An R&E web exclusive by Benedicta Cipolla
When
Hillary Clinton,
a Methodist, discusses her faith, she almost always quotes her favorite
passage from the Book of James: "faith without works is dead."
In 2004, John Kerry, a Catholic, also invoked the
New Testament epistle on the presidential campaign trail, citing the
same chapter as Clinton (James 2: 14-26) during appearances in churches
and in his final debate with George W. Bush: "There's a great passage
of the Bible that says what does it mean, my brother, to say you have
faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead. And I think
everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith,
affected by your faith....That's why I fight for equality and justice.
All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of
faith."
And when Al Gore, a Baptist, speaking at the annual NAACP convention in
2000, wanted to drive home his accusation that Bush's interest in black
voters was merely a shallow political maneuver, he, too, turned to
James: "Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my
faith by my works."
The repeated references to James highlight an often overlooked and
controversial book of the Bible. For centuries its supposed conflict
with Paul's letters and the Protestant doctrine of justification by
faith alone relegated it to the sidelines of biblical scholarship, and
only recently has it enjoyed more attention.
"'Faith without works is dead' translates politically into 'rhetoric
without action is dead,'" said Kevin Coe, coauthor of THE GOD STRATEGY:
HOW RELIGION BECAME A POLITICAL WEAPON IN AMERICA (Oxford University
Press, 2007).
James stresses the theme of faith in action perhaps more than any other
single book of the New Testament. Unlike other New Testament letters,
many of them attributed to Paul, James plays down dogma in favor of
practical ethical guidelines that center on loving one's neighbor and,
in particular, serving the poor.
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