The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity [Paperback]

Jeffrey J. B?tz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2005

Reveals the true role of James, the brother of Jesus, in early Christianity

• Uses evidence from the canonical Gospels, apocryphal texts, and the writings of the Church Fathers to reveal the teachings of Jesus as transmitted to his chosen successor: James

• Demonstrates how the core message in the teachings of Jesus is an expansion not a repudiation of the Jewish religion

• Shows how James can serve as a bridge between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam

James has been a subject of controversy since the founding of the Church. Evidence that Jesus had siblings contradicts Church dogma on the virgin birth, and James is also a symbol of Christian teachings that have been obscured. While Peter is traditionally thought of as the leader of the apostles and the “rock” on which Jesus built his church, Jeffrey Bütz shows that it was James who led the disciples after the crucifixion. It was James, not Peter, who guided them through the Church's first major theological crisis--Paul's interpretation of the teachings of Jesus.

Using the canonical Gospels, writings of the Church Fathers, and apocryphal texts, Bütz argues that James is the most overlooked figure in the history of the Church. He shows how the core teachings of Jesus are firmly rooted in Hebraic tradition; reveals the bitter battles between James and Paul for ideological supremacy in the early Church; and explains how Paul's interpretations, which became the foundation of the Church, are in many ways its betrayal. Bütz reveals a picture of Christianity and the true meaning of Christ's message that are sometimes at odds with established Christian doctrine and concludes that James can serve as a desperately needed missing link between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam to heal the wounds of centuries of enmity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bütz, adjunct professor of world religions at Penn State University and an ordained Lutheran minister, explores the place of James, the brother of Jesus, in the tradition and teaching of the church. He suggests that ecclesiastical authorities have deliberately suppressed the role of James in order to minimize the Jewishness of Christianity while emphasizing the theology of Paul. Bütz sees the theologies of James and Paul as contradictory in many points, with Paul distancing himself from his Jewish roots and thus creating a religion that Bütz contends was not envisioned by Jesus. Paul, Bütz asserts, relegated good works to a secondary position, contrary to the teachings of Jesus. In calling attention to this dichotomy, Bütz raises a major question: "In other words, if the first followers of Jesus—including the apostles and Jesus' own family—were thoroughly Jewish in their belief and practice and opposed to Paul's interpretation of the gospel, then just what is 'orthodoxy' and what is 'heresy'?" This volume is eminently readable and accessible to nonscholars while being thorough in its research. It raises the specter of a revisioned Christianity and challenges readers to rethink the nature of both orthodoxy and heresy. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

James, the brother of Jesus and head of the church in Jerusalem, gained prominence several years ago when an ossuary was found ostensibly carved with his name. Now the authenticity of that artifact has been questioned, just as the role of James in the founding of the church has always been controversial. Butz does an excellent job of synthesizing all the information about James and presenting it an informative, highly readable manner (something that eluded scholar Robert Eisenman in his 1997 book James, the Brother of Jesus). Using both canonical and Gnostic gospels as well as the writings of historians and church fathers, Butz sheds light on the religious issues that divided James and Paul (with Peter often in the middle), and in a step-by-step approach, he clarifies what Christian writings said about the concerns that roiled the nascent church. Readers on both sides of topics such as whether Jesus repudiated Judaism will find things with which to disagree, but it is the exhilaration of the debate that makes the book such a worthy acquisition. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Inner Traditions; First Edition edition (January 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594770433
• ISBN-13: 978-1594770432
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Bible & Other Sacred Texts > Apocrypha

More About the Author

The Rev. Jeffrey Bütz holds a Master of Divinity degree from Moravian Theological Seminary and a Master of Sacred Theology degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He has been the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Nazareth, Pennsylvania since 1996 and an adjunct professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy at the Pennsylvania State University since 2002.
He is the author of "The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity" (Inner Traditions International, 2005), which has received critical acclaim as the best book on Jesus' brother James written for a lay audience. His new book is "The Secret Legacy of Jesus: The Judaic Teachings that Passed from James the Just to the Founding Fathers" (Inner Traditions, 2010).
Rev. Jeff is presently working on a screenplay for a big-screen film about James the Brother of Jesus with Hollywood producer Harvey Rochman.
Rev. Jeff's website is: www.thebrotherofjesus.com

(Author photo by Joy Beth Holley)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Written and Scholarly, May 31, 2006

By 

Dr. James Gardner (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity (Paperback)

Butz book is so good on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin. Ostensibly it's a book about James the Just, the brother of Jesus. Yet on another level it is a book about the accuracy of the New Testament, not unlike Bart Ehrman's latest best selling book (though Butz is limited to the topic of James). As a bonus, Butz takes us into the rivalries among different sects in the early days of Christianity. Finally, it is a book about rapprochement between Jews and Gentiles, Arabs and Christians.

The book is well written and well documented. It progresses in a logical and systematic manner.

Though the book is excellent, it is not without issues that can be challenged:

·"...the revered Jewish historian Josephus." (p. 16). I'm not sure what texts Butz is reading, but generally speaking, Josephus is regarded in some circles as a coward, a traitor, and a man who made his living by slanting the truth in the direction of his Roman keepers.

·"...these positions [that Jesus had no brothers or sisters] were developed early on to uphold the emerging dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary." (p. 14). Since the positions emerged in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and Mary's perpetual virginity is only proclaimed in 649 AD, this seems like a very looooong emergence. I suspect that there were other reasons for these positions (e.g., to avoid a dynastic succession through the Joseph/Mary bloodline).

· He appears to accept as authoritative all the apocryphal letters and books attributed to James, while many other scholars (e.g., Ehrman) question that he was the author of all of them.

These are all minor points. What is of importance is that Butz achieves some noteworthy results:

· He restores James to the forefront of post Jesus Christianity, where he apparently belongs.

·He challenges the traditional view that Jesus' family were not supportive, and in fact, shows clearly that they were heavily involved and very supportive.

·He gives us a window into Jewish Christianity that is both interesting and helpful.

·He provides one of the very best illustrations of biblical scholarship in dissecting Mark 3:21

Any serious scholar of Jesus or Christianity needs to have this book in his/her library. Beginning students will find value here, as will experienced scholars.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well-researched book., February 18, 2006

By 

J.L. Populist (WI,USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity (Paperback)

Mr. Butz states in this book that James is one of the most over-looked figures in the history of the church.That is an accurate assessment in my view.James is very important as he was a brother of Jesus, and even a casual reading of Acts 15:13-21 alludes to the fact that he was respected by Peter and Paul in particular.They respected James enough that he settled the dispute that is the subject of that chapter.
One of the subjects that the author deals with in detail is the family of Jesus.Mark 6:1-3 lists four brothers by name and sisters "here among us".He also takes the position that Jesus' family was not opposed to his mission.He's in good company in that Richard Bauckham shares that view.
Another idea that is seldom explored is whether or not there were conflicts in early church history.Human logic suggests that there probably were disagreements.(If you think that "religion" is always peaceful and non-confrontational read Foxe's "Book of Martyrs".)
The theory that James was more or less a "Bishop of the Jerusalem Church" makes sense.I see Peter as a missionary, not a Bishop or head of the church.
Mr.Butz references such early church historians as;Eusebius,Clement,Hegesippus,and Josephus.
He also looks at early church-age writings like gnostic writings and those that were used in early churches.While these books are not canonised they provide valuable insight into what early believers thought or believed.Some are way out there and others parallel Scripture very closely.
The death of James is controversial.The author gives a few different versions of how he was martyred.
If James did reside in Jerusalem after the Crucifixion and until his death that leads to the question..why?
I believe that he was the leader of the early church and maybe even a Pharisee also.He was jewish that is certain.The concept of "jewish christians" is a step forward in understanding the early history of the church and it's relationship to judaism.
One caveat about the book though...I am not at all convinced that Paul preached that grace replaced the law.It's more likely that greek words have different meanings depending on the context in which they are used.Did Paul and Peter have disagreements(or any of the Apostles for that matter)? Sure they did.I'm just not convinced that the subject matter is correct.
At any rate, if you are looking for a well-researched,open minded book about James or the beginnings of the church,this is a book worth reading.I recommend it.

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Sober Look at Earliest Christianity, March 7, 2005

By 

Stephen Triesch (Shoreline/Seattle USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity (Paperback)

This is not just another conspiracy book about the origins of Christianity, but rather a sober look at the evidence contained in the New Testament and other early Christian writings. With a refreshing absence of pandering to contemporary sensibilities, and drawing upon the research of other scholars, Butz argues not that Jesus was a Gnostic/feminist/gay-liberationist, but rather a Jew among Jews, indeed the Messiah of Jewish expectations, for whom a mission to the Gentiles was strictly secondary and to whom the idea of founding a new religion was utterly foreign.

Butz thus agrees with many critics that the message of early Christianity was quickly distorted, but in ways that are comprehensible without resorting to grandiose conspiracy theories. The primary architect of this transformation was Paul, who is depicted in the New Testament as being in conflict with the Jerusalem-based Christianity of James, the brother of Jesus. Butz sees the Christianity of James and Peter as the earliest and most authentic form of Christianity. This early Christianity was totally Jewish, revered the person of James, and viewed Jesus in "adoptionist" terms, i.e., not as God incarnate, but as God's elected Messiah, whose role was vindicated by the resurrection. Butz shows that the New Testament itself provides ample evidence of a struggle between Paul and James (and Peter) to define the Christian message, a struggle which on various fronts played out for centuries and indeed continues to this day.

As an antidote to the highly-publicized and speculative drivel which often passes for "research" into early Christianity, this book fills a great need. Butz suggests that it is perhaps time for a "second reformation," a reformation which takes into account the findings of modern scholarship and reexamines Christianity's relationship not only to Judaism and Islam, but to its own origins.