1. A More Jewish Name
In the first verse, the book is signed by Ίάκωβος "Jacobus" which is just an ancient international form of "Jacob". Do you feel jaded? You should. Who decided the author's Jewish name was such a liability that it needed to be changed to James?
It is popular legend that King James who authorized the 1611 translation of the Bible into English wanted his name in the book. This is categorically untrue. The Geneva Bible (1557), the Tyndale Bible (1526), and the Wycliff Bible (1382-1395) all predate the King James Version, yet they also change Jacob to James in many instances. Good ole king Jimmy seems to be following what many others had already translated as James.
As it turns out there is a legitimate telephone game that goes directly from Yakobus to James. First we should note that the "Y" of Hebrew becomes "I" in Greek (ee sound) and then eventually to a hard "J" in English. In many European countries to this day the letter "J" actually sounds like a "Y" in English (i.e. the modern name Jurgen is pronounced "Yurgen"). So there is no smoke an mirrors in the J. The same thing happens with Yeshua to Jesus and Yehovah to Jehovah.
How did the rest of the changes happen? A la Wikipedia, in languages that don't fully pronounce the "o" of Iacobus, it becomes much more natural to say as Iacombus and eventually Iacomus. Think of it like a thick accent. Eventually the hard "c/k" sound completely dropped out and we are left with Iames as we see in both Geneva and Wycliff.
But if this is so, why don't we read about Abraham's sons James and Esau? If the name Jacob gradually morphed into Jacobus and then eventually James, why not be consistent? Surely, there must be a conspiracy.
Unfortunately, there is no conspiracy, just misunderstood scholars. The early English translators preserved a distinction they found in the Latin (Iacob vs Iacobus). The Latin preserved a tradition they found in the oldest Greek copies of the New Testament itself. Whenever the New Testament refers to historic Yakob, they translate Iacob (as does the whole of the Greek Old Testament). Whenever the New Testament refers to contemporaries it uses their real Greek names, Iacobus. This is no different than the 1st century Jewish historian being called Josephus, or myself being called José in South America. Iacobus is just the Hellenized (Greek) version of Iacob.
Even if there is not an intentional conspiracy to strip Jewishness from the Christianity of the New Testament, it is becoming harder to see it as the centuries and languages roll on by. I suggest that all English translations moving forward restore James to Jacobus in every instance. It is a faithful reading of the Greek text. It is an accurate reflection of the Hellenization of Judaism of the time. And it is sensitive to the modern discussions of the Hebrew roots of Christianity.
2. While you are at Synagogue.
In James 2:2, we find "Suppose a man comes into your meeting..." (NIV). Many other English translations have "your assembly" instead. I understand the accuracy of the meaning, except that in every English translation of this verse the translator purposely ignored the plain sense of συναγωγην as synagogue!
I understand that the synagogue as an official Jewish institution did not arise until three centuries before Jesus. So in most of the Hebrew Bible the word refers to a generic "gathering" rather than official synagogues. For example in Genesis 1:9, the waters are not going to synagogue. They are gathering into one place.
But by the time of the New Testament you can not do that anymore. The world has changed and so has its institutions and its words. There is no credible academic way to translate this word from the first century as anything other than going to Jewish synagogue. James is not telling Christians to go to synagogue. He is referencing that Christians, as reverent Jews, are already going to synagogue as normal practice. This is what all Jesus' followers did, including Jesus.
Why do Christians have church on Sunday then? That is a discussion for another post.
3. A Jewish Message.
So often the Christian message is so wrapped up in who Jesus is theologically and why we need to trust him, that we forget what Jesus himself said to us, what he preached about, the commitments his alter calls were after.
In the book of James, I hear those early notes of Jesus (and John the Baptist). Not about Jesus. Notes Jesus himself preach about. How the rich oppress the poor. Abuse of the migrant field worker. Loving your neighbor by providing for them. I hear the earliest Christian message. I hear the earliest doctrines of Jesus himself. And it is thoroughly Jewish. One might even call this type of preaching Midrash, a way to play upon the nuances of verses and ideas in memorable ways. In this case, I have no doubt that the subject upon which James is reflecting are Jesus own words, sermons, and homilies.
So yes, I feel robbed. Robbed of a debt to a Jewish heritage my English Bible should have given me. Martin Luther mocked James as an "epistle of straw". To the contrary, in the book of James we find unfiltered Christianity, unfettered by Gnostic debates, Greek philosophies, anti-Semitic councils, and European protests. While Jesus may not have written any books himself, in James we have the teachings of Jesus' as described by his own family, a younger sibling, forever following an older brother. It is hard to get better than that. That's about as early as early Christianity gets.
Kuddo's to Mark Wilson, who discusses the impact the unwitting translation "James" has had. He suggests, "the continued use of 'James' is linguistically indefensible and culturally misleading." And I agree with his step approach to a fix. Also thanks to Bill Mounce, from whom many of us learned Greek. From his short post I learned that the KJV was not to blame for this blunder.
Kuddo's to Mark Wilson, who discusses the impact the unwitting translation "James" has had. He suggests, "the continued use of 'James' is linguistically indefensible and culturally misleading." And I agree with his step approach to a fix. Also thanks to Bill Mounce, from whom many of us learned Greek. From his short post I learned that the KJV was not to blame for this blunder.
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