The Fruit of Righteousness in James: A Study in Discourse Analysis ANDREW BOWDEN In this study, a discourse analysis of James is conducted with the goal of better understanding the structure, theme, and cohesion of the letter. By paying careful attention to the details of the text, James’ paragraphs are identified, as are the signals of transition between the various paragraphs. The conclusions reached based on a discourse analysis of James are illuminating. Far from being a randomly arranged work, James repeatedly uses present prohibitory imperatives in the overall organization of the Epistle. These imperatives are important in marking transitions between main sections. Furthermore, a discourse analysis reveals that James is a coherent epistle comprised of 16 paragraphs, with 3,13-18 providing the overarching macrostructure of the letter. Bearing the fruit of righteousness, a theme prominent in 3,13-18, is seen to be the letter’s overarching and unifying thought. Keywords: Epistle of James, Discourse Analysis. 1. Introduction In the discourse analysis that follows, it will be argued that James is a prophetic call to repentance belonging to the epistolary genre. James 3,13-18 provides the letter’s macrostructure, indicating that the letter is an exhortation to repent because of the readers’ failure to bear the fruit of righteousness. Following the lead of previous interpreters, I will argue that this theme is overviewed in the letter’s introduction, which consists of 1,2-27, and is then fully developed in the main-body. 1.1 Preliminaries: Identifying James’ Genre The first step in beginning a discourse analysis of James is to analyze the Epistle’s primary text-sequences1. Before we can do this, however, we must ask what sort of discourse we are dealing with and then identify 1 The specific application of discourse analysis (DA) in this essay will be based on David Black’s model in his DA of Philippians; see David Black, “The Discourse Structure of Philippians: A Study in Textlinguistics”, NovT 37 (1995) 16-49. Unfortunately, space limits a detailed discussion of the method’s principles. In short, DA seeks to identify three features in a discourse: (1) since the primary unit of meaning in communication is found, Filología Neotestamentaria - Vol. XXVI - 2013, pp. 87-108 Facultad de Filosofía y Letras - Universidad de Córdoba (España)