Bible History Class
Scripture, tradition, and the evidence — studied honestly
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James the Great, James the Less… and the Brother of Jesus? The Three Jameses
James son of Zebedee, James son of Alphaeus, and James the brother of Jesus: three men centuries of art folded together. What the New Testament says about each, how Santiago de Compostela began, the brothers-or-cousins question, and the James ossuary.
Chapters, sources and every claim checked →Every claim, labelled
History about the Bible mixes very different kinds of evidence. We keep them apart. Every claim in our videos is tagged on screen:
- Scripture What the New Testament says
- Tradition What early church writers remembered (roughly within 400 years)
- Scholarship What historians and archaeologists think today
- Legend Later or apocryphal stories
- Later tradition First recorded after ~400, but still kept by a church today
- Speculation Reasonable guesses with no real evidence
Series 1: The Twelve
Who were the apostles, where did they go, and how did they die? One episode per apostle, sorting Scripture from tradition and legend.
Doubting Thomas Went to India? The Apostle Called “Twin”
Was Nathanael Really Bartholomew? The Apostle With Half a Name
Thaddaeus, Judas or Lebbaeus? The Apostle With Three Names
James the Great, James the Less… and the Brother of Jesus? The Three JamesesComing up: Simon the Zealot: a revolutionary among the Twelve? · Peter: the evidence under the Vatican · Andrew: the first called, and the X-shaped cross · John: the beloved disciple?