Controversies continue to this day over the origins of Christianity, and it is likely that it will still take many years before a complete picture arises.

One of the most significant debates could be best considered as cultural and centres on the predecessors of the Christian tradition. The most prevalent current theories range from Egyptian, Greek to Hebrew with some minority theorists even positing a Buddhist or Indian origin! There are writers within each school and debates are heated and positions firmly held.

One of the more common theories is that which focuses on the role of James, the younger brother of Jesus. These have become more popular with the work of Robert Eisenman and a need to re-appraise the Jewish elements within the Christian tradition.

This work by Butz certainly falls into this category as it offers an excellent overview of the Jewish/James approach to Christian origins that is well researched and documented.

While The Brother of Jesus is an important addition to research in this field, I have some misgivings. At present there seems to be a need to pigeon hole Christian origins, so instead of accepting a wide diversity of traditions, authors feel the need to present one theory and offer it as a total paradigm.

The danger with this approach is it uses evidence selectively. So, for example, we find the Hebrew model, as exemplified in this work, tends to play down Gnostic and Greek sources and over-emphasises the Hebrew sources. I am a little surprised the author has also overlooked the Aramaic tradition, but again this tends to work against a fairly literal Jewish/James model.

This is not to say that this work is not without merit. The Brother of Jesus is an interesting work which certainly shines a strong light on an undervalued aspect of early Christianity. It is not a complete vision, but nevertheless reading it is time well spent.

– Reviewed by Robert Burns in New Dawn No. 92