A Book For Hard Times

I’ve been reading in the book of James lately and was reminded of just how relevant the book is today.  Many Biblical scholars believe that James was written during a time of economic crisis in the first century.  Specifically, the Roman Empire was experiencing a famine, putting extreme pressure on the Jewish community.  Of course, Jewish followers of Christ were seen as traitors and idolaters by the Jewish religious and political establishment, making them even more vulnerable.  Simply put, these were extremely difficult times which could make it difficult to stay faithful to God and His ways, rather than to take matters into their own hands and attempt to provide for themselves, even if it meant acting in un-Christlike ways.  Sound familiar?  You can see the evidence of the pressure that the original readers of James were under and you can see how James drove the message home by using so many agricultural images while speaking to members of an agrarian society during a famine.

Try reading James again with this background in mind.  I think we may find it easier to put ourselves into the shoes of the original readers and to really understand what God is trying to teach us through this powerful little letter.

This entry was posted on 28 October 2008 at 9:34 pm and is filed under Naturalism, Social Injustice, Social Justice, Humanism, Community, Leadership, Politics, Inductive Bible study, Inductive study method, Contemporary Christianity, Relativism, Sanctity of Life, Spirituality, Morals, Bible study, Morality, Secularism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.