Editing Epistle of James (section)

== Historical context ==
The exact historical circumstances that occasioned the epistle are unknown. Those who understand James 2 as a polemic against Paul or Paul's followers suggest an occasion for the letter aimed at opposing Pauline justification.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Margaret M. |title=Reading James with New Eyes: Methodological Reassessments of the Letter of James |publisher=T&T Clark |year=2007 |isbn=9780567279668 |location=London |pages=75–98 |chapter=The Letter of James as a Document of Paulinism?}}</ref> Others have argued that James' discussion on faith and works does not have Pauline categories in view.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=List |first=Nicholas |date=2020 |title=Problematising Dependency: Soteriology and Vocabulary in James and Paul |url= |journal=The Expository Times |language=en |volume=131 |issue=9 |pages=383–391 |doi=10.1177/0014524620903678 |s2cid=213753372 |issn=}}</ref>

Some scholars have suggested that the epistle was written to both Christian and non-Christian Jews, who continued to worship together before the parting of the ways between Christianity and Judaism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allison |first=Dale C. |date=2015 |title=The Jewish Setting of the Epistle of James |journal=In die Skriflig |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=1–9 |doi=10.4102/ids.v49i1.1897|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kloppenborg |first=John S. |date=2007 |title=Diaspora Discourse: The Construction of Ethos in James |journal=New Testament Studies |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=242–70 |doi=10.1017/S0028688507000148|s2cid=143909889 }}</ref> The warning against cursing people (James 3:9–10) has been read in light of this historical reconstruction, and Dale Allison has argued that "James reflects an environment in which some Jews, unhappy with Jewish Christians, were beginning to use the {{transliteration|hbo|[[Birkat haMinim|Birkat ha-minim]]}} or something very much like it" to curse Christians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allison |first=Dale C. |date=2011 |title=Blessing God and Cursing People: James 3:9-10 |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=130 |issue=2 |pages=399 |doi=10.2307/41304208|jstor=41304208 |s2cid=161277475 }}</ref>

Poverty and wealth are key concerns throughout the epistle, and these issues are likely to reflect the epistle's historical context.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holloway |first=Paul A. |title=The Blackwell Companion to the New Testament |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2010 |editor-last=Aune |editor-first=David E. |location=Oxford |pages=572 |chapter=The Letter of James |doi=10.1002/9781444318937.ch33|isbn=9781444318937 }}</ref> The author shows concern for vulnerable and marginalised groups, such as "orphans and widows" (James 1:27), believers who are "poorly clothed and lacking in daily food" (James 2:15), and the oppressed waged-worker (James 5:4). He writes strongly against the rich (James 1:10; 5:1–6) and those who show partiality towards them (James 2:1–7).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edgar |first=David |title=Has God Not Chosen the Poor?: The Social Setting of the Epistle of James |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=9781841271828 |location=London}}</ref>