Jesus Dynasty / James Tabor

One question I am often asked when I speak and teach is whether and how Jesus might have been related to the Essenes, and/or the Dead Sea Scroll Community. Now that becomes one question or two depending on whether one equates the group know to us from Classical sources (Pliny, Josephus, Philo) as the “Essenes” with the sect that produced the Scrolls. And what about the site of Qumran? To put things succinctly:

1. Are the scrolls connected to the site of Qumran?
2. Is the group that wrote the scrolls the one known to us in Classical sources by the name “Essene”?

I would say YES, absolutely, to each question, despite those who have argued, even recently, to the contrary.

On the 1st question the archaeology is absolutely clear, see the magisterial work by Jodi Magness, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the introduction to the Scrolls as a whole by James Vanderkam and Peter Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls. There is also a nice opening essay on this subject by James Charlesworth in his edited volume, Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The second question I think is equally clear. If you read the basic Classical sources, namely Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 13 & 18; Jewish War 2; Philo, Every Good Man is Free 75-91; Hypothetica 11; Pliny Natural History 5, the parallel between the Qumran sect and the “Essenes” as they are therein described are overwhelming. I lean very strongly toward the view that the Greek word ’essaioi or ’ossaioi= the Hebrew ‘ossim, meaning the “Doers,” referring to the ‘ossim haTorah, that is the “Doers of the Torah (1QpHab 8:1). It is most interesting that Paul uses this very phrase in Romans 2, as does James in his letter.

The Qumran group considered as apostate those they called the “Seekers of smooth things” (haChalqot), taken from Dan 11:32. In other words those who gave a “light” interpretation of Torah.

When it comes to Jesus and his movement there are some rather amazing parallels with the Qumran/Essene community. Here are some of the more striking elements that both movements shared:

1) Apocalyptic: “This the time for the preparation of the way into the wilderness” (1QS 9) “From the day of the gathering in of the Teacher of the Community until the end of all the men of war who deserted to the Liar there shall pass about 40 years” (CD(B) 2)

2) Prepare the Way in the Wilderness: “They shall separate from the habitation of unjust men and shall go into the wilderness to prepare there the way of Him” (1QS 8)

3) Messianic in Hope and Orientation: “They shall be ruled by the primitive precepts in which the men of the Community were first instructed until there shall come the Prophet and the Messiahs of Aaron and Israel” (1QS 9)

4) Community of the New Covenant: “None of the men who enter the New Covenant in the land of Damascus and betray it shall be inscribed in its Book from the day of the gathering in of the Teacher of the Community until the coming of the Messiah(s) of Aaron and Israel” (CD 8)

5) Water Initiation Rites: “And when his flesh is sprinkled with purifying water and sanctified by cleansing water, it shall be made clean by the humble submission of his soul to all the precepts of God” (1QS 3) “They shall not enter the water to partake of the pure Meal of the saints unless they turn from their wickedness” (1 QS 5) (Josephus)

6) Spiritual Temple is the Community: “He has commanded that a Sanctuary of men be built for Himself, that there they may send up, like the smoke of incense, the works of the Torah” (4Q174) “They shall atone for sins without the flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice and prayer shall be an acceptable fragrance of righteousness” (1QS 9) (Josephus, Philo)

7) Communal Sharing of Property and Wealth: “All those who freely devote themselves to His truth shall bring all their knowledge, powers and possessions into the Community of God” (1QS 1) (Josephus? Philo)

8) Forbidding of Divorce: Fornication is “taking a second wife while the first is alive, whereas the principle of creation is ‘male and female’ he created them.” Two not three or more…(CD 4:20)

What makes these eight all the more noteworthy is that they are characteristic tags of identity, that is matters that define the entire essence and orientation of a group, not peripheral details. And further, as far as we know, neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducess shared a single one of these characteristics.

From this material alone I think we can say that Jesus and his movement fit best against the background or the kind of apocalyptic/Messianic Judaism that we see reflected in the Scrolls. But that is not to say that Jesus or his followers were “card carrying” members of the Essenes. I rather think they were not. There are also sharp and strong differences. The Essenes, at least as we know them in the Scrolls, would have likely considered Jesus a teacher of “smooth things.” His relations with women, Gentiles, even Roman soldiers, and his attitude toward Sabbath observance and ritual purity, as well as other Halachic matters would have seen to them as lax and lacking. I do not think that he violated such things with a “high hand,” but that he interpreted the Torah on the principle that “Laws are for people, not people for laws.” One good example is the Scrolls forbid helping an animal that has fallen into a pit or well on Shabbat, whereas Jesus, agreeing with the Pharisees, asks, “Which of you would not help such a creature on the Shabbat?”

We also have to remember that the Essene community known from the Scrolls tends to be a reflection of the group in the 1st century BCE–nearer to its founding and before it profound disappointment with apocalyptic expectations “Dead Messiahs Who Don’t Return“). Who is to say that all those even loosely associated with the group, a hundred years after the death of the Teacher, would have maintained that original strictness in terms of observing the Torah? I think it likely that scores of “Essenes” and “Essene types” or sympathizers were drawn to John the Baptizer and Jesus and James. That is why I am so fond of Robert Eisenman’s designation: The Messianic movement in Palestine…He does not get caught up on labels and modern disputes about who calls whom what. What links the groups is the language, the core ideas, the vocabulary, and the key concepts they shared. I do indeed think we can best understand Jesus and his movement, before and after his life, in that wider context we see reflected in the Scrolls.

Few English readers of the New Testament are aware that the familiar name “James,” as it is translated in English, is actually the name “Jacob,” or Yaaqov in Hebrew. In other words James=Jacob. It is the same name. In Greek it remains Yakobos, which makes this point quite clear. The name itself occurs about 60 times in the New Testament and according to John Painter, in his worthwhile book, Just James, these occurrences break down into as many as eight different Jameses (or Jacobs): (1) Jacob the patriarch (Abraham’s grandson) in the Hebrew Bible; (2) Jacob the father of Joseph (husband of Mary, Matthew 1:16); (3) James the son of Zebedee, brother of John the fisherman; (4) James the son of Alphaeus (one of the Twelve); (5) James the less, son of Mary and Clophas; (6) James the brother of Joses/Joseph; (7) James, the brother (or father) of Judas (one of the Twelve Luke 6:16); and finally (8) James the brother of Jesus. This can all become rather confusing but I think we can bring some clarity to the data with a bit of examination.

The first three are without question different persons, and #3 is the well known Gospel character, James son of Zebedee, the fisherman. The possible overlap occurs with numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8. Each seemingly separate reference to a different person could well be the same person, and I am convinced this is quite likely. Number four and five agree with the Clophas/Alphaeus scenario which I cover in chapter 4 of my book (possibly a wink to the reader, sons of Clophas/Alphaeus - “oh yeah him”). Number six fits in because the brothers of Jesus were James and Joses. Number seven is also the “other” James of the Twelve, and brother of Judas (and Jesus!), and number eight is clearly a representation of the brother of Jesus. Therefore, each of the Jameses listed here as #s 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 are presented as being one individual represented in five contexts. It is confusing to readers today, but once the identification of this “second” or “other” James is made, these texts fit together rather well. If we leave out the Patriarch Jacob, and Jacob/James the father of Joseph, husband of Mary, that leave only TWO Jameses–James the fisherman and James the brother of Jesus. And that is indeed what we find in the letters of Paul as well as in the book of Acts–two Jameses not six. I not only find the economy of this interpretation convincing, it just makes the best sense to me of the various passages where these “Jameses” are mentioned.

James the fisherman apparently dies quite early on, beheaded by Herod (Acts 12). But what about the “other” James, the brother of Jesus, about which there is so much confusion. Two theories come to dominate in Christian theology, one being the eastern view and the other being the western. The eastern view holds Mary to be a virgin not only at the time of the birth of Jesus, but throughout her entire life. It goes on to portray Joseph as father of four sons and two daughters with another woman prior to his marriage to Mary. He becomes a widower, remarries, and thus brings these six children to the marriage. The western view is stricter in that it holds not only Mary, but Joseph also were strict virgins throughout their entire lives and neither of them ever had any children. These “brothers” and “sisters” are merely cousins, children of Joseph’s brother Clophas, but through another woman named Mary, not Mary the mother of Jesus. In The Jesus Dynasty I present an alternative view.

Jesus was the son of Mary, father unknown, but possibly one named Pantera. Joseph marries Mary but dies early leaving no sons behind. Joseph’s brother (possibly called James for his father), but nicknamed Clophas/Alphaeus, stepped in, as required by Jewish law, married Mary, Jesus’ mother, and they had six children–the four boys, James, Joses, Simon, and Jude, as well as two sisters, Mary and Salome (Mark 6:3). I am convinced, though some argue otherwise, that Clophas/Alphaeus comes from the Hebrew word Chalaf = replacer, to replace, to step in, one who replaces. I am further convinced that at least three of these brothers, and possibly all four, were part of the Twelve. In my thinking this particular theory makes the best sense of all the evidence we have, concerning the James, Alphaeus, Clophas, and the “two” Marys, whom I take to be one–the mother of Jesus.

The Debate Continues…Jacobovici has offered a lengthy and passionate reply on the BAS Web site to Prof. Ron Hendel’s sarcastic and caustic review of his film which Hendel titled: “Viewer Beware”

Last week I mentioned the TV documentary “The Exodus Decoded” produced by Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici with James Cameron. The subject matter is far afield from that of this Blog, which deals with Jesus and early Christianity, as expressed in my book, The Jesus Dynasty, but since Simcha and I are working together on future productions related to my book and its subject matter I thought it worthwhile to mention his Exodus production.

There is a most interesting and fascinating debate about “The Exodus Decoded” between Jacobovici and Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review archived at the BAS Web site. Shanks is not convinced of the merits of the case Jacobovici sought to make on any number of points and the two of them bounce ideas back and forth in some detail.

I wanted to call attention to this particular discussion of the film in that it touches on the broader matter of “faith and history” and how one might or might not go about “verifying” the Biblical text. In principle these issues are front and center in The Jesus Dynasty as well, so I thought readers of this Blog, interested in my book, might find the discussion quite informative, in substance as well as principle.

Spectrum Publishers in the Netherlands has announced that The Jesus Dynasty in Dutch will be released in early October. The publisher has invited me to come for interviews in both Holland and Belgium in early November. If you would like a peek at the cover it is featured on the home page of the publisher and at De Jezus Dynastie.

The Portuguese edition, A Dinastia de Jesus was released over the summer and is apparently causing some bit of stir. I have had just this past week inteviews with the two major newsmagazines in Portugal: Focus and Sabado.

I wanted to call attention to the upcoming Biblical Archaeology Society Seminar in Austin, Texas in September. Details are below, or visit the Biblical Archaeology Society Web site. I have been doing these BAS Seminars now since 1990 and I find them among the most enjoyable and meaningful things I do outside my classes. Participants come from all over the country, drawn by the speakers and the topics, representing a rich mix of ages, experiences, backgrounds, and interests. Everyone is welcome and there is ample opportunity for attendees to have interchanges with the scholars, both in formal sessions and outside.
Dr. April DeConick has just moved to Rice University to take the Chair in New Testament there. Dr. Charles Hedrick is a marvelous scholar retired from Missouri State. I have worked with both of them before and they are not to be missed. I think the topics of this particular seminar are among the most fascinating I have ever seen on such a program. I hope to see some of you there.

James Tabor

The Biblical Archaeology Society Seminar on “Lost Christianties”
September 14-16, 2006 in Austin, Texas

Presenters:

April DeConick
James Tabor
Charles W. Hedrick

Back by popular demand! Our Lost Christianities seminar last fall received rave reviews, so we’re bringing it back in a new venue. One hot new topic has been added: “What’s the Flap about the Gospel of Judas?” a talk by Charles Hedrick. Also sure to draw lots of attention will be speaker James Tabor, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Jesus Dynasty; the book was the subject of a recent cover story in U.S. News & World Report.

Join fellow Biblical archaeology enthusiasts at the Biblical Archaeology Society’s 3-day seminar at the downtown Austin Holiday Inn, situated on the scenic shores of Town Lake on the “hike and bike” trail. Enjoy downtown leisure activities galore within walking distance of the hotel. Spend three days in this stimulating environment learning from eminent Bible scholars and archaeologists. Bring your questions, curiosity and a desire to take advantage of this exciting opportunity!

(P.S. The big Austin City Limits Music Festival is taking place this very weekend, so plan ahead to enjoy the music after the BAS seminar.)

Program Schedule

Thursday, September 14
7:30 AM • Registration and continental breakfast
9:00 AM • Charles Hedrick, “Orthodoxy and Its Earliest Competitors”
10:15 AM • Break
10:45 AM • April DeConick, “What Can the Gospel of Thomas Tell Us about the Jerusalem Church and the First Aramaic Christians?”
12 Noon • Lunch on your own
2:00 PM • James Tabor, “Hebrew Versions of Matthew and What They Tell Us about Lost Christianities”
3:15 PM • Break
3:45 PM • April DeConick, “The Road Not Taken: The Mystical Gospel of Thomas”
5:00 PM • Evening free

Friday, September 15
7:30 AM • Continental breakfast
9:00 AM • James Tabor, “The Lost Followers of John the Baptist (and Jesus!)”
10:15 AM • Break
10:45 AM • Charles Hedrick, “Rewriting the Gospel: John’s Revisionist Heresy”
12 Noon • Lunch on your own
2:00 PM • April DeConick, “A Gnostic Catechism: Who? What? Where?”
3:15 PM • Break
3:45 PM • Charles Hedrick, “Secret Mark: Ancient Fiction or Modern Forgery?”
5:45 PM • Cash bar
7:00 PM • Banquet for all participants with lecture by James Tabor, “James and the Boys: The Mostly Forgotten Family/Dynasty of Jesus”

Saturday, September 16
8:00 AM • Continental breakfast
9:00 AM • James Tabor, “Disparaging Jesus: Roman Gossip and Jewish Legend”
10:15 AM • Break (short)
10:30 AM • April DeConick, “Where Were the Women? The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene”
11:45 AM • Break (short)
12:00 PM • Charles Hedrick, “What’s the Flap about the Gospel of Judas?”
1:00 PM • Conclusion of seminar

About the Lecturers

April D. DeConick
April DeConick is Associate Professor of Religion at Illinois Wesleyan University. Her area of expertise is Second Temple Judaism and Early Christian History and Literature, with specialties in New Testament and apocryphal literature, early Jewish and Christian mysticism, and Gnostic traditions. Her books include: Seek to See Him: Ascent and Vision Mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas (Brill, 1996); Voices of the Mystics: Early Christian Discourse in the Gospels of John and Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Literature (Sheffield, 2001); and Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas: A History of the Gospel and Its Growth (T & T Clark, 2005). The companion volume, The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation, with a Commentary and New English Translation of the Complete Gospel (T & T Clark) will appear later this year. DeConick has co-edited (with Jon Asgeirsson and Risto Uro) a collection of papers entitled Thomasine Traditions in Antiquity: The Social and Cultural World of the Gospel of Thomas (Brill, 2005) in the prestigious Brill series, Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, and has edited Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism (Society of Biblical Literature and Brill, 2006).

Charles W. Hedrick
Charles Hedrick is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Missouri State University. A retired U.S. Army Reserve Chaplain (Colonel) and Juvenile Probation Officer, Los Angeles County Probation Department, he has served as pastor of churches in Mississippi, California, and New York City. Hedrick was a member of the international team (UNESCO) of scholars who worked for several years in Cairo, Egypt, reconstructing and translating the Nag Hammadi Codices and later excavated at the site of the Nag Hammadi discovery. He is a distinguished author, translator and teacher in the academic study of religion. He is the author of numerous books and articles including Many Things in Parables: Jesus and His Modern Critics (Westminster John Knox, 2004), The Gospel of the Savior: A New Ancient Gospel (with Paul Mirecki, Polebridge Press, 1999) and When History and Faith Collide: Studying Jesus (Hendrickson Publishers, 1999).

James D. Tabor
James Tabor (Ph.D. 1981, University of Chicago) is Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is professor of Christian Origins and Ancient Judaism. He has combined extensive field work in archaeology in Israel and Jordan with his work on ancient texts, including work at Qumran, Sepphoris, Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, Masada, Wadi el-Yabis, and with Shimon Gibson, the “John the Baptist” cave at Suba, and the recently discovered “Tomb of the Shroud” in Jerusalem. He is chief editor of the Original Bible Project that is producing a new scholarly translation of the Bible. Among his publications are Things Unutterable (Univ. Press of Amer., 1985), A Noble Death (with Arthur Droge, HarperSanFrancisco, 1991) and Why Waco: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America (with Paul Gallagher, Univ. of California Press, 1995). His latest book (Simon & Schuster, April, 2006) is titled The Jesus Dynasty: A New Historical Investigation of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity.

Location

The Holiday Inn Austin Town Lake is a recently renovated full service hotel located conveniently on the scenic shores of Town Lake near Austin’s central business district. Amenities include complimentary transportation from Bergstrom Airport (6 miles away), complimentary covered garage parking, Pecan Tree Restaurant, sports bar, jogging/hiking/biking trail, fitness room, rooftop heated pool, high speed wireless internet, coffee-makers and more.

Cost and General Information

PROGRAM COST
Registration by August 18, 2006: $385
After August 18, 2006: $485

FEE INCLUDES
All lectures, continental breakfasts, banquet on Friday evening and Continuing Education Units.

FEE DOES NOT INCLUDE
Transportation to and from the Holiday Inn Austin Town Lake, accommodations, meals (except where stated) and items of a strictly personal nature, such as phone, liquor, laundry, etc.

PAYMENT
$100 deposit (payable by check, money order, VISA, Master Card or AmExpress) is due with registration form. Balance is due by August 18, 2006.

REFUND POLICY
Full refund, less $60 per person for administrative costs, if registration is cancelled more than 5 business days prior to the seminar; less than 5 days, some nonrefundable fees may be charged. Cancellation requests must be in writing.

ACCOMMODATIONS
For those who would like accommodations at the hotel, the rate per night is $105 (single or double) plus taxes of approximately 15%. A limited number of lakeview rooms are available for a per night rate of $119 (single/double) plus taxes.

NOTE: BAS will make reservations for those who desire accommodations at the hotel, but payment for rooms is the responsibility of the participant at the time of checkout. We will convey your room-type preference to the hotel but this is not guaranteed. Room availability and group rate may be limited after August 18, 2006 or sooner depending upon demand. Please register early to avoid disappointment.

If you anticipate a need for special services for disabilities or if you have dietary restrictions or food allergies, please send a note with registration or call us.

REGISTER ONLINE NOW!

For More Information
Call: 1-800-221-4644 x221 or Fax: 202-364-2636
Email: travelstudy@bib-arch.org
Biblical Archaeology Society
Travel/Study Department
4710 41st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20016

Those “Biblical documentary” shows have become so ubiquitous on TV that it is hard to keep up with them. I have participated in many dozens of them over the years, some good, but many I am sorry to say, greatly disappointing. In fact, as the years go by I am often susprised to see myself on some ancient TV rerun in the wee hours on Discovery, History, or the Learning channel, looking shockingly younger with dark hair and beard. So many consist of a dramatic stage voiced narration, lots of “talking head” interviews with the usual suspects, and paintings of the Old World masters liberally spashed on the screen. It can get a bit tiring to watch. Recent attempts to add “reenactments” and special effects have by and large fell flat due to poor quality.

Still, from time to time some really good programing does come out in this made-for-TV genre and I wanted to draw your attention to a new documentary that I think really stands out of the crowd, one I think you will not want to miss, no matter what your persuation might be when it comes to the matter of the Bible and history.

Emmy award winning Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici has teamed up with academy award winning director James Cameron (”The Titanic”) to produce an amazingly provocative 90 minute program called “The Exodus Decoded” that will air Sunday night in the U.S. on the History Channel (8pm Eastern & Pacific; 7pm Central; 6pm Mountain). This unusual collaboration has yielded some fascinating results. The documentary is essentially based on Jacobovici’s investigative quest to determine whether the majority of archaeologists and historians are correct in maintaining that the Biblical account of the Exodus is a myth and never really happened. The results of his search are presented with the most amazing special effects I have ever seen in a TV production of this type in which Jacobovici and Cameron operate out of a virtual museum created to illustrate the story.

Jacobovici became convinced that the reason scholars have not found evidence of the Exodus is that they are looking at a period of Egyptian history two hundred years after it happened. Most historians have dated the Exodus (even as a mythological story) in the 1200s BC, during the time of Ramses II. Jacobovici argues that it should be placed under Ahmose I around 1500 BC. Although Jacobovici’s specific case is his own a few scholars have argued for an “earlier” Exodus, usually in the 1400s BC. It would be as if future historians of American history were investigating the American Revolutionary War but dating it 1976 rather than 1776.

Jacobovici also notes that the Hebrew Bible does not speak of crossing the “Red Sea,” but the “Reed Sea” (Yam Suf), and he also comes up with an alternative location for Mt. Sinai, in the northern Sinai area called Paran (Deuteronomy 33:1-2) not the traditional site around St. Catherine’s in the south.

Jacobovici is convinced that the eruption of a volcano on the island of Santorini around 1500 BC is the event that triggered the Biblical plagues that the Bible associates with the Exodus: waters turning to blood, frogs, lice, fire from heaven, darkness, and even the “death of the 1st born,” for which he presents a most intriguing natural explanation. He also focuses on a image of the lost “ark of the covenant” that he found in Greece, carried there, he speculates, by migrating Israelites.

The documentary has received widespread publicity with major stories in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and dozens of other newspapers and magazines, plus an appearance by Jacobovici on NBC’s Today Show (view Part 6) just this past week.

I first met Simcha Jacobovici in Toronto in 2002 at a private viewing of the “James Ossuary.” He is the one who produced the Discovery Channel documentary on the ossuary and I related that story in the Introduction to my book, The Jesus Dynasty (You can read it on-line at the Biblical Archaeology Society Web page). I worked with him on a few of his Naked Archaeologist programs, which have already aired in Canada and the UK and will appear later this year in the U.S., but more recently on a new documentary, also with James Cameron, which at this time is still “under wraps.” I have been impressed with Jacobovici’s film-making skills. Some of you might have seen his award winning undercover documentary “Sex Slaves” that aired on PBS Frontline in February. I have had a lot of offers from film makers interested in producing some version of my book, The Jesus Dynasty, and after much thought and deliberation it seemed to me that Simcha Jacobovici was the obvious choice. We signed a contract earlier this year and will begin working on a multiple part series in 2007.

I have had a chance to preview “The Exodus Decoded” while in Jerusalem in June. It was featured at the Jerusalem Film Festival to standing room only crowds. I can state with confidence that this is one made for TV Biblical documentary that you will not want to miss.

Something of which I am more and more convinced is the paramount importance of James the brother of Jesus to the survival of the Messianic movement in the critical years following the tragic and brutal murders of both John the Baptist and Jesus. Of course, as readers of The Jesus Dynasty know, I am convinced that James was the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” the one who became head of family, leader of the movement, and dynastic successor to Jesus as next in line of the royal lineage of King David. Jesus died in the year 30 AD and the earliest written records we have of the movement come from the apostle Paul in the early 50s AD–twenty years later. The historian John Dominic Crossan called these twenty years the “dark age” of the Jesus movement in that we have no surviving records from those crucial years. What little we know is based on attempts to try to read back what we might possibly construct from later materials–the Q source, Mark and the Synoptic sources, the gospel of John, the book of Acts, the Didache, the letters of Paul, the letter of James, the gospel of Thomas, and other fragmented “Jewish Christian” sources (Hebrew gospels, the Pseudo-Clementines, Ebionite traditions, etc.). James is pretty much written out of the story and it becomes difficult to even imagine how vital he was to the survival and development of the movement in those first critical decades.

One speculation I find appealing is the idea that James and Jesus were very similar in looks, voice, outlook, and personality. In other words, after Jesus was gone the community found solace in the physical presence of James and in gathering around James it was as if the spirit of Jesus was still among them in the person of his brother. I have wondered whether the original idea now embedded in latter part of the gospel of John, about the “Comforter” coming, was originally referring to be James. The Greek word is Paraklete and refers to one who represents or advocates. Later Christians personified this one as the “Holy Spirit” but in the various passages found in the Gospel of John “he” is spoken of in a very personal way, in the masculine gender, very much as one would speak of a person. Jesus says of this one that he will be “sent in my name,” and that he will be a Teacher who will remind the community of all that Jesus has taught them. The Ebionites had this idea of the “Christ Spirit” that “hastened through the ages” and rested upon various ones in a successive way. In other words, the spirit of Truth, that was passed on from John to Jesus, was now being passed on from Jesus to James. Jesus tells them that this one “abides with” them and will be “among” them. This one will “not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

I am convinced that the earliest followers of Jesus and John regained their faith and resolve following Jesus’ crucifixion not by a spirit of ghost of Jesus appearing to them, nor by experiences of the resuscitated corpse of Jesus coming to life and living among them, passing through walls, and finally rising up bodily into the clouds into heaven, but by the living presence of James the beloved brother of Jesus and the spirit that he reflected and exhibited in those dark days of danger and disappointment when the scattered followers migrated back to Galilee after the Passover week ended. To have James with them was akin to having Jesus with them. In terms of historical explanations I think this one makes the most sense and it was James who led the group back to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost or Shavuot, 50 days after Jesus’ death, where they really began to consolidate things and found a new direction and hope for the expectation of the Kingdom of God to which they had dedicated their lives.

Paul does not show up with his version of the “visionary Christ” in heaven until at least seven years later and the story of how that version of things eventually dominated the story that was passed on down to us is one I will cover in the book on Paul upon which I am currently working.

I suspect this Blog will become more and more interesting as The Jesus Dynasty goes into more and more languages and draws responses from around the world, upon which I am sure I will want to comment.

I just heard this week from the editor of the Portuguese magazine SABATO, which I am told is the TIME magazine of Portugal. They want to do a feature story on the book. The Jesus Dynasty was actually published in Portuguese in April (in Europe, the Brazilian is yet to come) and I had helped the translator along with way with many difficult points of interpretation from one culture to another–quite a fascinating subject in itself.

I also was able to view on DVD the German program Aspekte that aired July 14th on nationwide TV all over Europe, in fact friends of mine in Vienna watched it live. Since German is probably my best spoken language I was able to follow it easily and I felt the editor did an absolutely superb job in presenting a fair and balanced treatment of the book. A second segment is due to air the same week the book is released in German in late September with a national ad campaign that will rival what we had here in the US. It is being published by Bertlesmann, a name almost unknown to Americans. Bertlesmann is a media giant and among other things owns Random House, the world’s largest general interest trade publisher. I received a copy of the Fall book catalogue and Die Jesus Dynastie is given a lovely two page spread and it comes up first on their Web site. If any of you want to order a copy of the German edition is you can easily get it via Amazon’s German site.
More to come…

It looks like the verdict is in and most who have responded to the post below (see July 27th) are of the view that this particular Blog, without comments, is the preferred way to go. I appreciate all the input and it seems that the question more or less answered itself by some of the more hostile and testy responses…I will continue the free and open “give and take” dialogue at the Yahoo Jesus Dynasty site and not worry about duplicating it here…

Thanks for your responses, both here and privately to me. One think that has become clear to me is there is an incredibly well informed, kind, and balanced group of folk out there who have read and benefited from The Jesus Dynasty without either slavishly lining up behind all I say or think or becoming nasty and bitter with any disagreements.

This decision is not to preclude comments on individual posts where it might be appropriate…I will indicate such as we move along.

Many of you have read and benefited from Robert Eisenman’s book, James the Brother of Jesus. He just sent me this announcement of his latest work, soon to be released, The New Testament Code. Keep in mind this is a publicity blurb and the book itself is academically based and well documented whether one agrees with Eisenman’s conclusions or not. Eisenman intends his books to be read by any interested but they are not in any way “dumbed down” for the masses. I have had it on order with Amazon for several months now. I have not seen the manuscript as of yet but it promises to be full of interesting and informative materials as are all of Eisenman’s works: