James the forgotten brother of Jesus: a Muslim perspective

A Muslim perspective

In the centuries that followed Jesus, the voice of James was gradually muted and largely disappeared from view. His perspective on Jesus, however, is embedded in the New Testament, and can still be heard, if one pays close attention. The ultimate irony is the possibility that this voice, which has been drowned out by Paul, might well represent something closer to the message of Jesus than do the teachings of Christianity. How one deals with the theological contradictions between James and Paul ultimately rests on what value one places on Paul’s alleged visions of Jesus. It is one thing to try and recover the life and teachings of Jesus and his earliest followers using historical methods, as we have done in this article. It is quite another to enter the world of Paul’s theological interpretation of the heavenly cosmic Christ. Regardless of how one evaluates Paul’s “Gospel”, it is nonetheless a fact that what Paul preached was wholly based upon his own unprovable claims of mystical experiences, whereas James and the original apostles had spent extensive time with Jesus during his earthly life.