The Catholic Epistles:

Abstract

The Catholic Epistles, despite being grouped and named as such since at least the fourth century (HE 3.23.25) and appearing along with Acts in the textual tradition as the Apostolos, do not constitute a collection of texts with a distinctive and closely shared theological perspective. Add to this much neglected collection the letter to the Hebrews, often attributed to Paul in the early tradition (e.g. Clement of Alexandria in HE 6.14.24) but now never seriously argued to be his, and we have a group of texts which, while sharing internally and with other early Christian texts some common theological convictions, encompasses considerable variety. It would therefore seem appropriate to consider each text’s individual perspective, rather than offer a synthetic treatment. In order to make my task manageable in the available space, I shall focus on three examples from this group of letters: James, Hebrews, and 1 Peter. (The Johannine Epistles are considered along with the Gospel of John in chapter 7.) I shall take as my key questions the following: What is the character of the messianism evident in this text? What notion and means of redemption is envisaged, and how is this related to the text’s messianism? And in what ways, if at all, does this particular type of messianism represent a form of resistance? For our general understanding of what constitutes messianism we may follow William Horbury’s broad definition: ‘the expectation of a coming pre-eminent ruler’, including ‘the treatment of a present ruler in a messianic way’ (Horbury 1998: 7). The term Messiah, ‘in its etymological sense’, denotes ‘God’s eschatological Anointed One, the Messiah’ (Charlesworth 1992: 4). I should also make clear that in this essay my primary aim is to outline the contours of the specifically ‘Christian’ messianism set out in James, Hebrews, and 1 Peter, rather than to determine whether this depiction of Jesus does or does not derive from an existing facet of Jewish messianic belief. Redemption may be understood in a broad sense to refer to the means by which those in some kind of negative situation – whether of suffering, oppression, or their own wickedness – may be rescued from that situation by some other (person/divinity, etc.), and more specifically, and etymologically, as the act of purchasing back, or freeing by payment of ransom. My understanding of what constitutes resistance, and the forms it may take, is primarily shaped by the work of James C. Scott, especially his already classic