James 1:5-8 contrasts faith with doubt, saying that a person who doubts is unstable and "double-minded." In this episode, I suggest that "doubt" is not the opposite of belief, but believing two or more conflicting things and vacillating between them.

When James says that God gives the gift of wisdom, he also seems to say that we have to get the prayer right or we will get nothing from God. Is this what he means? This episode uses the story of the desperate father in Mark 9 to suggest a different way of understanding James' meaning.

James 1:5-8 speaks of wisdom as a gift from God, given freely. But what kind of wisdom does he mean?

Again, the main theme of James is the relationship between faith and works. In this episode, we look at both James 1:2-4 and 2:14-18 to see how Christians are like teabags...

Both James and Jesus speak of Christians as becoming "perfect," which can be a little daunting--particularly if we already struggle with perfectionism. How should we understand this?

James 1:2-4 speaks of trials as tests of our faith and occasions for joy. How can this be? And what does James mean by "joy"?

This episode explores what we know about James from the New Testament, and how that affects the way we read his letter.

The consensus among Bible scholars is that the author of the letter of James is the half-brother of Jesus. This episode explores what difference it might make to know this.

There are several people in the Bible named James...which one wrote the letter that bears his name?

This first episode introduces us to the main theme of James' letter: what is the right relationship between faith and works?