The reporting of a special postresurrection appearance of Jesus, and the appeal to James as a source of secret and superior tradition, are means Gnostics often used to legitimate their message. The exhortation to martyrdom, James’ letter, and the description of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples, may be secondary; these and other questions relating to the document’s literary history have been investigated and deserve further investigation. It has been urged that the tractate must have been written
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