I'm beginning a new 6-week study of The Letter of James, New Testament, The Bible. My lectures will be available on this blog after the study is over (that is, sometime in June I will post them). Meanwhile, here is the abstract:
The letter of James is often viewed variously as a set of disjointed instructions to individuals, a call to "faith perfected through works," an impetus for social action. It may even be misunderstood as an embarrassment to Paul's "justification by faith" doctrine. Martin Luther, for example, called it an “epistle of straw.” Today, scholars recognize James as a “witness to the beauty and diversity of the early Christian movement.” In this six-week study we will explore the major themes in James, rich and poor, faith and works, speech and the tongue, enduring testing and wisdom. James is a warning against human “double-mindedness” and a call to Christian “perfection,” a spirituality of perfection in Jesus Christ. Exegesis and Lectio Divina will be used to illuminate the letter's direction for us living in twenty-first century Christian communities.
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