James the Just
James the Just (died AD 62) was the first bishop or patriarch of Jerusalem, to give him the title assigned to him by Pauline Christianity. He was called "the Just" because of his ascetic practices, which involved taking Nazarite vows, unless as suggests he was dedicated "from the womb.".The relationship of James, one of the desposyni or the "heirs of the Master", to Jesus has been rendered problematic to many Christians due to the belief that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and James the Just should therefore be at best a half-brother or a step-brother. This problem is further compounded by the developing dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary; because of this, Jerome (died 420) argued vehemently (De Viris Illustribus, "On Illustrious Men") that James was merely a cousin to Jesus, the son of another Mary, the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the following manner:
- "James, who is called the brother of the Lord, surnamed the Just, the son of Joseph by another wife, as some think, but, as appears to me, the son of Mary sister of the mother of our Lord of whom John makes mention in his book."
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2 Influence 3 The Ossuary 4 External links 5 Bibliography |
Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, quotes Hegesippus' account of James from the fifth book of his lost Commentaries:
Eusebius of Caesarea reports the tradition that James the Just was the son of Joseph, and therefore was the brother of Jesus (as well as Jude) mentioned in Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3, Luke (6:14) and Galatians 1:19. Paul further describes James as being one of the persons the risen Christ showed himself to (1 Corinthians 15:3-8); then later in 1 Corinthians, mentions James in a way that suggests James had been married (9:5); and in Galatians, Paul lists James with Cephas (better known as Peter) and John, as the three "pillars" of the Church, and who will minister to "the circumcised" (that is the Jews) in Jerusalem, while Paul and his fellows will minister to the Gentiles (2:9, 2:12).
Acts provides clear evidence that James was an important figure in the Christian community of Jerusalem, although the author minimizes his presence in that work. When Peter, having miraculously escaped from prison, must flee Jerusalem, he asks that James be informed (12:17). When the Christians of Antioch are concerned over whether Gentile Christians need be circumcised to be saved, they send Paul and Barnabas to confer with the church there, and it is James who utters the definitive judgement (15:13ff). And when Paul arrives in Jerusalem to deliver the money he raised for the faithful there, it is to James that he speaks, and who insists that Paul ritually cleanse himself to prove his faith (21:18).
A debated passage, often characterized as a Christian interpolation, in Josephus' Jewish Antiquities describes him as "the brother of Jesus who was called Christ" and records his death in Jerusalem as having occured after the death of the procurator Porcius Festus, yet before Clodius Albinus took office (Antiquities 20,9)— which has thus been dated to AD 62. The high priest Ananus took advantage of this lack of imperial oversight to assemble a council of judges who condemned James "on the charge of breaking the law", then had him executed by stoning. Josephus reports that Ananus' act was widely viewed as little more than judicial murder, and offended a number of "those who were conisdered the most fair-minded people in the City, and strict in their observance of the Law", who went as far as meeting Albinus as he entered the province to petition him about the matter. Their agitations led to Ananus being deposed as high priest.
Eusebius, while quoting Josephus' account, also records otherwist lost passages from Hegesippus (see links below), and Clement of Alexandria (Hist.Eccles., 2.23). Hegesippus' account apparently varied from what Josephus reports: the Pharisees, upset at his teachings, first threw him from the summit of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, then stoned him, and at last broke his skull with a fuller's club. (Hegesippus' account may be the combination of three varying accounts of James' death.) Vespasian's siege and capture of Jerusalem delayed the selection of Symeon, son of Clopas, to succeed him.
Some scholars, such as Ben Witherington, believe that the conflict between these two positions has been overemphasized, and that the two actually held quite similar beliefs.
Robert Eisenman has set forth a thesis that James and the observant Christian Jews were marginalized by Paul and the Gentile Christians who followed him, a thesis that has been widely criticized for his recreation of the hostile skirmishes between Jewish and Pauline Christianity, relating his reconstruction to "proto-Christian" elements of the Essenes, as represented in the Dead Sea scrolls. Most of the criticism deconstructs as Pauline apologetics, but Eisenman is equally harsh on the Christians at Jerusalem,, whom he protrays as a nationalistic, messianic, priestly, and xenophobic sect of ultra-legal pietists.
Some apocryphal gospels testify to the reverence Jewish followers of Jesus (like the Ebionites) had for James. The Nag Hammadi version of the Gospel of Thomas relates that the disciples asked Jesus, "We are aware that you will depart from us. Who will be our leader?" Jesus said to him, "No matter where you come [from] it is to James the Just that you shall go, for whose sake heaven and earth have come to exist." The First Apocalypse of James (not actually written by James the Just) mentions many details, some of which may reflect early traditions: he is said to have authority over the twelve Apostles and the early church; this work also adds, somewhat puzzlingly, that James left Jerusalem and fled to Pella before the Roman siege of that city in AD 70. (Ben Witherington suggests what is meant by this was that James' bones were taken by the early Christians who had fled Jerusalem).
James the Just is sometimes given credit for writing the New Testament Epistle of James, although it has also been ascribed to James the Great and James the Less. The Protevangelion of James, or "Infancy Gospel of James", a work of the 2nd century, also presents itself as written by James— a sign that his authorship would lend authority— and so do several tractates in the codices found at Nag Hammadi.
The collector was later identified by the Israeli press as Oded Golan, an engineer living in Tel Aviv, who stated that he had bought the ossuary from an Arab antiquities dealer in the Old City of Jerusalem decades before, but had been unaware of the significance of the inscription.
However, on June 18, 2003, the Israeli Antiquities Authority published a report concluding that the inscription is a modern forgery based on their analysis of the patina. Specifically, it appears that the inscription was added recently and made to look old by addition of a chalk solution. Oded Golan, was since arrested and said to have possessed forgery equipment and partially completed forgeries at the time of his arrest.
Life
Jerome adds, "He says also many other things, too numerous to mention." His conception that James went into the Holy of Holies, whether in linen or wool, shows how utterly innocent he was of the most basic Jewish practice. Influence
Modern historians of the early Christian churches tend to place James in a tradition of Jewish Christianity, which was more conservative than the tradition Paul was part of; where Paul famously emphasized faith over actions or observance of Mosaic Law, which he considered a burden, James is thought to have espoused the opposite position. One item commonly cited as proof of this is the Clementine literaure, a novel from the 2nd century, where James appears as a saintly figure, who is eventually killed by Paul. The Ossuary
In the November, 2002 issue of Bible Archeology Review, Andre Lemaire published the report
that an ossuary bearing the inscription Ya`aqov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua` ("James son
of Joseph brother of Jesus") had been identified belonging to an unamed collector. The ossuary
was exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada late that year, although
it suffered damage in transit. A number of experts, including Kyle McCarter and Fr. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, believed that the writing could be dated to the period between 20 BC and AD 70, and an examination performed by the Geological Survey of Israel found that the ossuary did not appear to be a fake. "No sign of the use of a modern tool or instrument was found," the conclusion read in part. "No evidence that might detract from the authenticity of the patina and the inscription was found."External links
Bibliography