Rich man, poor man in Jerusalem according to the letter of James

Abstract

This article is an investigation into what the Letter of James communicates to the reader regarding socioeconomic stratifications in one of the early Christian communities. Rather than discussing economics in any single section or chapter, the author of the Letter of James makes a number of direct and indirect references to this issue. Dialectical reflections on wealth (“rich”) and poverty (“poor”) occur cyclically throughout the epistle. This is part of the author’s rhetoric, and his aim is to focus the reader’s attention on the tension between rich and poor which was prevalent in the early church and society in Jerusalem. Each time the author returns to this topic he develops the theme further by adding new thoughts on the subject. The main issue that James wishes to address in this regard appears to be the antithesis between the rich and the absolutely poor.