Epistle of James: Difference between revisions

During the [[Reformation]] era, Martin Luther took issue with the epistle on theological grounds, finding James' description of faith and works incompatible with his understanding of justification. Reportedly, he once went as far as to assert "I almost feel like throwing Jimmy{{efn|"Jimmy" is short for "James", which is how the Epistle of James is often referred to.}} into the stove", a metaphor for his being tempted to remove the Epistle of James from the Bible.<ref>Martin Luther, Career of the Reformer IV, ed. Helmut T. Lehmann and Lewis W. Spitz, Luther’s Works 34 (St. Louis: Concordia, 1960), 317</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-epistle-of-straw-reflections-on-luther-and-the-epistle-of-james/|title=The “Epistle"Epistle of Straw”Straw": Reflections on Luther and the Epistle of James}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Schaff|first=Philip|title=History of the Reformation|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7.ii.iv.iv.html|quote=The most important example of dogmatic influence in Luther's version is the famous interpolation of the word alone in Rom. 3:28 (allein durch den Glauben), by which he intended to emphasize his solifidian doctrine of justification, on the plea that the German idiom required the insertion for the sake of clearness.464 But he thereby brought Paul into direct verbal conflict with James, who says (James 2:24), "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" ("nicht durch den Glauben allein"). It is well known that Luther deemed it impossible to harmonize the two apostles in this article, and characterized the Epistle of James as an "epistle of straw," because it had no evangelical character ("keine evangelische Art").}}</ref> Luther nonetheless chose to include James from his German translation of the Bible, though he moved it (along with Hebrews, Jude, and Revelation) to the end of the Bible.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=George |first=Timothy |date=1986 |title='A Right Strawy Epistle': Reformation Perspectives on James |journal=Review & Expositor |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=373 |doi=10.1177/003463738608300303|s2cid=13308580 }}</ref>