Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition

by John Painter, D. Moody Smith (Foreword)

Just James provides a fascinating treatment of Jesus' brother based on all the ancient New Testament, early church fathers, Nag Hammadi codices, and other early Christian writings. Painter evaluates the importance of this towering figure of the early church whose contributions have been obscured from the consciousness of modern Christianity. The author explores James' relationship to Jesus, Mary's perpetual virginity, James' receipt of special revelations from the risen Lord, and his status as one of the first martyrs of the church.

Genres: Religion, Christian

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

About the author

John Painter (PhD, Durham University) is biblical research scholar and professor of theology at the Charles Sturt University School of Theology in Canberra, Australia. He is the author of Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition and several other books.

Reviews

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book.

[Joseph Adelizzi, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This scholarly pursuit by John Painter to bring James, the brother of Jesus and the most overlooked of the Church's founding fathers, into the spotlight of the early Church was without a doubt beyond my slightly-more-than-casual grasp of the story of my religion in its earliest days. Painter goes into great detail to present the role of James from as many perspectives as possible; for me at times this level of detail felt repetitive, but I suspect for scholars deeply immersed in the finer points such detail was necessary and appreciated. I came away with a deep respect for James, his righteousness, and his determination to keep the message of Jesus in as close a conformity to Judaism, the Law, and Jesus' perceived intent as possible. Maintaining that conformity was not easy given the more liberal view of Peter and the relatively far left approach of Paul, but James seems to have stood firm through his martyrdom, gaining the respect of everyone regardless of their stance on the relevant issues. Unfortunately for James (at a minimum), "the world has always honored winners," as Painter says, so as the Church evolved in a Pauline and Petrine direction, James was forgotten and even written-out of Church history for all but a relatively few dimmed glimpses. Thankfully, Painter does an excellent job shining light on these dim glimpses.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A scholarly look at James.