James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls [Paperback]

Robert H. Eisenman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

In a profound and provocative work of scholarly detection, Professor Robert Eisenman establishes James--a figure marginalized in the New Testament--as the leader of all opposition groups in the Jerusalem of his day and spiritual heir--rather than Peter--to his famous brother, Jesus of photos .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Robert Eisenman, one of the most eminent researchers of early Christianity working today, has produced an exhaustive study of the historical milieu at the time of Jesus and come to the conclusion that James, rather than Peter, was heir to his teachings. Because the historical material regarding James is actually quite plentiful, a clear picture arises not only in regard to who James was, but by extension, who Jesus was also. Controversy is assured; still, given a patient reading, one will discover that Eisenman's research is meticulous, his arguments cogent, and his conclusions persuasive. This should prove to be a popular and influential book. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In previous writings (most recently, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, LJ 2/1/93), Eisenman drew attention to apparent parallels between the Qumran community reflected in the scrolls and the early Jewish Christian community led by James, the brother of Jesus. In his latest work, he attempts to examine further those parallels and to rescue James from "the scrapheap of history." Eisenman believes James's role in early Christianity has been downplayed in the tradition(s) preserved in the New Testament, primarily the Gospels and Acts. Vestiges of the real James are blurred. Eisenman, therefore, chooses to place more confidence in extra-biblical writings, especially the Dead Sea Scrolls, for understanding James and his role in early Christianity; he takes every opportunity to deprecate the writings of the New Testament (except where they can be pressed into service to strengthen his case). At times it is difficult to determine whether the author's goal is to reclaim James or defame the New Testament. This piece of tendentious research is not the key to unlocking anything about early Christianity.?Craig W. Beard, Univ. of Alabama Lib., Birmingham
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1136 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Reprint edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014025773X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140257731
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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68 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the effort, September 15, 1999

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A Reader "snailgate" (Newark, DE United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Paperback)

Theology and bibical study has a tradition of tough-mindedness and intellectual rigor that makes extreme demands on the modern reader who has grown up with Sesame Street and Chicken-Soup For The Lazy. Eisenman cuts the reader no slack.

This volume should be read with the understanding that any commentary on the Dead-Sea Scrolls published more than perhaps 5 years ago was warped into meaninglessness by the pious orthodoxy of the guardians of those scrolls. Any reader of the King James version of the New Testement must acknowledge that James was the brother of Jesus and the designated leader of the church after Jesus departed the scene. Orthodoxy has never explained how the theology of Paul came to dominate the Christian tradition and the little letter of James is taken with such a large grain of salt. Eisenman is a giant step in that direction and deserves a respectful counter-argument from the orthodox tradition

John P. Meier's 2 vol work "A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus" is a good supplement to Eisenman. Meier has more extensive footnotes with good expanding remarks on Josephus where Eisenman only cites his sources. Eisenman makes good use of "the normal canons of historical argument and literary analysis" particulary as they have developed in redaction criticism of the bible. The reader need not have a degree in bible studies to slog through this difficult intellectual swamp. But the reader will drown if they depend on a traditional Christian fundamentalist life jacket to keep their faith afloat while making this journey.

46 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Set yourself apart, & read this., January 27, 2005

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Kurt Steiner "stoneskipper" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Paperback)

Eisenman's "James" is the BEST work of non-fiction I have EVER read. It should be required reading for anyone who makes ANY claim to (Western) Religious Knowledge -- theological, historical, or spiritual. It is not for the faint of heart: It is both physically massive and conceptually dense. In my case, six months, cover-to-cover. My wife called it the "Omnipresent Tome." To pick it up is a true investment -- But boy does it pay.

Though deep scholarship, Eisenman's tale is nonetheless gripping. He outlines his premises, then weaves and connects them with meticulous care. His book reads like a detective story. But "James" is much more -- a monumental struggle to recover lost memory. A Deleted History, to which each of us has a real and important relation. It is a story of intrigue and transcendence, of subterfuge and conflict.

For some readers, the book must imply a dark, unspoken theme. Dark, because there is the most Insidious and Ironic Purpose behind our forgetfulness. Eisenman is not just reproducing the shattered. He is not merely recreating processes of undirected time. He is helping us to name the Culpable, the Robbers of Self-Memory, the Perpetrators of the Shattering. "James the Brother of Jesus" shines a very direct light on the shadowy foundations of Western religious assumption.

I was fascinated by the principal personalities of Eisenman's story -- James, Josephus, and Paul -- as well as the dozens of fragmentary echoes of voices that were silenced long ago. One is left wondering at the Systematic Erasure of early witness. So much history (yet so little) exists only as attributed quotes, eviscerations which appear in others' writings, as if they had crawled there to be hidden, like the Treasures of the Copper Scroll... Eisenman gathers a thousand such fragments and very carefully plots the implications. Separately, the pieces are puffs of air; together, they constitute a secret, essential, and yet sad, Forbidden Gospel.

The major points the author makes are:
James was the undisputed successor to Jesus;
Early Christianity was very Jewish and very messianic;
Early Christianity was stronly allied with the Qumran-Essene population;
Paul's philosophy of inclusion is antithetical to the real tenets of early Christianity;
Luke was the quintessential propagandist;
The New Testament is corrupted by forgeries, which Authorities even now use to justify themseleves;

... and goodness, a thousand other things....

If you want to understand Christianity, "James" is a giant first step.

44 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creates a different perspective from which to read history, July 29, 2000

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John Rice (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: James, Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Hardcover)

The reader is not a scholar, but enjoys reading scholarship concerning early Christianity. Eisenman's book produces so much detail it is hard to keep it all in mind. Yet after 400 pages this reader, through meticulous repetition on the part of the author, was able to make sense of what the author was trying to say. And that is: that James is the blood brother of Jesus; James was the one who succeeded Jesus; and very importantly, if James Messianic version of what would become Christianity had succeeded, there probably would have been no Christianity because it would have died in the ruins of Jerusalem.

Eisenman's work challenges current mythologies of Jesus in the Gospels as well as the Pretine succession. But a faithful Christian need not fear his conclusions, because one can see how important tradition is. Tradition interprets events and scripture.

The rewrites, overwrites and omissions in the New Testament are a teastment themselves of how what would become the prevailing understanding would see the impact of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Eisenman at the beginning of the study warns the reader to beware of what comes from the predominant view of any particular time.

Eisenman being a scholar does not always write things directly because he is working with material that has shifting meaning. Several languages are involved and studies from the first several centuries did not understand Hebrew and Aramaic languages. Yet there were times when the reader would have wished for a statement about where he was going.

There is to be volume II, hopefully shorter. But this reader is looking forward to seeing it.