Illustration created for this project.

James, brother of Jesus — the Just

A brother of Jesus who did not believe at first but, after the resurrection, led the Jerusalem church and wrote a New Testament letter.

Role: Leader of the Jerusalem church

Lived: 1st century

Born: Nazareth

What we know — and how we know it

Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1 Ancient writers — non-biblical testimony · 2

Family & lineage

BibleA brother of Jesus who did not believe at first, but became leader of the Jerusalem church and, by tradition, wrote the Epistle of James.

Mark 6:3; Acts 15:13; Galatians 1:19

↳ Jesus of Nazareth · Jude, brother of Jesus

Death & legacy

Scan by NYPL — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons) Ancient writersJosephus records the death of 'James, the brother of Jesus who was called Christ', stoned c. AD 62 on the order of the high priest Ananus.

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 20.9.1 (§§197–203, esp. §200), Loeb Classical Library ed. L. H. Feldman; the reference to 'James the brother of Jesus who was called Christ' is generally accepted as authentic, unlike the Testimonium Flavianum (Ant. 18.3.3).

Desconocido — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons) Ancient writersHegesippus gives a fuller account of James 'the Just', thrown from the Temple pinnacle and clubbed to death.

Hegesippus, Hypomnemata (Memoirs) Book 5, quoted in Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 2.23.4–18 (Loeb Classical Library ed. K. Lake, 1926).