This text explains why Christian leaders have minimized the importance of James the Just, who served as the first bishop of Christendom's mother church. It studies his role as the fountainhead of traditions used to further the interests of Jewish Christians, Gnostics and the Christian community.

John Painter, an Anglican, is a professor of theology at St. Mark's National Theological Centre at Charles Sturt University in Canberra. A regular contributor to international biblical and theological journals, he is the author of Mark's Gospel: Worlds in Conflict; The Quest for the Messiah; Theology as Hermeneutics: Rudolf Bultmann's Interpretation of the History of Jesus; Reading John's Gospel Today; John, Witness and Theologian; 1, 2, and 3 John; and more than 100 chapters and articles in scholarly books and journals. Painter lives in Canberra, Australia.