For a long time the Epistle of James has been judged mainly in relation to Paul. This obscured the view on its own distinct profile. The research of the last three decades has rehabilitated the epistle which is not as dry as its characterization by Luther as an epistle like straw suggests. James, a person otherwise unknown in the ecclesial tradition, writes a paraenetic letter teaching the Christian communities in his setting to pursue the path which has been shown to them in faith, clinging to the word of truth and rejecting the God opposing world. Passionately he advocates a life which is determined in faith and practice likewise by the wisdom of God. He draws a picture of a practical Christianity with clear social ethics but not without theological competence. The epistle displays only few traits of its local and historical context, but there is some evidence that it was written in Rome not before the beginning of the second century.