Glaube zwischen Vollkommenheit und Verweltlichung

The author's goal is to have the Epistle of James read and seen against the background in which it was written. He opens by using the letter to the twelve tribes of the Diaspora and the joy which temptation brings in order to prove obedience to God to show that form and content of the Epistle did in fact adhere to a system. He reconstructs the image of the community of readers to whom it is addressed, demonstrating that this corresponds largely to the community in the Pauline missionary field. The author concludes by dealing with the subject of 'James and Paul'. On the basis of his direct knowledge of the Epistle to the Romans, the author of James inveighs against the Pauline justification by faith. He does so because of his perception of a tendency on the part of the Christian church to adjust to the behavioural norms of the 'world', especially in the post-Pauline communities.