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James the Just, Brother of Jesus and Champion of Early Christian Faiths

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James the Just, Brother of Jesus and Champion of Early Christian Faiths University of Iceland GFR423L MA Thesis Faculty of Theology New Testament studies and Religious Studies Prof. Jón Ma. Ásgeirsson (†) Dr. Rúnar Þorsteinsson James the Just, Brother of Jesus and Champion of Early Christian Faiths. Portraits of James in Early Christian Sources in Light of Claims to His Authority and Masculinity. Sigurvin Lárus Jónsson Jón Ma. Ásgeirsson In Memoriam 1957 - 2012 Mentor, friend and role-model. Contents Contents ................................................................................................................................. 2 Summary ................................................................................................................................ 3 Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... 4 1. Introduction. ....................................................................................................................... 5 Part I: The persona of James. ................................................................................................. 7 2. James and the New Testament. ................................................................................... 10 2.1 The Pauline Corpus. ............................................................................................. 10 Galatians ................................................................................................................ 10 First Corinthians .................................................................................................... 19 2.2 The Gospels and Acts. .......................................................................................... 25 The Synoptic Gospels. ........................................................................................... 27 The Acts of the Apostles. ....................................................................................... 35 The Gospel of John ................................................................................................ 41 2.3 The Epistle of James. ............................................................................................ 44 3. Images of James in early Christianity. ........................................................................ 50 3.1 Josephus. ............................................................................................................... 50 3.2 Portraits of James in the Church fathers ............................................................... 52 Origen .................................................................................................................... 52 Eusebius ................................................................................................................. 55 Epiphanius ............................................................................................................. 69 Jerome (Hieronymus) ............................................................................................ 72 3.3. James in the Nag Hammadi Library. ................................................................... 74 The Gospel of Thomas. .......................................................................................... 75 The Apocryphon of James. .................................................................................... 78 The First Apocalypse of James. ............................................................................. 80 The Second Apocalypse of James. ........................................................................ 83 3.4 Jewish-Christianity. .............................................................................................. 85 The Jewish Christian Gospels. ............................................................................... 86 The Pseudo-Clementines. ...................................................................................... 92 Part II: Masculinity and authority in the image(s) of James. ............................................. 106 4.1 Authority and the image(s) of James. ............................................................ 107 4.2 Masculinity and the image(s) of James. ........................................................ 111 5. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 122 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 125 General Bibliography ........................................................................................... 125 Primary Sources: .................................................................................................. 141 2 Summary James was an important figure in early Christianity, the brother of Jesus, according to the New Testament gospels, and the leader of the Jerusalem community, according to the Pauline Epistles and Acts. In the first through fourth centuries C.E. he became an important authority figure in proto-orthodox, Gnostic and Jewish-Christian writings, where he is portrayed as the first bishop of Jerusalem, a caretaker of the revelation of Jesus, an ideal Christian martyr and a priest of the Jewish temple. This thesis explores the portraits of James in early Christian writings in light of the claim to his authority and masculinity. It is argued that the development in his persona in these writings reflects an alternative masculine ideal presented by Christian authors in response to a crisis of masculinity among the Roman aristocracy, and that this contributed to the success of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Útdráttur Jakob var mikilvæg persóna í frumkristni, bróðir Jesú samkvæmt guðspjöllum Nýja testamentisins, og leiðtogi safnaðarins í Jerúsalem samkvæmt Pálsbréfum og Postulasögu. Á fyrstu til fjórðu öld okkar tímatals varð hann kennivald í ritum höfunda úr röðum hins unga rétttrúnaðar, gnóstikea og gyðing-kristinna, þar sem hann er sagður vera fyrsti biskup Jerúsalemborgar, handhafi opinberunar Jesú, upphafinn píslarvottur trúarinnar og prestur hins gyðinglega musteris. Ritgerð þessi fjallar um þróun persónu Jakobs í frumkristnum ritum í ljósi kröfunnar til kennivalds og karlmennsku. Því er haldið fram að breytingar í persónusköpun Jakobs í þessu ritum sé hluti af framsetningu nýrrar karlmennskuhugsjónar kristinna höfunda sem ætlað var að mæta gjaldþroti karlmennskunnar meðal rómverskra hefðarmanna og skýri þetta að hluta útbreiðslu kristindómsins innan rómverska heimsveldisins. 3 Abbreviations 1 Apoc. Jas. First Apocalypse of James M Matthean M-source 2 Apoc. Jas. Second Apocalypse of James Matt Gospel of Matthew NA Nestle-Aland Novum AJ Ascent of James Testamentum Graece Ant. Jewish Antiquities NHC Nag Hammadi Codex Ap. Jas. Apocryphon of James NHMS Nag Hammadi and Manichean B.C.E. Before Common Era Studies NHS Nag Hammadi Studies BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium NovT Novum Testamentum BW Pseudo-Clementine Basic NovTSup Supplements to Novum Writing Testamentum C.E. Common Era NRSV New Revised Standard Version CBS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Pan. Panarion Cels. Contra Celsum Phil Philemon Comm. Commentary Prot. Jas. Protevangelium of James Cor Corinthians Ps.-Clem. Pseudo-Clementine(s) CR Clement Romance Q Sayings Gospel Q Epist. Epistle R Pseudo-Clementine Forum NS Forum New Series Recognitions RB Revue Biblique Gal Galatians RHR Revue de l'histoire des religions Gos. Eb. Gospel of Ebionites SBLSS Society of Biblical Literature Gos. Heb. Gospel of Hebrews Symposium Series Gos. Thom. Gospel of Thomas SM Sermon on the Mount H Pseudo-Clementine Homilies SNTW Studies of the New Testament Her. Against Heresies and Its World SP Sacra Pagina Hist. Eccl. Ecclesiastical History SP Sermon on the Plain HTR Harvard Theological Review StPB Studia Post-Biblica ICC International Critical Commentary SupVC Supplements to Vigiliae Isa Isiah Christianae: Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Jas Epistle of James Language JBL Journal of Biblical Literature TC Tchacos Codex JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism Vir. On Illustrious Men JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New WMANT Wissenschaftliche Testament Supplement Series Monographien zum Alten und KEK Kritisch-exegetischer Neuen Testament Kommentar über das Neue WUNT Wissenschaftliche Testament Untersuchungen zum Neuen KP Kerygma Petrou Testament L Lukan L-source ZNW Zeitschrift für die LCL Loeb Classical Library neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren LXX Septuagint Old Testment Bible Kirche 4 1. Introduction. This thesis is the end result of a project undertaken in 2007 in collaboration with the late professor Jón Ma. Ásgeirsson at the University of Iceland. It was a part of a Nordic research project entitled Personification in the New Testament Apocrypha under the Network for the Study of Early Christianity in its Greco-Roman Context, which concluded in 2009.1 Our project, entitled Image of Masculinity: The Persona of James in Early Christian Sources, received funding from The Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís) and was defined in the following manner: The purpose of the study is to add to the understanding of the role and position of the persona of Jacob in early Christian apocryphal sources attributed to him from the perspective of masculinity and leadership. The study will proceed with focus on personification within the respective texts, especially James. Furthermore, the research will focus on the ideology of the texts
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