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Originally Posted by Mirage
James was not Jesus. None of those left behind were Jesus. There's a very good chance I think that in the vacuum left by the execution of Jesus, the Way may have done quite a bit of evolving in a relatively short time. It has always puzzled me that most people (Spong excepted) do not ever seem to wonder whether the death of Jesus itself might have changed some of their views. Surely it was a painful and cathartic experience, one would assume. And this is not to say that they did not continue to love and admire Jesus, but their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs might have shifted during the almost inevitable soul searching which follows the violent death of any leader as those left behind try to pick up the pieces.
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I think you are quite right. I think this is why Christianity is not so much a religion about the teachings of Jesus as it is a teaching about Jesus. Jesus' execution raised in a most acute manner the issue of who Jesus was. John's gospel captures this in the words of the couple on the road to Emmaus: "We thought that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel."
If Jesus was not who they had thought he was, then who was he? Was he relevant at all? The Church arises as it answers this question.