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Re: orion James the Brother of Jesus



At 04:49 PM 5/16/97 -0400, you wrote:
>I have been slowly working my way through "James the Brother of Jesus."  I'm
>only about half way through so far, but it seems to me that the broad stroke
>is something like the following: 

Its a big book!!!

>
>1.  James was a Nazorean/Essene/Rachabite/ priest whose approach to his
>religion was in pari materi with the "Qumran Sect."  (The implication is that
>so was his brother.)
>

I too think this is clearly what Eisenman means.

>2.  James was stoned by Herodian backed Pharisees because he was threatening
>their control of, inter alia, the Temple.
>

Not just the Temple- but the religious ideology of Jesus which was "anti
temple".

>3.  The "early church" (i.e., befoe Paul) had no message for Gentiles
>whatsoever.
>

This too is what he means.

>4.  The gospels and Acts are not accurate renditions of what the message of
>James and his brother.
>

Because Paul is a corrupter of the true message of Jesus and therefore of
James.  The Gospels also buy into the Pauline Gospel (which, according to
Eisenman, and Gerd Luedemann, was the original heresy).


>5.  Paul was a  Herodian/Roman backed Pharisee individual who used Jesus as a
>touchstone to develop a position  substantially left of the Pharisees.
>

ANd in harmony with the Roman domination of the land.

>6.  The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the above.
>

Right.

>Is the foregoing a reasonable understanding of the book

Quite so- at least as I read it.

> and do others agree
>with the tight parallels drawn between James and the Qumran Sect.
>

Absolutely not.  The early Church and the Qumran community may drink from
the same well- but they are not the same thing. (as Eisenman seems to suggest).


>Mark Dunn
>Dunnlaw@aol.com
>

Jim

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Pastor, Petros Baptist Church
Managing Editor, "The Journal of Biblical Studies" at
http://web.infoave.net/~jwest/index.htm
(submissions welcome!)

jwest@highland.net