James the Lord’s Brother

(first century)

   Apostle.

   James is mentioned in Mark 6:3, along with Simon, Jude and Joses, as being the brother of Jesus. The obvious interpretation is that James was a younger son of Joseph and mary. However, because the Church believes in the perpetual virginity of Mary, it has been suggested either that James was a son of Joseph by an earlier marriage or that he was a cousin, rather than a brother, of Jesus. He played little part in the Gospel story (unless he is to be numbered among the twelve as James (The Less) the son of Alphaeus), but he is mentioned in I Corinthians 15 as having seen the resurrected Jesus. Certainly he was an early leader of the Church in Jerusalem and, according to Acts 15, he presided over the Council of Jerusalem. eusebius maintained on the authority of Clement of alexandria that he was a bishop in Jerusalem. Various writings have been ascribed to him, such as the Gnostic Epistle of St James, the Liturgy of St James and the Infancy Gospel of St James. The New Testament Epistle bearing his name was traditionally ascribed to him. It is believed that he was martyred by the Jewish Council in ad 62.

   The Acts of the Apostles;

   I Corinthians;

   Epistle of James;

   W. Patrick, James the Lord’s Brother (1906).