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Purity and Worldview in the Epistle of James

Arguing against restricting the meaning of purity language to the individual moral sphere (as many commentaries do), the central argument of Purity and Worldview in the Epistle of James is that purity language both articulates and constructs the worldview in James’s epistle. Lockett offers a taxonomy of purity language, applied as a heuristic guide to understand the function of purity and pollution in the epistle. Through this analysis the study concludes that James is not calling for sectarian separation, but rather demonstrates a degree of cultural accommodation while calling forth specific socio-cultural boundaries between the readers and the world.

Hardcover 240 T&T Clark 2008
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Darian Lockett

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While the Gospels, Paul’s Letters, and the Book of Revelation have been well served by volumes orienting readers to the scholarly literature and to their reception histories, Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles have not received nearly the same attention. This relative neglect is in part a legacy of the Reformation in the sixteenth century. Insofar as doctrinal purity in Protestant circles was defined according to rubrics that were, implicitly or explicitly, Pauline in orientation, Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles were at an obvious disadvantage. However, these writings have had a great influence on Christianity throughout the centuries. Divided into four parts-general issues, topics related to Hebrews, topics related to the Catholic Epistles, and reception and engagement-The Oxford Handbook of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles studies these books individually as witnesses to the cultural and theological diversity of the early church but also for what they reveal about the process that would eventually produce the New Testament canon.

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Darian R. Lockett – Catholic Epistles, Chapter 11

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Biblical scholars and theologians engage an important question: Who is Israel’s God for Christian readers of the Old Testament? For Christians, Scripture is the Old and New Testament bound together in a single legacy. Contributors approach the question from multiple disciplinary vantage points. Essays on both Testaments focus on figural exegesis, critical exegesis, and the value of diachronic understandings of the Old Testament’s compositional history for the sake of a richer synchronic reading. This collection is offered in celebration of the life and work of Christopher R. Seitz. His rich and wide-ranging scholarly efforts have provided scholars and students alike a treasure trove of resources related to this critical question.

Biola University Contributor:
Darin Lockett – “James and Jude as Bookends to the Catholic Epistles Collection”

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Arguing against restricting the meaning of purity language to the individual moral sphere (as many commentaries do), the central argument of Purity and Worldview in the Epistle of James is that purity language both articulates and constructs the worldview in James’s epistle. Lockett offers a taxonomy of purity language, applied as a heuristic guide to understand the function of purity and pollution in the epistle. Through this analysis the study concludes that James is not calling for sectarian separation, but rather demonstrates a degree of cultural accommodation while calling forth specific socio-cultural boundaries between the readers and the world.

Editorial Reviews

…Lockett makes a convincing case for his thesis. It should profit serious students of James.
Religious Studies Review, September 2009

Lockett expertly advances his own case for the significance of purity in James and finely tunes its role as a major concern of its perfection theme…It covers an aspect of James that deserves treatment and provides meaningful research for others to ponder, both in its broad strokes and in its fine points. For those interested in the Epistle of James it should be required reading.
William R. Baker, Stone Campbell Journal, Vol. 13, 2010

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