A Conference Proposal

So, now that I'm back in St Andrews, I have under 2 weeks to put together a paper to give at a conference hosted at St Mary's College (go to our website, right, for the link): I speak Wednesday, July 19 at approximately 2pm. YIKES! So, I will be very focused for the next two weeks. But since I've been very scattered recently and haven't put much up of what I've been working or teaching on, I thought I'd put my paper proposal up. I proposed this back in, oh, January or February (?) so it may or may not end up being exactly what I write on, but we'll see what happens in the next two weeks! Honestly, I probably don't have time or energy to write on anything drastically different from this... Comments are welcome! (Maybe I should just read the proposal and instead of a 20 minute paper with 10 minutes for questions do a 5 minute paper with 25 minutes for questions...)


The Concept of "Faith" in Hebrews and James

Hebrews 10:19-12:14 has a great deal of similarity in language and illustrations to the Epistle of James as it discusses the topic of faith and the Christian life. Key terms include “faith” and “endurance” which lead to “receiving the promise,” and “righteousness.” Key illustrations include the striking parallel of each text using Abraham and Rahab as exemplars of faith. As such, it seems reasonable to compare the two texts and see whether a comparison of these two general epistles might help with building a broader Biblical theology of faith.

In assessing these texts, I would begin with a comparison of how the two texts deal with the term “faith,” for to both “faith” is a key component of the Christian life. Especially important to the author of Hebrews is the idea of endurance, of holding fast to faith even when under testing or when the outcome is not apparent (Heb 10:32-36; 11:13-16, 37-39; Jas 5:7-11). Additionally, the author(s) both hold the idea that testing can have a positive result for faith (Heb 12:4-12; Jas 1:2-4). In order to endure testing properly, though, and truly have faith, one must also have a correct knowledge of God’s character, i.e., it matters that we correctly know the one in whom we have faith (Heb 10:23; 11:6; 12:2-3; Jas 1:16-18). These just scratch the surface of the parallels between these texts, but make a good start.

Meanwhile, it is interesting to note that, while Hebrews gives a great number of illustrations, two of them parallel the only two illustrations that James uses in his faith and works debate. Abraham is, of course, a common exemplar in the New Testament, but it could be helpful to see how these two authors use him in contrast to the standard Pauline use (Hebrews 11:8-19; Jas 2:21-24). Much more unusual is the use of Rahab, who appears in these two texts and in Matthew 1:5 as part of the genealogy of Jesus (Heb 11:31; Jas 2:25). It might be helpful to ask what is distinctive about her that caused her to be included among the elites of faith, or as a prime example of faith “that works.”

A preliminary conclusion might be a fresh understanding of “faith” as the inextricable link between knowledge of God’s character that leads to right living and endurance despite harship.