Lection and Liturgy

Short selections of James are read mainly in the latter part of Year B. 1 The letter, largely full of practical moral guidance in a largely traditional Jewish mode, sometimes has echoes of Jesus’ teaching. Tradition attributes it to James, the brother of Jesus, and nearly all its content fits with the picture we gain elsewhere of James, clearly a leader in the Jerusalem church in Paul’s day. In this prominence of Jesus’ brother in the community, the early Jesus movement is showing that traditional Jewish family and community values were maintained alongside the more radical prophetic note Jesus often sounded. The strongest arguments against James’ authorship are the high quality of the Greek the letter is written in and perhaps the apparently settled and socially unequal nature of the Christian synagogue James is challenging about their behaviour. The question of who wrote the letter does not substantially affect its meaning. 2 A portrayal of the martyrdom of James in...

The Book of Wisdom, or the Wisdom of Solomon, is another of those books whose place in the bible is disputed. Like several of the uncontroversially canonical wisdom books, it links itself with the proverbially wise king, Solomon. Unlike them it was written very late, probably a few decades before the time of Jesus. This means that it also offers evidence of the sorts of beliefs that were important to some groups of Jews at the turn of the eras. One of its most famous sections is most likely to be encountered at funerals. It also occurs as one of the readings for All Souls’ Day. 1 In its original context it may well be extolling martyrs, and reflecting on how God will give justice in the afterlife to those who didn’t receive it in this one. 2 It helps fill out the ways in which belief in life after death was being thought about by Jews close to the time of Jesus. Another reading about death, and more specifically about God destining humans for eternity, comes as ...