James the Just is Staunchly Vegan. By Dr Chapman Chen

James the Just (early 1^st century – 62 AD) is Jesus’ biological brother (Mark 6:3; Matt 13:55–56; Galatians 1:19) though later Catholic patristic writers, like St. Jerome, deliberately denied that James and Jesus came from the same mother, not on historical grounds, but to defend the doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity. James is also Jesus’ official successor (Acts 15:13-21, 21:18; The Gospel of Thomas, saying 12; Clement of Alexandria, qtd. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2.1.3-4):  though his role as the leader of the Jesus movement after Jesus’ ascension has been almost entirely marginalised by the Pauline camp in the NT (James Tabor 2012, pp. 29-47).

According to early church historian Hegesippus’ commentary on James the Just as preserved by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History (II.23.5–6), James is staunchly vegan:-

James, the Lord's brother, succeeds to the government of the Church, in conjunction with the apostles. He has been universally called the Just, from the days of the Lord down to the present time… was holy from his mother's womb. He drank no wine or other intoxicating liquor, nor did he eat flesh; no razor came upon his head…He alone was permitted to enter the holy place: for he did not wear any woollen garment, but fine linen only. (Note 1)

The apostolic decree issued by James around 50 AD on behalf of the Jerusalem Council in the face of Paul is also vegan because it requires Gentiles to “abstain from blood” and from “things strangled” (Acts 15:19-20, 29). Per Keith Akers, “’blood’ refers to violence against either humans or animals (Akers 2000, p. 152), and Saint Tertullian stresses that Christians are forbidden both human and animal blood (Apology 9) (note 2). “Things strangled," per Pastor William Metcalfe, refers to animals “which have suffered a violent death”, i.e., slaughtered by humans in general, not merely by strangulation (Metcalfe, 1840, Ch. 27) (note 3). Further, "pniktos," the Greek word for "things strangled," could also mean a certain way of cooking meat in a rich sauce (Strong's Concordance, G4156).

Paul, however, pays lip service to the decree. In 1 Corinthians 8–10, he asserts that as idols are “nothing,” eating is not inherently defiling; and he even encourages people to “eat whatever is sold in the meat market without questions of conscience”! #VeganChrist #VeganGod #VeganTheology #VeganChurch

Notes

1. Roberts-Donaldson translation https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/hegesippus.html

2. Blush for your vile ways before the Christians, who have not even the blood of animals at their meals of simple and natural food; who abstain from things strangled and that die a natural death, for no other reason than that they may not contract pollution, so much as from blood secreted in the viscera (Tertullian, Apology, Ch.9 https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0301.htm)  

3. “In that important document, the members of the first Christian Council declare,‘It seemeth good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burthen than these necessary things: that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood … and from things strangled’—or, in other words, ‘which have suffered a violent death.’ But do not all animals which fall a sacrifice to the butcher’s knife suffer a violent death?Are we not then, as Christians, enjoined to abstain from eating such things, as a necessary part of our obedience unto the faith?”(Metcalfe 1840, Ch.27)

Metcalfe, William (1840). Bible Testimony on Abstinence from the Flesh of Animals as Food: Being an Address Delivered in the Bible-Christian Church. Philadelphia : J. Metcalfe & Co. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Bible_testimony%2C_on_abstinence_from_the_flesh_of_animals_as_food.pdf