The Historical Biblical James

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that James was a preacher, a self-taught man who loyally followed his brother, Jesus Christ, and whose contribution to the Bible is the "Letter of James". The writer maintains that there was a historical Jesus, a historical James, and that the two were indeed brothers. From this, one can conclude that James wrote his epistle, and that the 'Book of James' is an authentic letter sent from the author to the Jews of the Diaspora to teach them how to live as Christians. The physical evidence of the ossuary of James simply adds weight to this discussion. The writer concludes that James was a brother of Jesus and he wrote the 'Letter of James', which then came to be seen as the core instructional tract on how to work and live as a Christian.

From the Paper:

"While the Bible mentions several Mary's, and at least three different James', thus putting into question which, if any, of the James' wrote the letter, there was only one that was the brother of Jesus. This James is the one that became the head of the Christian church in Jerusalem and thus by extension the head priest for all of the Christian Jews in the Diaspora. Thus, for a letter such as this to have had any real impact, it would have had to have been written by a very powerful man - how else could it have been disseminated? Therefore, the authority of James the brother of Jesus is established as well as the appropriateness of that James in the authoring of the epistle. What then additionally supported the validity of the claim of James to have been Jesus' brother is not the references to that relationship in Mark and other parts of the Bible, but the 2002 discovery of the Ossuary of James."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Baukham, R. (1999). James: Wisdom of James, Disciple of Jesus the Sage. Oxford, UK: Routledge.
• Johnson, L.T. (2004) Brother of Jesus, Friend of God: Studies in the Letter of James. New York: W. B. Erdmans Publishing.
• Oommen, V.T. (2003). Evidence of Jesus Written in Stone. Biblical Archaeology Review. Dec/Jan, 2003. 12:2. Pp12-31.
• Painter, J. (1999). Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress.
• Ramsey, W. M. (1994). The Westminster Guide to the Books of the New Testament. Louisville, KY: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation.

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