30th January, 2010

DAVID ADAMS

James: Peace Activist And Advocate For The Poor

Jim Reiher

UNOH Publishing, Melbourne, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0977507092

"James: Peace Activist And Advocate For The Poor makes for a personally challenging read. But at the same time, there is a sense here of real encouragement; a gentle push to get us out there and moving, bringing God’s light into the darkness as we live out the life that Christ Himself intended for us."

James is one of those books of the Bible that many of us are probably guilty of overlooking a bit (and may even struggle to find when the preacher asks us to turn to it). But while it’s only five chapters long, there’s much here – as Jim Reiher shows us - to chew over.

Reiher’s take on this epistle, which is believed to have been written by James, the brother of Jesus and an important figure in the early church, provides a refreshing look at the issues which he shows are just as relevant today as they were when it was written almost 2,000 years ago.

He starts in part I by looking at how James has been, in his view, wrongly interpreted in the past. Contrary to the opinions of some James, he says, should not be read as a “string of beads” but as a cohesive whole which was addressing issues of real import to those it was written to.

Nor does he hold to Luther’s view of the letter as no more than “an epistle of straw” (in fact, in reference to the controversial issue of faith and works, Reiher explains in why he believes that rather than oppose Paul’s view of ‘justification by faith alone’, James’ thoughts actually complement it). Or the view of some that in James can be found the theory of a ‘just war’. Indeed, Reiher proclaims James as an ardent pacifist.

Part II of the book contains an indepth exposition of the letter  - complete with study notes at the end of each chapter. Reiher breaks up the text thematically, which means sometimes he is unfolding only a few lines while at others it’s a sizeable chunk. It’s here that he teases out what he sees as the great themes of James - the non-optional call for Christians to be a peacemaker; to look after the powerless, the vulnerable and the poor and not to cozy up to the rich; to be one who works to rein in their tongue; to persevere despite hard times.

This exploration turns up some provocative arguments and takes some interesting turns but perhaps most importantly sheds some light on aspects of the letter that you may have previously found hard to make sense of. For those looking for it, the third part of the book takes a deeper look at some of the background to James’ epistle and some of the key phrases and terms he uses in it.

James: Peace Activist And Advocate For The Poor makes for a personally challenging read. But at the same time, there is a sense here of real encouragement; a gentle push to get us out there and moving, bringing God’s light into the darkness as we live out the life that Christ Himself intended for us.

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