List Books » James the Brother of Jesus : The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Authors: Robert H. Eisenman
ISBN-13: 9780140257731, ISBN-10: 014025773X
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Date Published: March 1998
Edition: Reprint
This is the first in renowned biblical scholar Robert Eisenman's projected two-volume examination of early Christianity. Eisenman here sets out a fascinating and controversial theory that puts St. James at the center of the story as the heir to Jesus' teachings.
In previous writings (most recently, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, LJ 2/1/93), Eisenman drew attention to apparent parallels between the Qumran community reflected in the scrolls and the early Jewish Christian community led by James, the brother of Jesus. In his latest work, he attempts to examine further those parallels and to rescue James from "the scrapheap of history." Eisenman believes James's role in early Christianity has been downplayed in the tradition(s) preserved in the New Testament, primarily the Gospels and Acts. Vestiges of the real James are blurred. Eisenman, therefore, chooses to place more confidence in extra-biblical writings, especially the Dead Sea Scrolls, for understanding James and his role in early Christianity; he takes every opportunity to deprecate the writings of the New Testament (except where they can be pressed into service to strengthen his case). At times it is difficult to determine whether the author's goal is to reclaim James or defame the New Testament. This piece of tendentious research is not the key to unlocking anything about early Christianity.-Craig W. Beard, Univ. of Alabama Lib., Birmingham
Illustrations | ||
Acknowledgements | ||
Introduction | ||
1 | James | 3 |
2 | The Second Temple and the Rise of the Maccabees | 13 |
3 | Romans, Herodians, and Jewish Sects | 31 |
4 | First-Century Sources Mentioning James | 51 |
5 | Early Church Sources and the Dead Sea Scrolls | 70 |
6 | The First Appearance of James in Acts | 93 |
7 | The Picture of James in Paul's Letters | 126 |
8 | James' Succession and the Election to Fill Judas Iscariot's Office | 154 |
9 | The Election of James in Early Church Tradition | 185 |
10 | James' Rechabitism and Naziritism | 217 |
11 | James' Vegetarianism, Abstention from Blood, and Consuming No Wine | 258 |
12 | James' Bathing and Clothing Habits | 310 |
13 | James as Opposition High Priest and Oblias | 353 |
14 | The Stoning of James and the Stoning of Stephen | 411 |
15 | The Death of James in its Historical Setting | 466 |
16 | The Attack by Paul on James and the Attack on Stephen | 521 |
17 | The Truth About the Death of James | 553 |
18 | Peter's Visit to Cornelius and Simon's Visit to Agrippa | 598 |
19 | The Apostleship of James, Cephas, and John | 647 |
20 | James the First to See Jesus | 689 |
21 | Last Supper Scenarios, the Emmaus Road, and the Cup of the Lord | 725 |
22 | Jesus' Brothers as Apostles | 770 |
23 | Simeon bar Cleophas and Simon the Zealot | 817 |
24 | Judas the Brother of James and the Conversion of King Agbar | 853 |
25 | The Conversion of Queen Helen and the Ethiopian Queen's Eunuch | 883 |
26 | Judas Thomas and Theuda the Brother of the Just One | 923 |
Epilogue | 959 | |
Chronological Charts | 964 | |
Genealogies | 967 | |
Maps | 970 | |
Note on Translations | 977 | |
List of Abbreviations | 980 | |
Notes | 983 | |
Index | 1037 |