James the Brother of Jesus (book)

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James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls is a 1997 book by American archaeologist and Biblical scholar Robert Eisenman. He is most famous for his controversial work on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the origins of Christianity.

Content

Eisenman attempts to reconstruct the events surrounding the

Clementine Recognitions and Homilies, the Apostolic Constitutions, Eusebius, the two James Apocalypses from Nag Hammadi, the Western Text of Acts and the Slavonic Josephus
.

The central claim is that

Elchasites, Mandaeans
, etc.

In this scenario, the figure of

Jerusalem Church will be composed by James, Peter, and John the Apostle
. According to Eisenman, James was an important religious figure in his own right.

Chronologically, the book moves the events reflected in the gospels closer to the

Simeon bar-Cleophas.[1]

Eisenman continues this discussion in his 2006 book The New Testament Code.

Criticism

Eisenman's book has been met with strong criticism from the academic community, which has consistently rejected his theories.[2]

John Painter, in an 11-page excursus of his book Just James (1997),[3] has consistently refuted Eisenman's thesis. Painter accepts that James was the leader of the Jerusalem church, but concludes there is "no evidence of a direct relationship between James and the Qumran Righteous Teacher".[4]

Another criticism of Eisenman's thesis that James is the Righteous Teacher of Qumran has been made by Philip R. Davies (1999).[5]

Géza Vermes also criticised the thesis within the context of reviewing the book Eisenman co-authored with Michael Wise The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, published in The Times Literary Supplement (1992).[6]

New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman has described Eisenman's thesis as "speculative, fanciful and largely discredited".[7]

Editions

  • Eisenman, Robert (1997). James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Viking.
    ISBN 1-84293-026-5
    .

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Price, Robert M. (1997). "Robert Eisenman's James the Brother of Jesus: A Higher-Critical Evaluation". Drew University. Archived from the original on 2003-08-21.
  2. ^ Davids A. in The apostolic age in patristic thought ed A. Hilhorst p. 200
  3. ^ Painter, Just James Edinburgh 1997, 2005 edition pp. 277–288
  4. ^ JECS
  5. ISBN 90-04-11550-1
    ).
  6. ^ Geza Vermes, Brother James's Heirs? The community at Qumran and its relations to the first Christians (The Times Literary Supplement, 4 December 1992).
  7. ISBN 978-0-06-208994-6
    .

References

External links
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