ere are numerous theological topics such as faith and works, prayer, the nature of God, the origin of sin, and wisdom. These issues are all well discussed in a practical manner, yet they all stem from a deep theological root (Moo 35-36).Literary GenreThe book of James literary genre is an epistle or letter. Like the other letters of the New Testament, James has the typical identification of the author, address and greeting. James does not have the personal remarks, references to specific problems or situations, and closing remarks that the other letters of the New Testament contain. When one looks more closely at the letter of James it can be observed that it differs from other epistles. Four features stand out about the specific nature of James. The first and most evident is the strong tone of pastoral exhortation. James commanded the early Jewish Christians to live for and serve God. A second widely known feature is the looseness of the structure of James. It is a book that covers a large number of topics that are not related to each other. A third feature is that James uses many metaphors and illustrations to explain the scripture and capture the attention of the reader. Such images as the billowing sea, the withered flower, the mirror, the horse, the ship, the brush fire, and others are examples of the reason that many readers enjoy, learn and use in a practical manner. A fourth feature is that the book borrows from other sources. James borrows from such sources as the teachings of Jesus, the Old Testament, and the early Jewish books. Understanding the facts scholars have tried to place James into a specific category of literature.The book has numerous categories. One such category is a diatribe or a colloquial genre used to instruct general audiences and which feature short sentences and repetition of material. Another category is paranesis or paranetic literature. This is an unstructured collection of moral admoni...
