Introduction to the Study of James

The Month of the Bible

The Book of James

Imagine going through life and always needing a curriculum.  Sure, these were helpful in secondary and post-secondary education, technical schools, military education and training, and other instances where instruction is involved.  Most were didactic, instructor-led, and in some ways scripted.

At some point you learned to learn without rigid curriculum.  One of the precepts of Adult Education is that life experience matters and who better to tie experience to the subject matter than the learner himself.  A second precept is that at the outcome of the adult learning experience, learners may have more questions than answers.  This is actually a good thing.  There should be a hunger to learn more.

One problem with adult learning is that relying too much on experience and not much on new 

material produces confirmation of what we already know without new learning.  In order to advance learning, the hunger to learn must remain and drive future learning.  That learning must reach beyond the classroom setting.

In fact, that learning must exceed the learning obtained in the classroom setting.  This is not just Bible study and reading commentaries, but discussion of the subject matter with contemporaries throughout the week.  This is the As iron sharpens iron, so too does one person sharpen another method.

This is the foundation for our month-long study of the Book of James.  It is a chance to increase our level of individual study while concurrently increasing our iron sharpens iron time during our out of class time.

This model moves us from instructor-led to student-led with the instructor serving mainly as moderator.  For this to work, each student must commit to reading the assigned chapter daily.  The chapters in James are short and full of challenges.  In short, they are easy reading and ripe with challenges to discuss. 

For practical purposes, we are using a mentoring model.  We as adult learners—sometimes assisted by a moderator—must balance challenge (new learning) with support (those things we already know and are comfortable with).  Only in this balance do we see growth.

As the journey through James continues, the worksheet will contain fewer instructor notes and links and greater reliance upon student preparation.  Teachers should not be limited to what is on the worksheet.  Some may have or find good object lessons or anecdotes that go with the lesson.  In groups that need a warm up activity, the instructor should include one but move quickly to the subject matter.

What does this amount to as far as a minimal commitment?  If you just wanted to do the minimum, that would be about 10 minutes a day.  If you are serious about learning God’s word, you will invest more.  Most of your Bibles have a concordance that will send you elsewhere in the Bible.  Sometimes only a name or word is found at the destination text.  This can be frustrating if you were looking for a continuation of the thought or concept.

Some will want to read commentaries. These are good, but come with some cautions.  Don’t take a commentary at face value.  Treat it as a provocation—something to be investigated.  Treat it as a challenge per the mentoring model.  Some commentaries are right on the money and others twist the words of God in subtle ways.  Beware of commentaries that use red herrings and non-sequiturs skillfully. 

Go ahead and read them but get Berean and search the scriptures to assess their validity.  Commentaries can also become rabbit trails in class.  Venture down them if you think it prudent, but get back to the core subject as presented by James quickly.

What will you need for this study?

Your Bible.  Read it at home.  Bring it to class.

Note taking material.  Take notes during the week.  Discuss them before class and during class.

Book marks.  You will want to mark some concordant scriptures in your Bible.  You may also want to mark some that may be a challenge to reconcile with what you read.  Welcome to real biblical study.

Commitment.  A minimum commitment is reading the prescribed chapter each day.  This will likely not even take 10 minutes.  Hopefully, you will hunger for and read more.  There is no guarantee that this approach is the best for you or your class, but you cannot give it a fair evaluation without at least the minimal commitment for a month.

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Mission.  The book of James is to be the central instruction in Sunday school classes, Wednesday evening classes, and will be the basis of messages in our worship services. 

Intent.  To increase our biblical learning and test a model for future learning in this congregation.

Objectives.  These are some basics that we hope to accomplish.

Focus.  Understand that our objectives are not a singular interpretation but a singular focus.  Let’s examine God’s word and see what the Holy Spirit wanted the biblical author to convey to his original audience and to us.  Let’s stick to the designated scriptures and practice sound exegesis.  That is, let’s not try to put what we believe into the scriptures but dig into them to find out what God wants us to learn.

Learning beyond the classroom.  Personal study combined with sharing and discussion outside of the classroom increase learning.  Continuing conversation helps us find what God’s word has to say.

Putting words into practice.  James would call this being doers of the word.  Our discussions and conversations in and out of class must lead us to what will we actually do?

A Model for the future.  By the end of this month, if the majority of participants put in the minimum of what amounts to an hour per week, we should be prepared to tackle any book in the Bible without purchased or locally produced curriculum.  If participants complete this month not only with an increased hunger to study the word of God but to discuss it throughout the week, then we as a congregation will experience growth as never before.

Evaluation.  Let’s begin with the end in mind.  At the end of this month, you will be asked to evaluate what you just did.  To provide a true evaluation, you must participate at least at the minimum level.  Make evaluation notes throughout the month.

In Process Evaluation.  At the end of each classroom period, take a few minutes to assess what was effective, what was not, and what needs to be included going forward.

Remember the root of the word evaluation is not test but value.  At the end of this month you will be asked to convey your evaluation of our study to your elders serving on the session.  What value did you find in this model?

If you don’t talk with an elder, we will presume you found no value.

If you didn’t put in the minimum time required, please do not attempt to evaluate.

If you do want to evaluate this months’ worth of education, then consider the following possibilities.  You are not limited to these.  These are to stimulate your valuative processes.

It was interesting but not effective for me.

It was interesting and an effective learning method for me.

Too much was required of me.

The method did not overwhelm me.

I need instruction that is mainly instructor-led.

I need printed curriculum every week.

I enjoy the adult learning model.

I’m not really interested in studying the Bible any more than I do now.

I would commit to a similar methodology for a year.

Other:

This introduction and the James worksheet are online.  Many of the scriptures that you see referenced in the worksheet are linked to the scripture itself online.

We also have a Study of the Book of James Facebook page where participants may share comments.

Go to the study guide...