Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Agreed. I'm by no means making a slam-dunk argument. It would be nice to have examples from other writers. I'm just noting that Clement uses the term "brother of the Lord" in Stromata III as a title for an apostle who has achieved perfect gnosis, and then goes on to use the term "brot...

Hence my original point that if James had been martyred at the time of writing and Peter was still alive, it would explain the exclusive use of the label.

But Jesus supposedly had other brothers, so the indefinite article should also be used in the case of kinship, by that logic. Still, your point is taken. Then again, in the context of Galatians, whatever the meaning, the title seems to be applied to distinguish James in some important way. Among the...

Yes, I think "ritual brotherhood" is a good way to put it, and I agree about the adoption/inheritance language. In Stromata VI, Clement stresses that James, Peter, John and Paul had become "true heirs of the Lord's adoption" — i.e. they had inherited the very same status as adopt...

Thanks for the reply, DCH. I have read Carrier's article on the "brother of Jesus called Christ" insertion and Origen's confusion between Josephus and Hegesippus, so I'm aware that Josephus is referring to James ben Damneus. For now, I'm combing through every single extant Christian work o...

Good job so far. Very useful.

Since the value of Galatians as evidence of the historical Jesus hinges greatly on the meaning of the phrase "brother of the Lord", I found the following to be of interest. In Stromata III, Clement of Alexandria writes that a "man of gnosis" who has become righteous and truly spi...

One can also speculate that Josephus avoided any use of "Christos" while making his case that Vespasian was the Jewish Messiah because the term meant "ointment" in normal Greek and would not have been understood by his audience.

in listing Χριστός - Christos / Khristos / kʰriːstós / Xristos - http://biblesuite.com/greek/5547.htm has 5547 Xristós (from 5548 /xríō, "anoint with olive oil") – properly, "the Anointed One," the Christ (Hebrew, "Messiah"). Of course that's what a Christian glossary ...

χρηϲτοϲ is "good." χριϲτοϲ is "anointed." χρηϲτοϲ is "good", or also 'useful', and was often used in relation to slaves; which I've often thought is interesting given many Jews in the Diaspora were enslaved. χριϲτοϲ is "anointed", or also 'chosen one' (kinda ...