Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church

This volume offers an in-depth investigation of the **relatives of Jesus**, with particular focus on **Jude** and the New Testament letter that bears his name.

For the first time, Richard Bauckham systematically gathers and evaluates all available evidence for the role that Jesus’ family played in the earliest Palestinian Jewish Christianity, drawing not only on the New Testament but also on the Church Fathers, New Testament Apocrypha, rabbinic literature, and Palestinian archaeology.

The study argues that the Epistle of Jude provides a unique window into the theology, Christology, and exegetical methods of Jesus’ brothers and their circle, and that this neglected New Testament writing is far more important for understanding early Jewish Christianity than previously recognized.

Bauckham also contends that the Lukan genealogy of Jesus derives from the same circle associated with Jude and should be read as a sophisticated theological document reflecting the apocalyptic-messianic proclamation of Jesus’ brothers in their Palestinian mission.

The book has been widely regarded as a foundational scholarly work on the Desposynoi, the relatives of Jesus, and on the continuity between Jewish-Christian groups and the broader early church.