik, B. Gladigow and M. Laubscher; 5 vols.; Stuttgart:
Kohlhammer, 1988-2001), 1:19-40; Giinther Kehrer, "Definitionen der Religion," in Handbuch religionswissenschaftlicher Grundbegriffe (eds. H. Cancik, B. Gladigow and M, Laubscher),
4:418-25; Hans-Josef Klauck, Die Religidse Umwelt des Urchristentums (2 vols.; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1995-6), 1:13-26.
16. Gerd Theissen, Die Religion der ersten Christen (3rd ed.; Darmstadt: WBG, 2003),
225-82.
17. Ibid., 47-100.
18. Ibid., 30, gives an overview over the connection between general explanations of the kdopocs and ethical norms.
19. See Klauck, Religidse Umwelt, 1:19-26; Ulrich Berner, "Moderner und antiker Religionsbegriff," in Neues Testament und Antike Kultur (ed. K. Erlemann et al.; 2nd ed.; 5 vols.;
Neukirchen-Vluyn; Neukirchener Verlag: 2004 - 2007), 1:13-21: Religion "erfiillt die Funktion, dem Menschen Normen fiir das Leben zu geben und Trost fiir das Sterben; die Erfillung dieser
Funktion wird erméglicht oder zumindest unterstiitzt durch Institutionen, die einen Rahmen fir rituelle Erfahrungen bieten; die Normen werden durch den Bezug auf Gesetze begriindet, die héher sind als die von Menschen gemachten, und der Trost wird zumeist durch den Bezug auf einen Bereich gegeben, der iiber das irdische Leben hinausgeht" (ibid., 16). Transl.: "Religion works by giving people standards for living and consolation for dying. These functions are supported by institutions with ritual structure. Norms are founded by reference to laws higher than those made by men, and consolation is given by referring to a world going beyond mortal life."
MATTHEW, JAMES, AND DIDACHE
audience his religious focus, or to accentuate the religion that unites him with his audience, before he starts on his proper subject? This includes a short discussion of the main issue and the main purpose of the letter.
Particularly we will have to observe allusions to Judaism, to ethical schools, and to Christianity, and discuss the importance of those allusions within the literary concept of the letter as a whole.
5. OBSERVATIONS ON THE RELIGIOUS MILIEU (SOURCES 2)
Concerning myth(s) we only find individual myth-based metaphors or personifications, all more-or-less clearly echoing Old Testament themes:
« The "birth" of sin (1:14s, cf. the mythological language in Rom 7) ¢ God "bears" the Christians by the word of truth (1:18)
« Wisdom "from above" (3:17; &vwGev) - Struggle between living according to God or according to the kdopoc or the dtaBoXocg (4:4-10).
Sometimes we can observe that the author uses metaphoric or mythical language including personifications when he writes about the law and the last judgment
(2:8-13 law; 2:19 demons; 3:6 yeévva; 3:15 cogia Satpoviwdne; 5:1-6 éoxatat tytépat).20 We may conclude that there is no evidence of pagan mythological thinking or allusions in the letter of James. Mythical elements in his language relate to Septuagint phrases.
The author is quite clear on monotheism and on God's attributes:?!
* TAtHp TOV PwTwv (1:17) ¢ God is not tempted, he does not tempt anyone (1:13) « God chooses the poor (2:5) ¢ God and father (1:27) + eic Eotiv 6 Bedc (2:19; cf. 4:12 "one is the eternal lawgiver and judge").
+ In 5:4 God is called with a title, taken from the Septuagint: Kbpiog cabaw0 In short: God is good, he is One. He is to be thought of as residing in an atmosphere of ethical perfection that is expressed by images of heaven (above, light, glory). God is the father of mankind and cares for human affairs. He is the guarantor of law, of justice, of ethics, and of the final punishment. In spite of the fact that the author does not emphasize the Jewish perspective, the reader of the letter may well understand that the author has the God of Israel in mind (e.g., 5:4).
20. See Wiard Popkes, Der Brief des Jakobus (THKNT 14; Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2001), 22-26,
21. See ibid., 23, and Hubert Frankemille, Der Brief des Jakobus (OTK 17/1-2; Giittersloh:
Giitersloher Verlagshaus, 1994), 2:367-87.
THE SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS MILIEU OF MATTHEW
There are some additional remarks on Jesus Christ that are well known and broadly discussed?? in scholarly literature:
* KUpLOg TIS S5dEN¢ e Judge (1:1 and 2:1; 5:9; cf. 2:7 and 4:15) I agree with Wiard Popkes who points out that there is no explicit christology in the letter of James: "Eine Christologie entfaltet Jak(obus) nicht eigens. Sie ist weitgehend Teil der Gotteslehre."23 But we have to consider what this statement means with regard to our quest for the author's religious milieu. It seems to me that christology is not an issue for the author nor for his audience. Given the clear difference to, for example, the letters of John, we can assume that James does not suspect any christological aipecig among his audience. On the other hand both the author and his addressees are Christians. There is no need for the author to emphasize this religious affiliation.
The use of the Septuagint is much more important for the reconstruction of the religious milieu of James than christology. The Septuagint is the pre-text of the letter, the author expects his readers to know the Septuagint, and both the author as well as his addressees, consider the Septuagint as "scripture."24 Both use the Septuagint first and foremost as a collection of moral examples: e« Abraham and Rahab (2:21-25) ¢ The prophets (5:10)25 + Job (5:11)26 The use of the Septuagint does not have the function of recommending Judaism to the addressees, nor does it act as boundary marker against other religions. The Septuagint simply is the religious, ethical, and cultural canonical book for the Christian community to which the author and his audience belong. The Septuagint remains "the book" for James's religious community.
Concerning religious rites, we can concentrate on chapter 5, because chapter 2 only confirms that the addressees of the letter are accustomed to come together in assemblies, that at least some of them seat there, and that there are more and less honorable seats to use. Chapter 5 gives us some insight into religious practices of the group the letter addresses. The members of the group (éxkAnoia) pray, especially in case of illness." The social context of prayer is not necessarily the assembly together with the npeoBvtepot, but the spiritual community of individual members of the group, and their mutual responsibility and sympathy.
Even the confession of sins is left to each individual member of the group. There
22. See Popkes, Brief des Jakobus, 23; Frankemille, Brief des Jakobus, 376-87.
23. Popkes, Brief des Jakobus, 23.
24. Ibid., 27-29.
25. Yndderypa.
26. Note the phrases "you have heard" and "you know," which assume the biblical characters to be known.
27. Popkes, Brief des Jakobus, 337-39.
MATTHEW, JAMES, AND DIDACHE
is only one religious rite reserved for the npeoBUtepot, namely the unction of the infirm. This rite is only attested at one other place in early Christianity (Mark
6:13).28 In spite of such a notably flat or perhaps even non-existent hierarchic structure we can understand the group as being an in-group with a distinct religious-ethical boundary: "to keep oneself unstained from the world" (1:27).
The short text of 1:26-27 demonstrates the author's ethical perspective. He redefines worship (Opnoxeia) in a moral sense in two directions: first by relating
Opnoxeia to speech ethics,?? alms, and supply; second by spiritualizing it as a kind of ethical purity. The author writes for an audience that wants to get ethical advice by means of apostolic letters written and authorized by leading apostles of Jerusalem, and at the same time is familiar with the Septuagint, and this means with Jewish ethics. The author does not use the ethical authority of Jesus.3°
6. TENTATIVE RESULTS
Our observations showed that neither the social nor the religious milieus are key topics of the letter. Instead, it is obvious that the main concern of James is ethics, namely, ethics transmitted in the literary form of a letter.
Our particular interest focused on the social and religious milieu of the letter. In the salutatio we are presented with a group the author teaches in ethics.
He addresses a group that shows a definite religious bias and whose members are in close contact with each other. It is a group that holds meetings and that understands itself as a union of individuals who at the same time belong to a group and bear responsibility for each other. To some degree it can be stated that the author has an elitist position in relation to the group, introducing himself as "brother" but also as "teacher." He addresses his readers as the "twelve tribes in the dtaonopa," which is a literary address with a twofold setting, namely,, a Jewish and a Christian one. "Diese salutatio schafft eine fiktionale, besser literarische
Leserschaft, des Naheren handelt es sich um eine theologisch-ekklesiologische Binnenadresse. Mit Hilfe der Briefadresse . .
. schafft sich der Autor ein Publikum 28. Burchard, Jakobusbrief, 210 (cf. Apoc. Mos. 9.3 and L.A.E. 36.2; 40-41). See also Sigurd
Kaiser, Krankenheilung: Untersuchungen zu Form, Sprache, traditionsgeschichtlichem Hintergrund und Aussage von Yak 5,13-18 (WMANT 112; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag,
2006).
29. See William R. Baker, Personal-Speech Ethics in the Epistle of James (WUNT 2/68;
Tiibingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1995), 30. This fact remains a problem for scholars who give reasons "of an early dating for this letter" and relate the letter in close proximity to James, the brother of Jesus. See Luke T. Johnson, The Letter of James (AB 37A; New York: Doubleday, 1995), 118; see the whole introduction
(1-164).
THE SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS MILIEU OF MATTHEW
als Ansprechpartner.">! The addressees are expected to understand the religious allusion to Israel as well as to Christianity, and especially to the Jesus tradition.
The salutation is a very specific one and only to be understood by an in-group public that is used to read religious literature and is acquainted with Jewish as well as with Christian texts and that knows about the differences. By using the pseudepigraphic name, the author transmits his ethical advice to Jesus and to the Judaeo-Christian community of Jerusalem? before the Judean war as well as to the high religious and moral authority of James himself.33
In conclusion, on the one hand we can observe a Christian author who teaches ethics that derives basically from the Septuagint in the interpretation of early Christian theologians,>*4 and on the other hand we assume a basically
Christian readership that knows the Septuagint to a greater or lesser extent and is interested in reading further and perhaps more 'modern' ethical texts. We find ourselves at the roots of a kind of ethical literature that is written by Christian teachers who claim authority by means of pseudepigraphy. Later on they will write in their own name, like Justin or Clement of Alexandria. In short, we may gain a view into a rather urban, religious, and literary milieu that combines religion and ethics, in which people like to read literature of the quality of a treatise and in which Christian authors do not yet dare to use their own name but bind themselves and their writings to the Jesus or the Pauline tradition. The ethical impact of this tradition increased in the last decades of the first century, generating different literary genres, such as the longer synoptic Gospels of Matthew and Luke as well as the Pastorals.
31. Oda Wischmeyer, "Beobachtungen zu Kommunikation und Gliederung des Jakobusbriefes," in Das Gesetz im frithen Judentum und im Neuen Testament (ed. D. Sanger and M.
Konradt; NTOA 57; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006), 320.
32. This term has no denominational meaning: cf. Burchard, Jakobusbrief, 5 (the author was "kein Judenchrist").
33. Cf. the analogous process in the other Catholic letters concerning Peter and Jude.
34. Cf. 2:8-11 to Pauline texts and gospel texts. Cf. Popkes, Brief des Jakobus, 155-57.
35. The literary milieu to which James and his addressees also belong is reconstructed in the volume of R. Bauckham, ed., The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences
(Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998). The contributions concentrate on the gospels, but at the end of the first century we may assume a Christian reading audience that was interested in narratives
(gospels) as well as in moral treatises (letters) as we learn from 2 Pet 1:16-21.