To me, the most compelling piece of information is contained in the gospel of Thomas, and it is intriguing that this gospel was not included in the canon.
In it Jesus names James The Just as his chosen successor. After his death all the others raced off to Antioch, Rome, Babylon etc to convert the gentiles to Christianity, while James The Just remained in Jerusalem and continued the work of Jesus, which had been the reformation of Judaism.
Around 60AD James was stoned by the pharasees for the same reason Jesus was alledgedly crucified.