Reza Aslan makes the simplest of mistakes in a recent Washington Post column, here:
'[N]owhere in the New Testament is “adelphos” used to mean anything other than “brother.”'
Well of course it is, as when the gospels portray Jesus making distinctions between his natural, biological family and his more real family, his hearers, whom he calls his real brothers, sisters and mother. And the following instance, where the term is deliberately bent to deny its natural meaning, is noteworthy for how the gospels, and presumably Jesus, made the term elastic in its meaning in the first place:
But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
-- Matthew 23:8
Quite apart from some humanitarian notion of the brotherhood of man, eschewing all earthly definitions and entanglements is part and parcel of Jesus' apocalyptic proclamation, expecting the imminent coming of the kingdom of God and with it, final judgment, which can be escaped only through turning away, even from your family if necessary. That's the whole point of his redefinition of "brother". Strictly political interpretations of the historical Jesus will of necessity ignore this, or worse, deny it.
