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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Which James?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Acts" isn't a very big book, you know, and worth a
read to see that there is no appointment of a James to be sent to Spain!
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We have a) James the Son of Zebedee (nicknamed
Boanerges) the older ( = Greater) brother of the more famous and beloved John.
One of the "inner circle of three" with Peter and John. Possibly a cousin of
Jesus based on the appearance of Salome at the cross. (Mark 15:40). This is the
James allegedly buried at Compostela.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>b) James the son of Alphaeus - one of the twelve
who, encouragingly for future followers is a complete nonentity.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>c) James the son of Mary and brother of Joses -
known as "the less" Mk15:40 = younger.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>d) James the father of Judas (not Iscariot, the one
also called Thaddeus)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>e) James the brother of Jesus. Matthew 13:55, Mark
6:3. The one Paul encountered as the head of the Jerusalem Church. Probably the
one associated with the NT letter of St.James. Early Christian writers probably
meant this literally but the development of the belief in the perpetual divinity
of Mary has led to some reinterpretation. </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>cf the
Protevangelism of James ( a second century story based on the earlier gospels
written by greeks in Egypt) which sees these brothers as sons of Joseph in an
earlier marriage.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The apostle who intended to visit Spain was Paul
(Romans 15:24, 28) cf The Muratorian Fragment and the Letter of Clement to the
Corinthians AD95 who says that Paul "came to the extreme limit of the west -
presumably not California!). The first record of the Apostle James having been
to Spain is not till the treatise <EM>De ortu et obitu patrum</EM> attributed to
Isidore, Bishop of Seville AD 600-636. Irenaeus (Ad180), Tertullian (AD 200),
Arnobius (AD306) all report Spain as becoming "subjugated to Christ" but I don't
think that "our" James gets a mention.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It seems to me, preparing to walk 21 May 2001, that
I need to spend at least as much time as I spend worrying and planning about
toilets, socks, beds, cash etc, investigating what it was about Jesus of
Nazareth that enabled that motley crew of apostles or "sent ones" to Spain - and
so to me. Have you noticed how <STRONG>short</STRONG> the Gospels
are!?</FONT></DIV>
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