Christopher Morgan, professor of Theology at California Baptist University has written a cogent, succinct, and faithful book on the message and theology of James. This work is unique in that it does not seek to become overly enamoured in exegetical detail that it misses the overarching thematic structure of James, nor does it just survey the broad themes of James without reference to specific texts. The series, Explorations in Biblical Theology, is designed for the purpose of taking the careful insights of exegesis and wedding it to the theological message of a particular book or idea. Morgan states this up front by way of analogy, "If we wanted to survey a large tract of land, we might do so from various points of view. We might walk through it, drive through it, or fly over it in a helicoptor...walking through it would be be like biblical exegesis...Flying over it is like systematic theology, as it orients us to the major contours of the land. Driving through it is comparable to biblical theology, as it cover the bulk of the terrain and yet gives fairly broad perspective" (xvi). Taking the insights of exegetical work while seeing the need for an overall theology of the book, Morgan drives the car right in between these two methods.
In chapter 1 Morgan takes up the traditional contextual approach of identifying the context in which the book of James is found (question of authorship,date, recipients, overall structure). He comes down on the side that the author is James, the brother of Jesus drawing upon evidence that he is the only viable James in the NT, church history support, and the similarity in Greek between the Acts 15 speech and the epistle of James, and lastly because of the Jewish flavor of the work (9). After surveying James' influences in chapter 2, Morgan gets into the pastoral burden of the book. This section is by far my favorite part of the whole book. Morgan identifies the identifying center of the book as "wisdom for consistency in the community" (42). What does this mean for him? Two things emerge as Morgan continues with regard to this center. First, wisdom for consistency is a necessary quality that the recipients of James' letter need for the maturity of their faith. Whether it is suffering, the poor, speech, or worker/boss relations, seeking wisdom for God goes a long way in providing a strengthening faith. Morgan goes onto to speak of how the epistle and its particular issues are directly tied to community and their reponse to pull together in seeking wisdom in concert with a consistent mind. Enduring trials, watching the tongue, not showing favoritism, slandering, even prayer are done well only in a community seeking God's wisdom (43-44). Morgan readdress the issue of consistency in the church later on in the book when considering the James' idea of faith producing good works (137).
Another part of this work that is very helpful in understanding the theology of James is the chapter on A Sketch of James's Theology. Readers will appreciate the very clear presentation of material done in a systematic mannner. Secondly, Morgan is quick to understand in the chapter that theology and ethics are never to be wholly separated in James, for he is man who believes ethics is grounded in what we believe about God, Jesus, the Law, God's Word.
The last chapter is written with an eye towards application of James' theology and teaching. The application that was most helpful for me was his insistence that we not lose sight of James' exhortation that covenant faithfulness makes demands upon our life. We believe in the covenant, yet sometimes we are not good at dealing with the demands of that covenant. "Salvation is all of grace, but that grace is never divorced from our fruit or perseverance" (188).
Overall, this book was an excellent intermediate resource on building a theology of James. The traditional exegetical questions are answered and yet we are not left with a treatise on the Greek text of James, but an overall picture of his theology and the concerns that he addressed. If you want to dig into the epistle of James with a sure guide, this is it.
In chapter 1 Morgan takes up the traditional contextual approach of identifying the context in which the book of James is found (question of authorship,date, recipients, overall structure). He comes down on the side that the author is James, the brother of Jesus drawing upon evidence that he is the only viable James in the NT, church history support, and the similarity in Greek between the Acts 15 speech and the epistle of James, and lastly because of the Jewish flavor of the work (9). After surveying James' influences in chapter 2, Morgan gets into the pastoral burden of the book. This section is by far my favorite part of the whole book. Morgan identifies the identifying center of the book as "wisdom for consistency in the community" (42). What does this mean for him? Two things emerge as Morgan continues with regard to this center. First, wisdom for consistency is a necessary quality that the recipients of James' letter need for the maturity of their faith. Whether it is suffering, the poor, speech, or worker/boss relations, seeking wisdom for God goes a long way in providing a strengthening faith. Morgan goes onto to speak of how the epistle and its particular issues are directly tied to community and their reponse to pull together in seeking wisdom in concert with a consistent mind. Enduring trials, watching the tongue, not showing favoritism, slandering, even prayer are done well only in a community seeking God's wisdom (43-44). Morgan readdress the issue of consistency in the church later on in the book when considering the James' idea of faith producing good works (137).
Another part of this work that is very helpful in understanding the theology of James is the chapter on A Sketch of James's Theology. Readers will appreciate the very clear presentation of material done in a systematic mannner. Secondly, Morgan is quick to understand in the chapter that theology and ethics are never to be wholly separated in James, for he is man who believes ethics is grounded in what we believe about God, Jesus, the Law, God's Word.
The last chapter is written with an eye towards application of James' theology and teaching. The application that was most helpful for me was his insistence that we not lose sight of James' exhortation that covenant faithfulness makes demands upon our life. We believe in the covenant, yet sometimes we are not good at dealing with the demands of that covenant. "Salvation is all of grace, but that grace is never divorced from our fruit or perseverance" (188).
Overall, this book was an excellent intermediate resource on building a theology of James. The traditional exegetical questions are answered and yet we are not left with a treatise on the Greek text of James, but an overall picture of his theology and the concerns that he addressed. If you want to dig into the epistle of James with a sure guide, this is it.
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