The Letter of James: Literary Structure, Form and Unity

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the literary structure, form and unity of the letter of James, an investigation which only really began about the middle of the 19th century. This period of time marked a beginning where scholars began to suggest that James was more than a chaotic jumble of sayings and exhortations, a characterisation often describing James in earlier studies. This line of inquiry continued on throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. There still, however, remains a great diversity of opinion and disagreement on the matter. .This thesis offers a sustained study of the literary structure and form of James over seven chapters. Chapter I traces the present state of the question in relation to the literary structure of the letter, and how diverse the range of opinions are. Chapter II focuses specifically on the introduction and conclusion of the letter. Chapter TTI outlines the various methodologies used to decipher the letter’s structure and form, with suggestions on the methods this thesis will take. Chapter IV endeavours to delineate the introduction to the letter while Chapter V focuses on the literary structure of the rest of the letter. Chapter VI will examine the literary form of James which is an important issue that arises from the study of the letter’s literary structure. Here, the epistolary status of James will be assessed. Finally, Chapter VII will then seek to establish the unity of the letter, with a focus upon the themes of perfection and double mindedness as unifying themes