James, brother of Jesus

About James, brother of Jesus

James, known as the brother of Jesus, holds a significant, albeit secondary, position in the historical record, earning him an HPI Rank of #524 among influential figures. He is chiefly remembered as an early leader in the Jerusalem church and is traditionally identified as James the Just, the brother of Jesus of Nazareth. His importance stems from his foundational role in the nascent Christian movement immediately following the crucifixion, bridging the gap between the original apostles and the later Gentile mission.

In terms of modern digital attention, James receives a modest level of visibility, accruing approximately 492K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. This level of attention is remarkably proportional to his historical importance, as indicated by his Attention Gap of roughly 1x, suggesting the internet's current focus aligns well with his cultural ranking. This contrasts sharply with contemporaries or later religious figures; for example, the 14th Dalai Lama (#661 importance) captures nearly four times his traffic at 1.9M views.

Despite this balanced overall score, James shows slight positive trajectory, with a Year-over-Year change of +2.6% and a Q1 vs Q3 momentum increase of +9%, indicating that interest in this foundational religious figure is not entirely stagnant in the modern context.