Introduction to James

Hello folks, life and my mental state have kept me from posting recently, but I hope to get back into the regular swing of things. I decided the books of Samuel are more than I want to chew right now, so I've put that on the back burner. We are going to leap forward into the New Testament and look at the earliest  written books of the christian Bible. I tried to find a definitive list of the order in which the New Testament books were written and found at least half a dozen wildly different lists that claimed to be what scholars agreed on. Wikipedia has the letters to the Thessalonians, accredited to Paul, as being first. That seems to be the consensus of  liberal christian and secular scholars. Conservatives are the ones that can't seem to make up their minds. Here are some lists:

http://ichthys.com/mail-Bible%20chrono.htm
http://www.biblestudytools.com/resources/guide-to-bible-study/order-books-new-testament.html
http://www.gty.org/resources/questions/QA176/when-were-the-bible-books-written

I am going to start with the book of James because it is unique and stands alone in its style and content. Plus, some lists have it as being the earliest book of the New Testament. Read about the book of James here.

The book claims to be a letter written by James, we will look at who that might be later, because it is unclear. There are a few possibilities concerning authenticity of authorship, either the book really was written by a James, or it is a fake, or it is a reworked version of a James's original letter. The point is that know one can know for sure.

There are various theories concerning the date of the letter's composition, all between the second half of the first century and the first half of the second century. Some scholars believe it is one of the very earliest christian writings. The earliest existing physical manuscripts of James are dated between the mid to late third century. Again, there is a general range but it is impossible to pin down a definitive date for original composition.

The book's place in the New Testament canon was disputed at different times throughout history.