The Ascents of James is a lost book once mentioned by Epiphanius, a fourth-century bishop from the Greek island of Salamis. He referred to it in his work Refutation of All the Heresies. According to him, a strict group of Jewish Christians known as the Ebionites used the Ascents of James.
In the story, James, the brother of Jesus, speaks against the Jewish temple and the sacrifices. The book also claimed the apostle Paul was a Greek who went to Jerusalem to marry the high priest's daughter. To achieve this, he converted to Judaism and was circumcised. When he failed to win her, he spoke against the Sabbath day, the Law, and circumcision.
In 1865, J. B. Lightfoot, a scholar writing a commentary on Galatians, suggested that the title Ascents of James referred to James walking up the temple steps to speak to the people. Lightfoot also suggested James’s death was the climax of the story. According to the early Christian writer Hegesippus, whose work was quoted by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History, opponents of the Christian faith threw James down from the top of the temple, killing him.