THE BOOK OF JAMES is something of an oddity. James combines practical instructions with a rugged assurance independent of other voices in the New Testament choir. E. Thurneysen has said that “James preaches Jesus Christ, His cross and resurrection, the power of forgiveness and the obedience of faith, and nothing else; but he preaches this in his own peculiar way.”1 C. F. D. Moule writes that James “reflects a type of Christianity as different as can well be imagined from the Pauline or Johannine, yet one that confesses Jesus as Lord … believes in rebirth by God through the Gospel … and looks forward to a denouement….”2 It is a “timeless document,” to borrow a phrase from J. A. T. Robinson,3 and its clear ethical guidance and evident connection with the teaching of Jesus have made it a challenging favorite of Christians over the centuries. This combination I have found fascinating since I spent a term in seminary studying James. It offers us a picture of early Christians as they wrestled with the application of the life and teachings of Jesus in the concrete landscape of their own lives. It is a book that challenges, affirms, unsettles, and convicts, but one that will not be trivialized. Its message, I believe, needs to be heard today.
A project such as this cannot be completed without a significant amount of assistance from one’s community of family and friends. I am grateful to North Park University for granting me a course reduction to allow time to complete this book. Among the many individuals who deserve mention I would like to extend warm thanks to editors Jack Kuhatschek and Terry Muck, each of whom made many useful suggestions and provided needed encouragement. Verlyn Verbrugge not only edited the manuscript but did so in a way that placed me deep in his debt. For this, and for his warm spirit, I thank him. My colleagues Scot McKnight and Sonia Bodi read the entire manuscript and at many points offered the benefit of their wise advice. I treasure their support and friendship. I am also grateful to professors Daniel de Roulet and Klyne Snodgrass of North Park for their warm interest. To my brother, Professor Bradley Nystrom, I also offer my thanks. He is a companion, friend, and in many ways a model for me. No litany of thanks would be complete without mention of my friend and former teacher, Professor L. D. Hurst, from whom I learned so much. Finally, I wish to thank my parents, Paul and Aileen Nystrom, and my wife, Kristina. To them I dedicate this volume.
David P. Nystrom
Summer, 1997