BOOK REVIEWS

James, Brother of Jesus, by P.-A. Bernheim (trans. J. Bowden). London: S.C.M. Press, 1997. £14.95. ISBN 0-334-02695-4. James, the Brother of Jesus: Recovering the True History of Early Christianity, by Robert Eisenman. London: Faber and Faber, 1997. Pp. xxxvi + 1074. £25.00. ISBN 0-571-17573-2.

Eisenman's thesis is that certain of the Dead Sea texts, in particular the Damascus Document, the Habakkuk Pesher, and MMT or the Two Letters on Works Recognised As Righteousness (4Q394-399) enable him to expose the gross distortion of the picture of James, the Lord's brother in Acts. James presided over a wide-spread group of early Christian communities, including one in Damascus reflected in the Damascus Document, with whom Paul and his communities were in fundamental conflict. James was in fact the Teacher of Righteousness, and the Sadducean High Priest, Ananus, responsible for the stoning of James according to Josephus (Ant. 14:176 and 15:3-4), was the Wicked Priest of Habakkuk Pesher 11:13-15, and slayer of the Right- eous Teacher, 11:5-7 and 12:5-7 (pp. 446-47). Politically, James is a representative of anti-Hellenistic and anti-Roman Judaism and as such is a true successor of the Maccabees. Paul, on the other hand, represents their Herodian opponents (pp. 284-85; p. 349). Indeed, Acts 23:16 coyly admits that it was the son of Paul's sister that reported to the Chiliarch in Jerusalem the plot of the Sicarii. Eisen- man believes that he can identify his mother as Cypros, daughter of Herod Antipater, whose daughter and Paul's sister bore her mother's name. This Cypros was married to Helcias the temple treasurer. Thus, Paul's support from both Roman governors Felix and Festus, and Herod Agrippa II, is more therefore than the fruits of rhetorical persuasion. Paul and the High Priesthood are united with the occupying power in opposition to the lower priesthood, led by James, and Paul's real con- flict is with the latter. Josephus (Ant. 20) can thus be summoned as a witness to the true historical events behind the distortions of Acts 21. In the former, the high priests take away the tithes from the lower priests leading to the 96 starvation of the "poor" (p. 500) which leads to the Temple Wall affair. Here "the chief men of Jerusalem," which Eisenman somewhat gratuitously identifies with these lower priests, erected a wall to block the view from Agrippa II's palace of the sacrifices being performed there (pp. 502-504). With Josephus' account Eisenman also associates the Habbakuk Pesher. Thus, Acts is fundamentally about the conceal- ment of the violently hostile relations between Paul and James, in which James is the leader of the lower priesthood in this violent strug- gle with a high priesthood allied with the Romans and Herodians who support Paul against him. The ideology of that struggle can be paralleled in the Qumran lit- erature. "Things sacrificed to idols" in James' apostolic letter in Acts 15:28-29 reflects 4QMMT B 3-9. Indeed, Eisenman is finally to con- clude that James is in fact the author of this Qumran document (pp. 834 and 963). As in the Temple Scroll, the question, Eisenman claims, is about not simply Gentile sacrifices in general, but sacrifices in the Temple (pp. 280-82). James is within the Qumran ambience which is the real focus of what Paul attacks in what he says about food offered to idols in 1 Corinthians 8 (p. 505). Paul constantly defends himself against the accusations of lying, particularly in the context of his dis- putes with the Judaisers (Gal. 1:1 and 16; 4:16, etc.), which reflect contrary images to both James 3:14-15 and 1 QpHab, 10:9, 1 QS 4:11, CD 5:11-12, and lQpNah 2:8. Thus, Eisenman believes that Paul reveals himself to be at least one person to whom the "Liar" or "Spouter of Lies" descriptions in the Dead Sea Scrolls are directed (p. 230). The duplicity of the author of Acts, and his intentional altering of history is shown in two key incidents which are ostensibly about other people but in fact are about James. Firstly, the replacement of Judas Iscariot as apostle by Matthias (1:23-26) is a fictionalised version of the historical scene, better represented by Gospel of Thomas, log. 12 and Ephanius, Panarion 78:7:7, where James succeeds to the headship of the Church after the death of Jesus (pp. 200-204). Judas' death (Acts 1:18) is reminiscent of James' falling headlong from the Temple according to Hegesippus (= Eusebius, H.E. 2:23:12-13). Secondly, the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60) is a reworking of the stoning of James (p. 422). Quite apart from the obvious problems with the use of the Qumran materials in this way, the structure of the argument of this book is quite flimsy, and its methodology highly suspect. Eisenman is aware that he needs to advance beyond merely suggestive parallels with the