Executive Summary — James (English → Nepali)

Why it matters

James is the most ethically concrete, proverb-dense letter in the New Testament, and its practical vocabulary (works, wisdom, world, tongue, hell, oil, religion) sits closer to everyday Nepali Hindu/Buddhist speech than the more purely soteriological vocabulary of Romans did. The core passage, James 2:14–26 (Faith and Works), is the theological anchor of this curriculum and its single highest-stakes translation unit: a mistranslated ἔργα (works) as कर्म would relocate the entire passage inside the Hindu/Buddhist karma-merit framework the baseline’s Grace doctrine already forbids — turning James’s argument for evidentiary faith into a workshop on merit accumulation.

Key findings

• 62 glossary terms are now fixed for James: 20 inherited verbatim from the Romans baseline, 42 newly introduced and specific to this letter.
• 43 terms (17 Critical + 26 High) require mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence — more than two-thirds of the full 62-term glossary.
• 23 doctrines span the full five chapters (8 Critical, 10 High, 4 Medium, 1 Low), of which 18 doctrines (8 Critical + 10 High) require human theologian review; this is the doctrine-count anchor figure referenced throughout the escalation rules.
• The letter contains two dual-sense splits with no margin for error: πειρασμός (James 1) must split into परीक्षा (trial) / प्रलोभन (temptation), and σῴζω (James 5) must split into निको पार्नु (healing, 5:15) / उद्धार (salvation, 5:20) — the single highest-priority disambiguation rule in the entire package.
• James 2:24 (“justified by works, and not by faith only”) is the highest-sensitivity verse in the curriculum: it must retain its full surface tension in Nepali rather than being softened, with resolution deferred entirely to a mandatory theologian-reviewed reconciliation note tying it to the Romans baseline’s आरोपित धार्मिकता.

Risks

• Karma-merit collision (Critical): ἔργα → कामहरू, never कर्म. This is the load-bearing choice for the entire Faith and Works doctrine.
• Samsara-escape collision (Critical): संसार (κόσμος, unavoidable) is the exact term for the Hindu/Buddhist rebirth cycle; “friendship with the world” (4:4) risks being heard as a call to escape samsara rather than reject a rebellious value-system.
• Naraka-cycle collision (Critical): नरक (Gehenna, 3:6) risks being read as a temporary, karma-adjusted way-station rather than final, once-entered judgment.
• Royal-avatar collision (High): अभिषेक is explicitly rejected for “anoint with oil” (5:14) because of its Shah-dynasty royal-avatar consecration associations, echoing the baseline’s अवतार prohibition.
• Shamanic-frame collision (High): भूतप्रेत is rejected for “demons” (2:19) and “demonic wisdom” (3:14–16) to avoid importing dhami-jhankri spirit-possession/exorcism associations.
• Caste-hierarchy resonance (High): Favoritism and the Poor (2:1–9) and Imago Dei (3:9) directly confront a hierarchy-of-persons logic with live resonance given the Muluki Ain’s formal, until-1963 codification of caste status as state law.
• Cross-curriculum contradiction risk (Critical): without the mandatory reconciliation note, James 2:24 and the Romans baseline’s justification-by-faith-alone rendering can read as scripturally self-contradictory to a learner moving between the two curricula.

Opportunities

• James’s vivid, concrete imagery (bridle, rudder, mirror, farmer awaiting harvest, spark and forest fire) translates naturally into plain, high-impact Nepali without requiring heavy Sanskrit tatsama vocabulary — supporting the Class 8–10 reading-level target for a young, first-generation Christian readership.
• The letter’s practical ethics (favoritism, speech, patience, mutual confession) offer strong opportunities to reinforce Nepal-specific doctrinal clarity established in the Romans baseline (grace vs. merit, personal providence vs. fate) using fresh, non-repetitive test cases.
• Fixed cross-reference anchors (James 2:23 / Romans 4:3; James 5:15 vs. 5:20) give Phase 2 translators unusually precise, mechanically checkable validation rules, reducing reviewer burden on the most doctrinally sensitive verses.

Recommended actions

1. Load assets/translation_memory.json (James) and analysis/12_ai_translation_requirements.md (James) into every Phase 2 session alongside, never in place of, the Romans baseline package.
2. Route all 8 Critical-tier James doctrines and the Faith-and-Works Critical doctrine to mandatory human theologian review with no auto-approval path, per the escalation rules.
3. Enforce the two mandatory dual-sense splits (परीक्षा/प्रलोभन; निको पार्नु/उद्धार) as automatic validation gates before any James 1 or James 5 segment is accepted.
4. Require the James 2:24 reconciliation note on every occurrence without exception, cross-linked to the Romans आरोपित धार्मिकता entry.
5. Brief native speaker reviewers on the four Medium-risk doctrines (mercy/compassion, double-mindedness, truthful speech/oaths, church leadership) so Critical/High theologian review capacity is reserved for the 18 doctrines that require it.