James

It could be said that the epistle of James has had a troubled history in Lutheran circles. Beyond its status as a disputed book in ancient considerations of the canon, James’s apparently contradictory teaching on faith and works can seem quite troubling. In this original translation, Rev. Dr. Curtis P. Giese tackles James with a thorough, faithful commentary. He argues that the book is truly scriptural, written by James the half-brother of Christ, and that the teaching on justification is reconcilable with the rest of the scriptures. Giese treats recent scholarship, giving particular focus to the various interpretations of the structure of James, whether as a disjointed collection of semi-essays or an intentional, integrated narrative. He also extensively treats the reception of James by Luther and the Reformers in the face of pressures from the Roman church.