... the early church, (Richards 1994:573). Hayford states that the author identifies himself as simply James, however, the name was very common in it's day, and that there are at least five of them identified in the New Testament, two being disciples. Tradition ascribes the author to Jesus' half brother and hence there has been no reason to question this view. (Hayford 1992:437). Elwell points out that the only other contender for authorship was James the son of Zebedee, however, his early martyrdom (A.D. 44; cf. Acts 12:2) probably removes him from consideration. Still others think that the good, almost literary Greek of the letter, along with the way the author handles the topic of justification (2:14-26), makes it likely that someone toward the end of the first century wrote the letter and ascribed it to James. But this theory is unnecessary and calls into question the honesty of the writer. ...

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