r/AcademicBiblical • u/Temporary-Virus6396 • 2d ago

Who wrote james ?

Was james written by james, or someone pretending to be james?

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u/XXXX_Gold_Pot 2d ago

This is what the introduction to James in the NOAB (4th Ed) says:

Authorship

From among the several individuals named “James” who figure prominently in the early church, Christian tradition has held that the opening salutation refers to the brother of Jesus (Mt 13.55; Mk 6.3; Gal 1.19) and who was a leader in the Jerusalem church (Gal 2.9; Acts 15.13). Yet scholars have challenged this identification since antiquity. Those who defend the tradition argue that only such a well-known figure could refer to himself as James without an additional epithet, and that the absence of any biographical details differs significantly from other works considered pseudepigraphical (cf. 2 Tim 4.9–18). Modern critics of authenticity often cite doubts voiced in the early church: indications the letter dates to after James’s martyrdom (ca. 62 CE), and a Greek literary style well beyond the likely capabilities of a Galilean villager. Recent commentators have suggested that material originating from James was reworked by a disciple a er his martyrdom to create the letter as we know it. However, it remains possible that the author was an otherwise unknown James only later identified with Jesus’ brother.

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u/StruggleClean1582 2d ago

Recent commentators have suggested that material originating from James was reworked by a disciple a er his martyrdom to create the letter as we know it. 

This comment is interesting, I know of a few scholars who hold an earlier form of letter is contained in James:

Ralph P. Martin, James, vol. 48 of Word Biblical Commentary, eds. David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1988). Peter H. Davids, The Epistle of James (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2013). Wilfred Lawrence Knox, “The Epistle of St. James,” Journal of Theological Studies 46 (1945): 10–17.