The Bold Message of the Book of James

Elsa Tamez has written a book entitled, The Scandalous Message of James: Faith without works is dead, 1990.  Tamez is a Methodist theologian who is also an expert in the OT teaching on oppression.
She brings her considerable OT expertise to bear on the NT Book of James.  The result is brilliant, but sometimes too much scholarly brilliance for the average reader.

On the surface, the book of James seems to be full of incoherent spiritual truths rather randomly organized.  In her short commentary, Tamez distills three interrelated themes:

1. Oppression -- Suffering
2. Hope
3. Praxis, or informed Action

As OT background to NT Book of James, I would like to give my paraphrase of Isaiah 10:2:

"Woe to the rich who withhold justice from the oppressed, who make defenseless widows and orphans their prey."

Tamez highlights the oppression message better than any other scholar on James, but would have been helpful for the reader for her to have tied James 1:27-2:6 to the OT meanings of oppression.
Such as: crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave and kill.
The white American reader desperately needs this perspective on oppression.

Because oppression traumatized individuals and cultures [see Ex 6:9] at a deep level, hope is necessary in healing.  The traumatized need to be reassured that God is still on the throne, that God will have the last word, that there will be judgment for oppression.  In Tamez' words, "God has a preference for the poor, God will judge the oppressors, and the oppressed can anticipate the end of oppression."

Closely related to hope is the call for the church to engage in an informed action.  The church should engage in love-fueled, faith-fueled, works of justice that release the oppressed.  Or in other words, James exhorts the church to combine spirituality and justice, justification by faith and justice.

Conclusion:

The following is Lowell Noble's summary of the book of James.
I draw on the NIV translation for two phrases: "Worthless religion and pure religion."

Here are my thoughts.
1. "Pure religion" when practiced by the church, protects the defenseless widows and orphans from oppression by the world's systems.
2. "Worthless religion" honors the rich oppressors and discriminates against the oppressed poor. Damm the James' Church; it was practicing worthless religion!
3. "Pure religion" combines faith, love, and works of justice to release the oppressed poor.
4. 2018. Christian Community Development is pure religion at the local church level.
For more information, see Mississippian, John Perkins, and his seventeen books on Christian Community Development; or see Haitian, Jean Thomas, author of At Home With the Poor, and director of Haiti Christian Development Fund.