Luther fan that I am, I have a huge soft-spot in my heart for the whole idea of the NT promoting Christ. You know, the whole life death and resurrection of Jesus thing? I tend to think that stuff is pretty important in defining Christianity and setting the trajectories for faithful Christian action. The idea that Christianity is inherently “cruciform,” in both message and life, is something I have tremendous sympathy for.
This has me wondering: how should we teach or preach James in an ecclesiastical context?
As is well known, the book is almost entirely devoid of overt references to Jesus (it contains two clear ones). Folks have often pointed out that the book seems to echo a tremendous amount of Jesus’ teaching, especially from the Sermon on the Mount.
But the huge difference between the Sermon and James is that the Sermon is ultimately about Jesus and Jesus’ authority as God’s messenger. In James, this is nowhere to be found.
So here’s the question: Should we Christianize James when we teach it in settings of Christian instruction and/or worship? That is, should we intentionally provide additional frames of reference that the book itself does not have so that it becomes a clear participant in the Christian story rather than book of more or less generic “wisdom” and “instruction”?
For me, I would definitely do this if teaching on the Old Testament in such a venue. I’m curious what other people think about Christ-izing part of the New?
