The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
B tz, 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. B tz 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 B tz contends was not envisioned by Jesus. Paul, B tz asserts, relegated good works to a secondary position, contrary to the teachings of Jesus. In calling attention to this dichotomy, B tz 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.