Among Protestants the Letter of James rarely gets a lot of playing time. In seminary students learn that Martin Luther, who fought to have the Bible available in the vernacular so everyone could read it for themselves, dismissed James as “an epistle of straw” — although whenever a professor quoted that, I always was reminded how the baby Jesus came to Earth cradled in straw.

Why did Luther have trouble with the Epistle of James? First, the name of Jesus only appears twice in the entire letter (1:1; 2:1). Second, there is no direct reference to Jesus’ death or his resurrection. Third, throughout James the Jewish roots of the author and the community to which he is writing influence the text. Although this community is now comprised of Jesus followers, there is a deep, abiding respect for the…