The book of James challenges us with the most basic and essential realities of life, driving us to face up to the truth about following Jesus the messiah. James gives us the truth without ornament. He cuts through the kinds of excuses and delusions we cloud ourselves with. It often seems that people speak of faith as if it were a matter of vague and dreamy ideas. People sometimes imagine that a mere intellectual assent to propositions within the creed is the same as genuine faith in Jesus. Others think that believing in Jesus is just about eternal fire insurance rather than actually following Jesus day-by-day. The Book by Book study of James shows how the text destroys these empty notions of faith.