Book contents
- The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity
- The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Reconsidering the Semantics of the “Inclination” (yeṣer) in Classical Biblical Hebrew
- 3 The “Inclination” (yeṣer) as Rendered in the Septuagint
- 4 “Fleshly Spirit” and “Vessel of Flesh” in 4QInstruction and the Thanksgiving Hymns
- 5 Theological Anthropology in the Enochic Tradition
- 6 The Perils of Philosophical Persuasion: Philo on the Origin of Moral Evils
- 7 The Evil Inclination (yeṣer ha-ra‘) in Tannaitic Literature: Demonic Desires and Beyond
- 8 Conflicting Intrapersonal Powers in Paul’s Letters
- 9 The “Two Inclinations” and the Double-Minded Human Condition in the Letter of James
- 10 An Evil Inclination in the Early Targums to the Pentateuch and Prophets?
- 11 “Gnostic” Theologies of Evil
- 12 The Rabbinic “Inclination” (yeṣer) and the Christian Apocrypha
- 13 Origen on the Origin of Sin
- 14 Augustine on the Diabolical Suggestion of Sin
- 15 Jerome and the “Inclination” (yeṣer): The Evidence of the Vulgate
- 16 Rabbinic Inclinations and Monastic Thoughts: Evagrius Ponticus’ Doctrine of Reasoning (logismoi) and Its Antecedents
- 17 “Inclination” (yaṣrā) in the Syriac Tradition
- 18 Evil, Sin, and Inclination (yeṣer) in Jewish and Christian Poetic Disputes between the Body and Soul
- 19 The Wizard of Āz and the Evil Inclination: The Babylonian Rabbinic Inclination (yeṣer) in Its Zoroastrian and Manichean Context
- 20 The Evil Inclination in the Targums to the Writings
- References
- Index of Names
- Index Locorum
9 - The “Two Inclinations” and the Double-Minded Human Condition in the Letter of James
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2021
- The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity
- The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Reconsidering the Semantics of the “Inclination” (yeṣer) in Classical Biblical Hebrew
- 3 The “Inclination” (yeṣer) as Rendered in the Septuagint
- 4 “Fleshly Spirit” and “Vessel of Flesh” in 4QInstruction and the Thanksgiving Hymns
- 5 Theological Anthropology in the Enochic Tradition
- 6 The Perils of Philosophical Persuasion: Philo on the Origin of Moral Evils
- 7 The Evil Inclination (yeṣer ha-ra‘) in Tannaitic Literature: Demonic Desires and Beyond
- 8 Conflicting Intrapersonal Powers in Paul’s Letters
- 9 The “Two Inclinations” and the Double-Minded Human Condition in the Letter of James
- 10 An Evil Inclination in the Early Targums to the Pentateuch and Prophets?
- 11 “Gnostic” Theologies of Evil
- 12 The Rabbinic “Inclination” (yeṣer) and the Christian Apocrypha
- 13 Origen on the Origin of Sin
- 14 Augustine on the Diabolical Suggestion of Sin
- 15 Jerome and the “Inclination” (yeṣer): The Evidence of the Vulgate
- 16 Rabbinic Inclinations and Monastic Thoughts: Evagrius Ponticus’ Doctrine of Reasoning (logismoi) and Its Antecedents
- 17 “Inclination” (yaṣrā) in the Syriac Tradition
- 18 Evil, Sin, and Inclination (yeṣer) in Jewish and Christian Poetic Disputes between the Body and Soul
- 19 The Wizard of Āz and the Evil Inclination: The Babylonian Rabbinic Inclination (yeṣer) in Its Zoroastrian and Manichean Context
- 20 The Evil Inclination in the Targums to the Writings
- References
- Index of Names
- Index Locorum
Summary
The rabbinic notion of “the two inclinations” has long been connected in scholarship to the notion of the δίψυχος, the double-minded nature of human beings in the Letter of James (1:8; 4:8). Oscar J. F. Seitz, for example, notably argued, first, that James’ depiction of human nature as double-minded (δίψυχος) “is intended to convey the Hebrew idea of a ‘double-heart,’ expressed by the peculiar idiom ‘belev walev’,” as found in 1 Chr 12:33 and Ps 12:2, and, second, that its “real antecedent … is to be found in the rabbinic conception of a double heart or two hearts, which is generically related to the idea of two yeṣarim [i.e. inclinations], and in particular to that of the yeṣer ha-ra‘ [i.e. the Evil Inclination] which leads man to sin.”
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- The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity , pp. 143 - 158Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021