Date

5-20-2026

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Bible Exposition (PhD)

Chair

Jeffrey S. Kennedy

Keywords

Epistle of James, Letter of James, Book of James, covenantal allegiance, faith and works, biblical theology, socio-historical criticism, hermeneutics

Disciplines

Christianity | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

This dissertation argues that the Epistle of James presents faith as covenantal allegiance enacted through communal practices under social and theological pressure. While scholarship on James has frequently separated socio-historical analysis from theological interpretation, this study proposes an integrative reading through the Integrative Critical-Covenantal Method (ICCM). ICCM employs a three-step procedure comprising close textual analysis, text-triggered socio-historical diagnosis, and theological analysis, with integrated adjudication. The dissertation examines seven strategically selected “pressure texts” in James: 1:9–11; 1:27; 2:1–13; 2:14–26; 3:13–18; 4:1–10; and 5:1–6. These passages reveal how James addresses status competition, patronage expectations, economic vulnerability, partiality, rivalry, and injustice within diaspora assemblies. The study argues that James interprets these communal pressures through covenantal categories such as mercy, judgment, wisdom, integrity, and the royal law. Rather than treating works as detachable moral additions to faith, the dissertation contends that James presents works as the enacted expression of living covenantal fidelity under divine evaluation. By integrating socio-historical realities with James’s theological warrants in a disciplined and text-governed manner, this study offers both a fresh interpretation of faith in James and a replicable methodological framework for integrative biblical interpretation.

Download

Share

COinS