Was the author of the book of James in the Bible one of the disciples?

Answer 1

AnswerBurton L. Mack (Who Wrote the New Testament) says that the Letter of James seems to have been difficult for the early Christians to place. It appears not to have been read or even noticed by authors in the centrist tradition before Origen in the third century. The teaching of the letter is not about the Christian faith, but about the importance of living a moral life, with the arguments for doing so set forth as common wisdom. The author makes no use of any sayings of Jesus, and seems to have known very little about him. It seems most improbable that he would have been a disciple.