Paul and Jesus

11. Scholars call this period “late Second Temple Judaism” (200 B.C. to A.D. 73). The variations within Jewish groups and sects of this time were many, far more than the standard breakdown of Josephus into Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots. The book of Acts indicates that the Jesus movement was known in some circles as the Nazarenes, presumably meaning followers of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah (Acts 24:5). Whether this was a name they chose to use or one given to them by others, we don’t know. One of the best histories of the period is Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, 2nd ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006). It is noteworthy that George W. E. Nickelsburg and Michael E. Stone include a significant number of texts from the New Testament in their edited collection of documents, Early Judaism: Texts and Documents on Faith and Piety, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press, 2009).

12. See Steve Mason, “Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism: Problems of Categorization in Ancient History,” in Journal for the Study of Judaism 38 (2007): 457–512, and the most helpful distinctions made by Daniel Boyarin, “Rethinking Jewish Christianity: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category (to which is Appended a Correction of my Border Lines),” in Jewish Quarterly Review 99:1 (2009): 7–36.

13. See my arguments in The Jesus Dynasty that this Mary, mother of James and Joses, is clearly Jesus’ mother (pp. 77–81).

14. There were two Jewish revolts in the homeland of Judea and Galilee against Rome. The first, lasting from A.D. 66 to 73, and ending with the last stand at the fortress Masada, resulted in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and its Temple. It began during the last year of the reign of Nero and was brought to a conclusion by the new emperor, Vespasian, and his son Titus, who became emperor in A.D. 69. The second, associated with the messianic leader Bar Kosiba (also known today as Bar Kochba), lasted from A.D. 132 to 136, during the reign of Hadrian. Both cumulatively resulted in anti-Jewish legislation that restricted Jewish rights and freedom, especially in the homeland. See Louis Feldman, Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993).

15. See my arguments in The Jesus Dynasty, pp. 243–54, that James functions as a messianic successor of Jesus, ruling over the Council of Twelve that Jesus has set up as a provisionary revolutionary government in preparation for the apocalyptic Kingdom that had drawn near.

16. Sanhedrin 56–60.

17. See the innovative and insightful work of April D. DeConick, Thomasine Traditions in Antiquity: The Social and Cultural World of the Gospel of Thomas, edited with J. Asgeirsson and R. Uro, Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies (Leiden: Brill, 2005); Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas: A History of the Gospel and Its Growth, Supplements to the Journal of the Study of the New Testament 286 (London: T. & T. Clark, 2005), and The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation: A Commentary and New English Translation of the Complete Gospel, Supplements to the Journal of the Study of the New Testament (London: T. & T. Clark, 2006).

18. This idea is found often in ancient Jewish sources (e.g., 2 Baruch 15:7).

19. Quoted by Eusebius, Church History 2.1.3.

20. Ibid., 2.1.4.

21. Ibid., 2.1.2. Translations of Eusebius are by Kirsopp Lake in the Loeb Classical Library edition.

22. Ibid., 2.23.4.

23. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., s.v. “Diadexomai,” p. 227.

24. Robert E. Van Voorst, The Ascents of James: History and Theology of a Jewish-Christian Community, SBL Dissertation Series 112 (Atlanta: Scholars Press: 1989). Van Voorst has isolated this source from Recognitions 1.33–71 and demonstrated its antiquity.

25. Syriac Recognitions 1.43.3.

26. Josephus, Antiquities 20.200–1.

27. Hegesippus’s account is preserved in extensive quotations by Eusebius, Church History 2.23.3–18.