Now available from SBL Press

Employing social description, social scientific models, and rhetorical analysis, Alicia J. Batten argues that the letter of James is conversant with the topic of friendship within Greek and Roman literature, as well as within various texts of early Christianity. She illustrates how James drew upon some of the language and concepts related to friendship with an intriguing density to advocate resistance to wealth, avoidance of rich patrons, and reliance upon God.

Features:

• Use of friendship, benefaction, and patronage as lenses through which James and related texts can be viewed
• A strong case for how the letter appels to the language and ideas of friendship with regard to God's relationships with humans
• Exploration of the relationship between the book of James and the teachings of Jesus

The annual Review of Biblical Literature presents a selection of reviews of the most recent books in biblical studies and related fields, including topical monographs, multi-author volumes, reference works, commentaries, and dictionaries. RBL reviews German, French, Italian, and English books and offers reviews in those languages.

Features:

• Reviews of new books written by top scholars
• Topical divisions make research easy
• Indexes of authors and editors, reviewers, and publishers