NT James

James is a better psychologist than Freud. His short letter is a masterpiece of progressive thought. He notes–

1. to be holy is to be whole
2. we cannot be respecters of persons simply because they are poor
3. the tongue is a great weapon for evil
4. he explains what pure religion entails
5. he describes what a spiritual outlook entails
6. he believes works trump faith
7. he notes that wars are possible. because of the warring parts of our psyche,
8. he condemns the rich who exploit in order to gain their wealth
   I don’t hear many sermons preached nowadays based on the book of James.

Maybe you should some passages which you find particularly interesting.

The above 8 observations are in chronological order from this short letter, which anyone can read.

I would like to say something about psychology…it is a soft science…it does not deal primarily with morality or ethics…freud and james are both people of interest and they both can be helpful…

James’ psychology is all about morality and ethics! I’m talking about the New Testament James, the bother of Jesus.

I realize that anyone can read it. But they probably won’t. You have to wet their appetites.

Your thesis is that ‘His short letter is a masterpiece of progressive thought.’

You don’t demonstrate this in your post.

For example : 1. to be holy is to be whole
In what way is this a progressive thought? How is James different from the old thought? What was the old thought?

One can doubt that Freud was a good psychologist.

James on spirituality–
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” 3:17 KJV

good idea…hard to follow

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”–1:8
“Purity of heart is to will one thing.”–Kierkegaard.

James does not condemn all who are rich–only those who have gained their riches by exploitation.–
“Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them that reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth,”. 5:4

Reading that, it is a little hard to be sure which “James” you are actually talking about.

This is excellent advice all around, especially in our time when forced into holding multiple thoughts at the same time. Multitasking as it’s called which turns out to be a degenerative mental activity. Advancement, stabilty of mind and purpose consists of only one coordinate namely concentration, the ability to focus as in coherent compared to incoherent light.

On doing or walking the talk–
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” 2:26

You mean William James, don’t you?

Why progressive? Pat Robertson says that those who do not work should not eat. There is this great fear among conservatives that people are getting a free ride which they do not deserve. Jimmy Carter noted that if you cannot help the poor, you are not Christian. That there are people on welfare driving cadillacs is a pervasive myth among conservatives. James’ concern for the poor finds no audience among conservatives. It is a brute fact that one in five American children go to bed hungry. It is a brute fact that the wealth of America is concentrated in the hands of five % of the population. James would have been appalled!