Unholy Business by Nina Burleigh

Author:Nina Burleigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

Some non-Catholics were quick to tout the box as evidence against the perpetual virginity of Mary, however this does not follow. The ossuary…does not identify [James] as the son—much less the biological son—of Mary. The only point that Catholic doctrine has defined regarding the “brethren of the Lord” is that they are not biological children of Mary. What relationship they did have with her is a matter of speculation. They may have been Jesus’ adoptive brothers, stepbrothers through Joseph, or—according to one popular theory—cousins. As has often been pointed out, Aramaic had no word for “cousin,” so the word for brother was used in its place…. While the inscription does not establish the brethren of the Lord as biological children of Mary, it does have an impact on which theory may best explain the relationship of the brethren to Jesus.

If James “the brother of the Lord” were Jesus’s cousin then it would be unlikely for him also to have a father named Joseph. This would diminish the probability of the cousin theory in favor of the idea that this James was a stepbrother or an adoptive brother of Jesus…According to the Protoevangelium, Joseph was an elderly widower at the time he was betrothed to Mary. He already had a family and thus was willing to become the guardian of a virgin consecrated to God.

Bottom line: If the ossuary of James bar-Joseph is that of James the brother of the Lord, it sheds light on which of the theories Catholics are permitted to hold is most likely the correct one, but it does nothing to refute Catholic doctrine.

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