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Robert Eisenman

James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls Paperback – March 1, 1998

by Robert H. Eisenman (Author)

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James was a vegetarian, wore only linen clothing, bathed daily at dawn in cold water, and was a life-long Nazirite. In this profound and provocative work of scholarly detection, eminent biblical scholar Robert Eisenman introduces a startling theory about the identity of James—the brother of Jesus, who was almost entirely marginalized in the New Testament.

Drawing on long-overlooked early Church texts and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Eisenman reveals in this groundbreaking exploration that James, not Peter, was the real successor to the movement we now call "Christianity." In an argument with enormous implications, Eisenman identifies Paul as deeply compromised by Roman contacts. James is presented as not simply the leader of Christianity of his day, but the popular Jewish leader of his time, whose death triggered the Uprising against Rome—a fact that creative rewriting of early Church documents has obscured.

Eisenman reveals that characters such as "Judas Iscariot" and "the Apostle James" did not exist as such. In delineating the deliberate falsifications in New Testament dcouments, Eisenman shows how—as James was written out—anti-Semitism was written in. By rescuing James from the oblivion into which he was cast, the final conclusion of James the Brother of Jesus is, in the words of The Jerusalem Post, "apocalyptic" —who and whatever James was, so was Jesus.

Print length

1136 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Books
Publication date

March 1, 1998
Dimensions

5.4 x 2.5 x 8.4 inches
ISBN-10

014025773X
ISBN-13

978-0140257731
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A passionate quest for the historical James refigures Christian origins, … can be enjoyed as a thrilling essay in historical detection."
—The Guardian

"What a book! Impressive in elegance and painstaking scholarship."
—Neil Silberman, author of The Hidden Scrolls

"Fascinating reading."
—Kirkis Reviews

About the Author

Robert Eisenman is Professor of Middle East Religions and Archaeology and Director of the Institute for the Study of Judeo-Christian Origins at California State University, Long Beach; and Visiting Senior Member of Linacre College, Oxford University. The consultant to the Huntington Library in its decision to free the Scrolls, he was the leading figure in the worldwide campaign to gain access to the Scrolls. A National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, he was a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (March 1, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1136 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 014025773X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140257731
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 2.5 x 8.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #322,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #80 in Dead Sea Scrolls Church History
- #186 in New Testament Biographies
- #683 in General History of Religion

Customer Reviews:
178 ratings

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3 star		9%
2 star		3%
1 star		7%

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J. Scott

A lot of 'scholarly' assumptions, omissions, and assertions presented as factual

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2020

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If you are studying James, the brother of Jesus, then this is a recommended read. But like a lot of NT researchers (especially the Q cult of researchers), the work is replete with assumptions that are never explained and assertions that are not backed by logical argumentation. The study of 1st century Israel and the NT documents is filled with unexplained gaps in historical sequencing and contradictions between NT authors---you learn to live with it. But NT researchers often want to fill those gaps with their opinions and assumptions with no historical foundation and without a defense of their arguments. That is what this author does and why his work should be read with a VERY critical eye. Look for the assumptions he makes without explanation, and the conclusions he draws without the benefit of a logical argument. Suggestion-read the text, but do not assume that it came down the mountain with Moses on a stone tablet.

8 people found this helpful

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Roy Waidler

Ending Xian propaganda and lies

Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2015

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I had a copy of this back in 2001 and it got lost when I moved. To say this is a bombshell is understatement in extremis. Eisenman’s very lucid reconstruction of the Early Church demolishes the propaganda that Paul and his followers created in order to hide his murder of James - Jesus’ brother - and how he managed to hoodwink all of subsequent history into believing a whole series of lies. You need an heroic amount of patience to plow through this book because it has a lot of linguistic and historical analysis in it that is normally left for scholarly readers - but it is quite do-able and understandable. If the origins of Christianity as “explained” by the Church, or as laid out in the New Testament seems a little fishy to you, as it does to most intelligent moderns, this book is a must read.

17 people found this helpful

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Elizabeth

1000 pages I will be read by the time I'm done next year!

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2018

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1000 pages is awfully long. He is very thorough but hardly a mention of James considering the number of pages...at least so far..I haven't finished it yet I figure it will take the rest of the year; it is a very dense book tho well written and as I say thorough...a little too much for my reading pleasure. I don't need all the background but I will slog through...

6 people found this helpful

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Mayo Quin

Over my head

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2020

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This book may be excellent, but I believe it is too scholarly for me. For instance, to follow the book one would need to be familiar with Hebrew. The concept of James, the Brother of Jesus (not all Christians agree that Jesus had any biological siblings) is intriguing. I made a mistake purchasing this book. It is over my head.

One person found this helpful

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Totally worth the read

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2021

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Meticulously researched and referenced. Learning about James helps shape very different perceptions of who Jesus must have been and how the "Christian" traditions have distorted the reality of life before the fall of Jerusalem in the latter part of the 1st century.

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flashgordon

The Jamesian bible code

Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2011

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I've finally gotten around to reading this whole "James brother of Jesus" book.

A couple of things that comes to mind are that Mr Eisenman describes much the same stuff from every linguistic angle he can get his hands on. He finds that there's a lot of name change-ups(he references one clear statement to the effect in the new testament; the rest he makes logical arguements for all these name changeups). And uses these decodings to try to figure out who said what, where and when. Another general point is how he spends a lot of time defining things. And he does so historically. I think a lot of people's patience with this book are stretched by this.

Throughout, he's using lots of external literature to analyse even the most mundane passages(the bible midrashes lots of the most mundane stuff anyways; so, I don't see how people can complain!). Outside of all these logical deductions to decode peoples names, he shows how various herodians and a Queen of Helen are in the New Testament. He repeats these appearances with ever more details as you go through the book. Bottom line, Jesus Christ is for the most part an overwriting for James the Just. One is tempted to argue that James the Just is the historical Jesus. But, nothing can be concluded. The appearences of various herodians and their social-political standings with the Romans are always a tease. Nothing much can ever be proved on who wrote what. It's almost tempting to argue that Paul wrote the Gospel of Mark. I just have a couple of things to argue about whether Jesus Christ ever existed.

James is the brother of Jesus Christ. Now, Robert points out that 'brother' can be taken as a kind of slang for 'fellow' or belonging to a club. Eisenman never wants to take this seriously; around pages 400, he notes that Origin more or less says exactly this! One could argue that Origin's statement to the effect is late in the game; but, look who's saying that James the Just is brother of Jesus Christ! Paul. Nobody else! Jesus Christ is not mentioned in the dead sea scrolls! And, what does the dead sea scrolls say of Paul? That he's a lier! What do the Jews say about Jesus Christ? That he never existed!

I've argued to some that Paul is Josephus. I posted this here on amazon "James Brother of Jesus" review as well. Then, I erased it cause there's a few problems. A major weird piece of evidence that Paul is Josephus is that Paul considers an Epiphroditus to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Epiphroditus is also Paul's traveling companion. Epiproditus is also Josephus best friend when he turns roman and gets the roman imperial name "Flavius". But, this isn't much. Other things I noted was the correspondence between the dead sea scrolls, Pauline epistles, and Josephus's works which is much of what Eisenman writes up here. How does Josephus have such a photographic memory? Eisenam just says, "oh, he's a really smart guy!" Me? Seems to me that Josephus has this phenomenal memory of the events of James the Just because he's the one who killed him! Who else can get so close to James the Just? If not a person who was in with the Essenes at one time? Josephus as Eisenman stresses hates these messianic jews and believes they are the reason for his people's troubles. Josephus was more than willing to cut the throats of his fellow military radicals when he miraculously gets the right staw of who's going to cut each others throats and then commit suicide. Josephus must have been blown away that he plucked the right staw! I seem to recall more correspondences between the life of Josephus and his account of Paul and James the Just. But, all that is mere correspondence; but, now, I've found this,

"Josephus: Shipwrecked on voyage to Rome

"But when I was in the twenty-sixth year of my age, it happened that I took a voyage to Rome ... At the time when Felix was procurator of Judea there were certain priests of my acquaintance ... whom on a small and trifling occasion he had put into bonds, and sent to Rome to plead their cause before Caesar ...

Accordingly I came to Rome, though it were through a great number of hazards by sea; for as ourship was drowned in the Adriatic Sea, we that were in it, being about six hundred in number, swam for our lives all the night; when, upon the first appearance of the day, and upon our sight of a ship of Cyrene, I and some others, eighty in all, by God's providence, prevented the rest, and were taken up into the other ship.

And when I had thus escaped, and was come to Dieearchia, which the Italians call Puteoli."

- Josephus, Life,3

St Paul: "Shipwrecked on voyage to Rome"

"Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound." - Acts 24.27.
"They talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. - Acts 26.31.

"It was determined that we should sail into Italy ... And entering into a ship of Adramyttium ... we came to Myra ... And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy ... they sailed close by Crete. But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind ... no small tempest lay on us ... But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria ... And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmovable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.

The centurion ... commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land. And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land. And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria ...

And landing at Syracuse ... and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli."

- Acts 27,28"

Some have suggested that Josephus wrote the Gospel of Mark. I don't. Josephus would never have made the same linguistic and palistinian geography mistakes. He didn't write the pauline epistles either. Clearly whoever wrote those works were not of the same mind as the scientific Josephus. I would point to Clement of Rome and Alexandria and even others later. Those characters are pointed out by Eisenman as well to decode names and all the herodians in the Gospel of Mark and in the Pauline epistles- the first christians in Antioch were herodians as Eisenman points out. In my mind, he doesn't have to. There is no report of the death of Josephus - just that of his best friend Epiphoditus by Domitian. I'm figuring that Josephus just changed names and disappeared in the roman empire. Who knows where he went for protection. The Pauline epistles were clearly a recasting of Josephus's works as James the Just was written out of history as well. That is enough to explain why the Pauline epistles and the Josephus works are clearly two different people.

The Paul character is probably many different characters. But, I think with the Epiphroditus reference in Phillipines 2:4 I do believe and the above Acts and Life of Josephus clearly shows that part of the write up of the Pauline Epistles is to integrate Josephus in the Christian fabrication to make one religion, one ring to rule them all, and to pacify the messianic jews as Josephus wished to. It's part honoring him and because Josephus partly started it with his ascribing to Titus as the annointed one to the Jews to pacify them.

A further point about this Josephus/Paul correspondence; with the above correspondence between Josephus's boat sinking and paul's, well, if so, then Paul isn't a Herodian. This calls into question Mr Eisenman's "James Brother of Jesus". At least, it needs a rethink.

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I found a remarkable book called "Daniel to Paul." I was reading "Who wrote the Gospels" by a Helm; it's o.k. It was showing the connections between the book of Daniel to the Gospel of Mark which is perhaps one reason why this book caught my eye at Grossmont college library. Pointing out Grossmont college library is key here. When I tried to look this book up on amazon and then googling it, I found it nowhere in sight! I found that this Daniel to Paul book, dated to 1960s says much the same stuff as Robert Eisenman's "James Brother of Jesus"! Only, it doesn't have Paul as a herodian, or that Jesus Christ is a hellenistic sungod overwright for James the Just. It does mention much of what Robert Eisenman says about James the Just being the true head of the Judaic-christian church and not Peter though!

12 people found this helpful

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David O. Smith

James The Brother of Jesus will blow your mind

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2013

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This book is great. I have been looking for a book that sets out what the Messianic Jews believed in the first century. This told me. Prof. Eisenman relates the language and events found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) to those found in Josephus, the New Testament and the early Christian Apologists to show the conflicts between Jewish Christianity and Pauline Christianity set out in Paul's Epistles and covered up in Acts. The DSS and some noncanonical Church writings from the 2nd-4th centuries show the Jerusalem Church's side of the conflict and the deft way Paul dismisses their arguments. The only draw back for me is that Prof. Eisenman writes long complicated sentences, and the reading is slow going in order to understand what he is saying.

10 people found this helpful

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David John Laird

This is the book they say do not read, you must read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2020

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If you are tired of the banal tram lines of evangelical teaching, this is a book that throws new light on James and opens up the door on the early church. At the time that I read this years ago I was complaining that all the great theologians were dead, as usual I was looking in the wrong place, they are alive and this book is fruit that is well worth eating, digesting and thinking about. To some evangelicals Jesus did his ministry in a vacuum of ethical, religious and devotional teaching, this book shows that the first century was more lively than just parables. If your pastor/vicar will not let you read this, do it anyway, you will not be disappointed.

Pet_Bookworm

A whirlwind - but one that throws up some insights

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2017

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A whirlwind of a book! Eisenman is refreshingly sceptical about a great deal of received wisdom, and often rightly so. I think he is right to look for the conflicts that made the New Testament text take the form it does today, and he's on to something when he argues that James was much more prominent in the Jerusalem church (and therefore the wider pre Roman-Jewish War church) than the gospels and Acts of the Apostles allow for. Whether he's always or often right in his various theories of name-changes and other historical recodings to obscure what actually happened, I find it hard to say. I'm not sure there's any empirical way of deciding one way or the other. But they are fun! On a more serious note, I think he takes the Jewish context of early Palestinian Christianity more seriously than many other scholars. In that way, he reminds me of E P Sanders, though he's far more speculative than Sanders.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Interesting comparison of early church sources but a bit prone to see conspiracy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 23, 2014

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On a number of occasions I felt Eisenman was stretching the evidence a bit further than it would go and has a tendency to believe a source (e.g. Pseudoclementines) when it supports his thesis and doubt it when it doesn't.

Generally I was left with the view that of course Paul would downplay requirements to stick to the Torah if he hoped to get his version of Christianity across to a Roman/Hellenistic audience and that early Jewish Christians like James would lament breaches of the Mosaic law. No requirement for any great conspiracy.

A. Davon

A "must" for all historians

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 10, 2014

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The book is very important for those who are interested in culture, its develpment. manipulations in history and judeo-christian world and understanding. Written in a very clear language. Integral part of any humanist, historian and researcher.

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2016

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very interesting, many new ideas.

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