James the brother of Jesus: religion.

[eleanswers]

I watched a tv program some months ago on chanel 4 about religion. It was hosted by a theologian, who'd don't extensive research.
One program was about religious beliefs directly descended from James the brother of Jesus. James continued the teachings of Jesus after his death and today this religion still lives on. Obviously Christian but they do not believe that Jesus rose from the dead and many other things present in the bible.
My question is does anyone know the name of this religious following? (I'm sure it began with a B) and also which country is this in?

[naomi24]

Could you be thinking of the Ebionites?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebionites

[eleanswers]

Many thanks for the link naomi, which I've read with interest. I'm not sure that's the one as there is no mention of James. They still live by his teachings, James being their matyr.
I remember the program was made & presented by Robert Beckford.

[eleanswers]

I think I've found it, it was 'Who wrote the Bible' by Robert Beckford. Still I can't answer my question about the followers of James.

[naomi24]

ele, here are another couple of links which may not be of any use, but which you might nevertheless find interesting.

http://www.uhcg.org/HoI/James-Bro-of-Jesus.htm l

http://compassionatespirit.com/Brother-of-Jesu s.htm

I hope you'll tell us if you find the answer. This is intriguing. I wish I was Miss Marple, but I'll keep searching anyway. I'd be very interested to know the name of this group.

[Teddio]

There were several Jamesian cults around 60AD but I don't know of any modern ones. They used the expression "Jesus brother of James"

[commonsense]

Thought Jesus had a few brothers? Dont know the name of these followers of James and thats gonna do my head in now, Somebody find it. Plssss
Maybe some kind of Gnostic group

[commonsense]

Could it be the Essene Christians, saw this and it said they were the followers of James www.essene.org/Yahowshua_or_Paul.htm
Also said a quote about James, brother of Jesus, the one who they called the Christ. Not the exact wordsof course, but implies to me that James was the Christ figure?

[Whickerman]

The Christ was a term used for anyone believed to be the messiah, so that's plausible.

Note that James is noted by some to be the OLDER brother of Jesus/Yeheshua....

[naomi24]

I hope other ABers will join in and do a bit of detective work on this. It would be so interesting to find the answer.

[guardian5]

This book gives a good account of the early church under James.
Archaeologist and theology proffessor James Tabor 's book The Jesus Dynasty changes the story of Christianity as we know it. Based on hands-on archaeological experience and ground-breaking academic research, James Tabor, has produced a compelling interpretation of the life of Jesus and the origins of Christianity under the church in Jerusalem as opposed to that of Rome. He has a website too. Hope this is of interest.

[eleanswers]

Many thanks for the responses & suggestions to which I've followed up & read with great interest.
I can't confirm any of them to be what I was refering to. But I will find out. And I'll post my findings for all those as curious as I.
Thanks again.

[eleanswers]

Brief update for those curious.

The man himself got back to me, but rather than answer my question his text included one:
"can you remember the name of the
group? Was it the Essiens?"

Maybe I only imaged the B bit and the james bit, the rest seems real enough!!