Heidegger's Bible Handbook: James: Chapter Summary

The Inscription of the Epistle, 1. The Author of the Epistle was James, not the son of Zebedee, called the greater; nor Justus, called Oblias, of the number of the seventy disciples, but the son of Alpheus, called the less, an Apostle, and perhaps the Bishop of Jerusalem.The fables of the ancients concerning his sufferings, 2. It is inscribed to the twelve tribes of the dispersion, that is, believing Jews dispersed outside the land of Canaan, 3. Its Authority asserted against ancient and more recent men, 4. The occasion for the Epistle was twofold, the afflictions of the faithful and the distortion of the Apostolic doctrine concerning justifying faith, 5. The Argument of the Epistle. Its greatest use at this time, 6. Chronotaxis, 7. The parts of the Epistle are as many as the chapters, inasmuch as it was written in a very free manner. Interpreters of the Epistle, Ancient, Reformed, Lutheran, Roman Catholic; and also a Synoptic Table, 8.