About how the patriarch Jacob became James “the brother of Lord”

[Giuseppe]

4 steps to create the biological brother of a not-existing being:

• In the original myth, as I have described here, the goal of Jesus was: (1) to die on the cosmic cross at the gates of Sheol; (2) enter in Sheol; (3) reveal himself to the good souls imprisoned there, in primis the souls of the Jewish patriarchs; (4) ascend with them to celestial Jerusalem, by escaping the guard of the archons.

• When, still in pre-gospel times, the Jewish Christians were attacked by the early Gnostic Christians, the myth was gnosticized so: the souls of the patriarchs were left there in the Sheol, since they feared the demiurge and didn't recognize that Jesus came from a higher god. (Ireneus reported still this Gnostic belief held by Marcion).

• When proto-Mark was written, the souls of the patriarchs who didn't recognize Jesus (according to gnostic myth) were euhemerized as the carnal brothers of Jesus, who didn't recognize Jesus as the Christ. Hence, the biblical Jacob became the "brother of Jesus". Idem the other patriarchs: Judas, Simon, etc.

• As reaction against proto-Mark, the Jewish-Christians (Hegesippus = "Matthew") wanted to make this James their political propagandistic icon. Hence the interpolation was inserted in Gal 1:19, and James, despised "brother of Jesus" in proto-Mark, became the "Brother of Lord".

[davidlau17]

There's no evidence that "the Lord's brother" was interpolated into Gal 1:19. Since your entire argument hinges upon Gal 1:19 being inauthentic, despite all evidence indicating its authenticity, your argument immediately falls apart.

[Giuseppe]

Since your entire argument hinges upon Gal 1:19 being inauthentic

Not just so. I may well replace the fourth step above from this:

As reaction against proto-Mark, the Jewish-Christians (Hegesippus = "Matthew") wanted to make this James their political propagandistic icon. Hence the interpolation was inserted in Gal 1:19, and James, despised "brother of Jesus" in proto-Mark, became the "Brother of Lord".

...to this:

As reaction against proto-Mark, the Jewish-Christians (Hegesippus = "Matthew") wanted to make this James their political propagandistic icon. Hence the mere Christian brother of Gal 1:19 , despised "brother of Jesus" in proto-Mark, was interpreted deliberately (i.e., even knowing the truth, i.e. that James was only a mere Christian brother) in a biological brother of Jesus.

All this to say that the difference is very subtle between a mere interpolation of Gal 1:19 and a deliberate false interpretation imposed on a genuine Gal 1:19 (despite of the knowledge of the fact that a spiritual brotherhood of James was meant for the original author).

Note that the explanation above explains what surprised Paula Fredriksen about Mark 6:3 ("Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James (=Jacob), Joseph, Judas (=Judah) and Simon (=Simeon)?" ):

It’s a little like naming a string of Olsons Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin: the names themselves convey a close identification with the nation’s foundational past.

(Fredriksen, Paula. 1999. Jesus of Nazareth, p.240)

It is not a coincidence. The biblical patriarchs found by the mythical Jesus in the Sheol are now under the form of biological brothers of Jesus in Nazareth.

[davidlau17]

It was extremely common for Jews of the second temple period to name their male children after members of the Hasmonean Dynasty. They were not necessarily named after the 12 patriarchs or their father Jacob.

To get an estimate of the popularity of the names in Judea from 330 BC to 220 CE , Richard Bauckham analyzed occurences found on ossuaries, in the Gospels, Josephus, and Judean Desert texts. The most common names among males (total # of names were 447):

1. Simon/ Simeon - 243
2. Joseph/ Joses - 218
3. Eleazar/ Lazarus - 166
4. Judah/ Judas - 164
5. John/ Yohanan - 122
6. Jesus/ Joshua - 99
7. Ananias/ Hananiah - 82
8. Jonathan - 71
9. Matthew/ Matthias - 62
10. Menahem/ Manean - 42
11. James/ Jacob - 40
12. Annas/ Hanan - 35
13. Ishmael - 30
14. Saul - 29
14(t). Honi - 29
16. Dositheus - 27
17. Zachariah/ Zacchaeus - 25
17. Levi - 25
19. Yoezer/ Joezer - 24
19. Alexander - 24
And so on...

He notes that there 234 names that occur only once - as in, the person may have been the only Palestinian Jew at the time to have such a name. Six of the biblical patriarchal names: Isaachar, Zebulon, Dan, Asher, Gad, Napthali show 0 occurences.

(Bauckham, R. 2006. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, p. 85)

As you can see, it is entirely possible that randomly selecting out of all 447 possible names, we would end up with the five names of Jesus and his brothers.

[Secret Alias]

BUT this Jacob and THAT Jacob were brothers of a God. The Marcionite form of the name Jesus very closely resembles ESAU. Fact