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A Structural Commentary on the So-Called Antilegomena: volume 1, The Letter of James: Wisdom That Comes from Above by Kalina Wojciechowska and Mariusz Rosik, and: A Structural Commentary on the So-Called Antilegomena: volume 2, The Letter of Jude: Expecting for the Mercy by Kalina Wojciechowska and Mariusz Rosik

2022; Catholic Biblical Association; Volume: 84; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/cbq.2022.0156

2163-2529

Dominik Tomczyk,

Catholicism, Bioethics, Media, Education

Reviewed by: A Structural Commentary on the So-Called Antilegomena: volume 1, The Letter of James: Wisdom That Comes from Above by Kalina Wojciechowska and Mariusz Rosik, and: A Structural Commentary on the So-Called Antilegomena: volume 2, The Letter of Jude: Expecting for the Mercy by Kalina Wojciechowska and Mariusz Rosik Dominik Tomczyk kalina wojciechowska and mariusz rosik, A Structural Commentary on the So-Called Antilegomena: volume 1, The Letter of James: Wisdom That Comes from Above (Eastern and Central European Voices 3; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2021). Pp. 492. €100. kalina wojciechowska and mariusz rosik, A Structural Commentary on the So-Called Antilegomena: volume 2, The Letter of Jude: Expecting for the Mercy (Eastern and Central European Voices 3; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2021). Pp. 492. €120. The publishing house Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (Göttingen) has published the first two volumes in the projected multivolume A Structural Commentary on the So-Called [End Page 703] Antilegomena. The two volumes under review, written by two Polish biblical scholars from different theological traditions (Kalina Wojciechowska is Lutheran, and Fr. Mariusz Rosik is Catholic), are devoted to the Letter of James and the Letter of Jude, respectively. The term "structural commentary" may sound rather odd to the "uninitiated." Structuralism states that "the full significance of any entity or experience cannot be understood unless and until it is integrated into the structure of which it forms a part" (T. Hawkes, Structuralism and Semiotics [2nd ed.; London: Routledge, 2003] 7). It is therefore necessary to look for the relationship of a single component of a situation to all its other elements. Turning to volume 1, we note that the identity of the authors is not without significance in view of the centuries-old theological "squabbles" concerning faith and works, which have particularly focused mutual antagonisms around the Letter of James. Father of the Reformation, Martin Luther, strongly emphasized sola fide, sola gratia, and sola scriptura, which alluded to Pauline principle of "faith alone." Historically, commentaries on the Epistle of James have related precisely to its theology. The contemporary abandonment of the classical linear reading of the epistle, chapter by chapter and verse by verse, influences "the broadening of the possibilities of interpretation of the Letter of James" (p. 14). This fact became the starting point for the authors of the commentary. The body of the present volume consists of two main parts: the Introduction and the Structural Commentary. In the Introduction, the authors discuss the textual evidence and canonicity of the Letter of James; its authorship, dating, vocabulary, and style; the structure of the entire letter, its literary genre, and its sender and addressees. It is not easy to lay out a plan of the Epistle of James. In this context, both W. and R. look at it differently from previous commentators. Reversing the concept of the letter's layout proposed by Ingeborg Mongstad-Kvammen (Toward a Postcolonial Reading of the Epistle of James: James 2:1–13 in Its Roman Imperial Context [BIS 119; Leiden: Brill, 2013] 31–38), W. and R. consider the fragment Jas 3:13–18 as the element that organizes the entire structure and is "crucial for the understanding of the whole letter" (p. 56). "Wisdom" (σοφία) "shows that the principal topic of the letter is wisdom seen as a gift from God, which raises faith from the level of declaration to the level of action" (p. 57). The list of qualities and manifestations of wisdom found in Jas 3:17 became the basis for W. and R.'s commentary: "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere" (ESV). Although the Greek σοφία occurs only four times in the Epistle of James (1:5; 3:13, 15, 17) the sapiential key opens the door to understanding this commentary. This does not mean, however, that the remaining part of James is not commented on. "The pericopes of the letter have been grouped in particular parts of the commentary, depending on which aspect of Christian wisdom is discussed in them" (p. 286). For the authors, the semantic criterion, sometimes overlapping with the lexical, formed the starting point of...