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James and 1, 2, and 3 John

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of James
    18 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. Lesson Two
    James and Scripture
    19 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    1 John
    21 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    2 and 3 John
    21 Activities
  5. Lesson Five
    Proto-Gnosticism
    13 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

Participants 23

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James and 1, 2, and 3 John Overview of James In Front | James and Kierkegaard
Lesson 1, Activity 17

In Front | James and Kierkegaard

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While the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard might appear an unlikely companion for our study of James, he had a deep attachment to the book and declared it to be his favorite book of the Bible. He referred to James 1:17-21 as “my first, my favorite text” and “my first love,” or “my only love.” Kierkegaard admired James for a number of reasons, but one of them was this book’s insistence on authentic Christianity, and accountability to the gospel of Jesus.

Throughout his life, Kierkegaard criticized official Christianity for being inauthentic and un-Christlike. He believed that the true gospel was ignored because it asked too much of people, for being too demanding in its encouragement to follow Jesus:

Most people really believe that the Christian commandments (for example, to love one’s neighbor as oneself) are intentionally a little too severe—like putting the clock on half an hour to make sure of not being late in the morning.  

Kierkegaard insisted that we take the gospel seriously and accept Jesus’ teachings at face value when Jesus said our righteousness should surpass that of the Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). Kierkegaard accused Christian scholarship of objectifying and dulling a living text and softening its demands on our lives:

Christian scholarship is the human race’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the New Testament, to ensure that one can continue to be a Christian without letting the New Testament come too close. 

What is needed to become better Christians, in his view, is not more exacting scholarship, but a more exacting application of texts like James to our spiritual lives. Part of the special value of James for Kierkegaard was in the fact that it represents a life of faithfulness from the perspective of a steadfast and mature Christian:

[James] does not stand at the beginning, but rather at the end of the way, the narrow but good way which he had chosen in renunciation of everything, pursuing it invariably and without a backward look, hasting towards eternity with stronger and stronger strides.

Kierkegaard quoted from: Richard Bauckham, James: Wisdom of James, disciple of Jesus the Sage, 1999, pp. 11, 158, 160, 270.`