The Role Of James In Martin Luther's Letter

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In the Bible translated by Martin Luther we viewed at Emory, Luther decided to include James but leave it the letter unnumbered and at the end of the book as Luther disapproved of the letter of James. Martin Luther denounced the letter as he upheld a belief that it challenged the Pauline doctrine of justification through faith, a teaching that Luther agreed with (Harper Collins Study Bible). Despite the letter’s canonical status, Luther did not think that the book belonged in the Bible and once referred to the letter as an epistle of straw (Wenham 261). While it appears that James may directly contradict the Pauline teaching that justification comes by faith alone, I believe that Luther should not have excluded James in his canonical translation …show more content…

Of the four possible James in the New Testament, the church traditionally identifies the most plausible author of the letter as James, the half-brother of Jesus, who became an early leader in the church in Jerusalem. The church supports this claim based on the reasoning of the simplicity of James’ introduction, as he would not need to support his prestige in the church with titles of authority. However, scholars believe that the author of the letter may have been a church official who wrote under the name of James of Jerusalem. They base this claim on the reasoning that the author only mentioned Jesus twice in the letter, despite supposedly being the brother of Jesus, and had great understanding in Greek language and rhetoric, which would not make sense as James spoke Aramaic and was a Palestinian Jew (Wenham …show more content…

Most scholars date the book of James to circa the mid-first century between the 50s and early 60s, written before the martyrdom of James and the beginning of the Jewish War in 66 CE since the book directly responds to Paul’s argument on faith and works in Galatians (Brown 287). However, others who hold the view that James may have been a pseudonym for the real author of the book believe that the letter could date from 80 CE or later, as the author addressed the letter to Jewish Christians in communities outside of Palestine (Chester

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