“James the Lord’s brother.” (Eusebius, Book 2, Chapter 1:3)
or this?
“Jude…the Lord’s brother according to the flesh.” (Eusebius, Book 3, Chapter 20:1)
Then we even have secular historians.
“James, the brother of Jesus called the Christ” (Josephus, Antiquities XX, 200)
>>Therefore, they resolve the notion that Mary was ever-Virgin and Jesus had “adelphoi” by insisting that Joseph was a remarried widower<<
Oh?
Against this doctrine (Mary’s lifetime virginity) the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, "brothers of Jesus", are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls "the other Mary". They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression. (¶500, Page 126, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994)
Wait,,,,,,what??? So now Joseph was married to two Mary's at the same time? Or did he divorce the "other Mary"? Or was this "other Mary" of Matthew ......wait, are you sensing what I'm sensing here? Oh what a tangled web they weave.
>>They do regard the notion that Jesus had younger brothers as contrary to the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary.<<
I'll bet they do!! And they don't even care what scripture has to say on the subject.
>> Wait,,,,,,what??? So now Joseph was married to two Mary’s at the same time? Or did he divorce the “other Mary”? Or was this “other Mary” of Matthew ......wait, are you sensing what I’m sensing here? Oh what a tangled web they weave. <<
You throw in that bit about divorce or bigamy and purposely mix the Greek and Roman views to make it seem like I’m holding an absurd position, but I already explained that the Greek notion is that he was a widower, not a divorcee, not a bigamist.
However, what you point out is one reason why Catholics tend to reject the notion that James was Jesus’ half-brother: the bible clearly lays out that the James, Jude, Joses and a fourth (I forget right now what his name was) were, in fact, sons of a different woman named Mary, who in fact, seems to have been married to (or possibly from) Alphaeus. The fact that four of Jesus’ followers (and, in fact, two of his closest) were brothers and would have the same names as his four brothers and their mother would have the same name as his mother seems a little far-fetched. (Although, because a non-bibilical prophesy that the Messiah would be born of a woman named “Mary,” a crazy proportion of Jesus’ mother’s contemporaries are named, “Mary,” so that part isn’t as unlikely as it may seem.)
Moreover, this other Mary seems to be Joseph’s sister-in-law, which would entirely validate the notion that they were cousins of Jesus.