viii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................ xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................... xv Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION: INNER-BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS IN JAMES 3:1-12... 21 Synopsis and Thesis ................................................................................... 21 Brief History of the Interpretation of James................................................ 24 Philosophies of Hermeneutics .................................................................... 26 Hermeneutical Issues and Allusions .................................................. 26 Current State of Allusion Studies....................................................... 29 Locus of Meaning ............................................................................. 31 Presentation of Method .............................................................................. 35 Defining Terms ................................................................................. 36 Processing Allusions ......................................................................... 41 Evaluating Allusions ......................................................................... 43 Tests that Porter labels "problematic"—Tests that Porter dismisses—Additional tests—Determinative and interpretive tests Assigning Levels of Certainty to Allusions ........................................ 53 Critical Issues in James .............................................................................. 54 Authorship and Date.......................................................................... 54 Audience and Historical Situation ..................................................... 55 Form and Purpose ............................................................................. 57 Significance for Study of Allusions ................................................... 58 Preliminary Commentary ........................................................................... 59 James 3:1-12 as a Unit....................................................................... 59 James 3:1-12 in Its Context ............................................................... 60 Teachers and Community in James 3:1-12......................................... 61 Structure of James 3:1-12 .................................................................. 64 First Discourse Unit (James 3:1-2a) ................................................... 64 Second Discourse Unit (James 3:2b-5b) ............................................ 66 Third Discourse Unit (James 3:5c-10a).............................................. 70 Fourth Discourse Unit (James 3:10b-12) ........................................... 74 Interpretive Problems in James 3:12c ................................................ 75 Textual variation—Semantic uncertainty—Syntactic possibilities—Eschatological imagery?—Metaphorical interpretation?