One would not normally think of the apostle Paul around Christmas time since all of the focus of the holiday, beyond the shopping, gift-giving, and family gatherings–is on the birth of Jesus. Many biblical scholars would argue that Paul knows nothing of the “virgin birth” of Jesus but I argue…
That Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters is a “given” in Mark, our earliest gospel record. He names the brothers rather matter-of-factly: James, Joses, Judas, and Simon. Mark mentions but does name the sisters, but early Christian tradition says there were two—a Mary and a Salome (Mark…