What were Jesus' brothers called?
The Bible tells us that
Jesus had four brothers. They were James, Joseph (Joses),
Simon and Jude (Judas). His sisters were Salome and
Mary. The brothers are mentioned by name in more than
one place in the bible, whereas there is merely reference
to his having sisters. The names are more open to debate,
and are drawn from conjecture and other sources. The
clearest reference to his Brothers' names and existence
of sisters is in Mark 6:3. Mark 15:14 and 16:1 suggest
Salome may have been Jesus' sister, but is ambiguous.
Some Catholics maintain
that James, Joseph, Simon and Jude were actually cousins,
though where the difference in terminology comes from
is unclear, as the Greek texts clearly use the word
for brother, not cousin. Whilst the word brother, or
brethren in English can have different meanings (brother
by blood or brother by closeness, such as used for monks),
the Greek word adelphos is less ambiguous. In
the contexts used in the relevant passages of the bible,
only the meaning "blood brother" can be used."
Orthodox Christians and
some other Catholics maintain that they were Jesus'
siblings from an earlier marriage of Joseph.
Some Protestants adopt
the view that Jesus was half
