JM
Puritan Board Doctor
linkMost writing from before 200 do not mention the Epistle of James. One significant text does quote James: The Shepherd of Hermas, written before 140. The theologian and biblical scholar, Origen, quotes James extensively between 230 and 250. He mentions that James was Jesus' brother, but does not make it clear if the letter is scripture. Hippolytus and Tertullian, from early in the third century, do not mention or quote James. Cyprian of Carthage, in the middle of the third century, also makes no mention. The "Muratorian Canon," from around 200, lists and comments on New Testament books, but fails to mention James, Hebrews, and 1 and 2 Peter.
Yet by 340 Eusebius of Caesarea, an early Christian historian, acknowledges that James is both canonical and orthodox, and widely read. However, he categorizes it, along with the other catholic epistles, as "disputed texts". Two Greek New Testaments from that time each include James, along with the other catholic epistles. In 367 Athanasius lists the 27 New Testament books we presently use as the definitive canon. Read Eusebius' Commentary.
But the battle for James was not won. Bishops in 428 and 466 rejected all the catholic epistles. Early bibles from Lebanon, Egypt, Armenia, India and China do not include James before the sixth century. A ninth century manuscript from Mount Sinai leaves out the catholic epistles and the Syriac Church, headquartered in Kerala, India, continues to use a lectionary without them still today.
In the western church the controversy continued as well. Jerome delivered a Latin translation of the New Testament, including James, in 384. He comments that James "wrote only one Epistle, which is reckoned among the seven Catholic Epistles, and even this is claimed by some to have been published by some one else under his name, and gradually, as time went on, to have gained in authority" (De vir. ill 2 as quoted in. In 426 Augustine's On Christian Learning moves James to the end of the catholic epistles.
Just wondering what you folks thought.
j