The Changing Faces of Jesus

by Géza Vermes

Vermes is internationally recognized for pioneering biblical scholarship as well as for the definitive English translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Now he takes readers on a journey thru the New Testament to reveal the true historical figure of Jesus hidden beneath the oldest Gospels. How was this Palestinian charismatic transformed by later generations into the heavenly savior elaborated by the Christian Church? Vermes acts as a sensitive, learned & thought-provoking guide. His account presents the fruit of both a lifetime's scholarship & a lifelong quest to understand a solitary giant among Jewish prophets.
Prologue: From Christ to Jesus
John: the odd man out among the Evangelists
The Jesus of John: messiah figure or stranger from heaven
Paul: the odd man out among the Apostles
The Christ of Paul: Son of God & universal redeemer of mankind
The Jesus of the Acts of the Apostles: prophet, Lord & Christ
The Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels: charismatic healer & teacher & eschatological enthusiast
Beneath the Gospels: the real Jesus
The real Jesus at the dawn of the third millennium
Epilogue: A dream

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Christianity, Biography, Christian, New Testament

324 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Géza Vermes was a Jewish Hungarian scholar and writer on religious history, particularly Jewish and Christian.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

One can may the case that Jesus is one of the best and one of the worst documented people of the ancient world. On the one hand there are masses of gospels, on the other hand there are masses of gospels. There is context - the Jewish Bible, Josephus, Philio of Alexandria,the Hellenistic world, enough to tantalise but not make things entirely explicit. The Changing Faces of Jesus is a book that aims to show the lay reader Jesus in something like his original context as a Jewish holy man in the first century.

I came across it in an old fashioned way - reading book reviews in the newspaper. Reading it I was repeatedly taken aback because I am a lay person, my religious education limited to Religious Studies lessons in the classroom, aged twelve, colouring in maps, writing out passages from the Gospels in columns which in hindsight would have been selected ones that didn't contradict each other implicitly or explicitly. So naturally reading that the question of the relationship between the gospels of Matthew and Luke, which both draw on Mark for their accounts but have additional information some shared and some different - this is called the synoptic problem, has been a matter of debate for two hundred years delighted my curiosity.

The author dives down through the New Testament from what he considers to be the most remote parts to those closest to a historical Jesus or so to say, naturally a 'historical' Jesus isn't a value free proposition in itself so he starts with the Gospel of John, then the Letters of Paul, Acts of the Apostles and then the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Luke and Mark. This was followed by what I found the most interesting chapter in the book which looked at Jewish popular religion and some other roughly contemporary charismatic holy men.

I had no idea that the Gospel manuscripts were quite so problematic with multiple variants. So much for the possibility of literal interpretations even leaving aside that the gospels were accounts written in Greek of people who talked and thought presumably in Aramaic.

Once you've read your way down to the comparison between the Jesus seen in the synoptic gospels and the miracle working men of God of contemporary Galilee however then you are left with a sense of the strangeness and distinctiveness of the figure of Jesus there aren't masses of gospels written about some of these other charismatic holy men even though they seem pretty similar to Jesus - a riddle wrapped in a shroud of gospels sealed in a cave behind impenetrable theological positioning.

Suitable for the religious and irreligious alike, although the author's tendency towards jokes and light hearted asides won't be to every reader's taste.

[Sibyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was recommended to me because I'd wanted to find out more about the stories of healing in the Gospels.

It's a book I wished that I had read years ago. (Although it was only published in 2000) There was a sort of New Testament minestrone in my mind, and I only had a vague, confused sense that there were various inconsistencies in what the different books said about Jesus, so that there were multiple stories - or kinds of 'truth' - existing (rather uneasily) side by side.

Geza Vermes gives a brilliantly lucid account of how the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) were written, and the differing agenda of whoever wrote the Gospel of John. He explains Paul's role as someone who had not personally known Christ, but who nonetheless felt that he 'knew' what Christ's message should be, and who wanted to take it to non-Jewish society. He paints a picture of Jesus as devout Hasid who was convinced that the Kingdom of God would be coming very soon indeed. The author also sets Jesus's life and teaching in its geographical, historical and cultural context - quoting from Apocryphal writings and from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Vermes is a scholar who writes wittily, profoundly and accessibly. Who knows - I might even go back and read the New Testament now....

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

With so very much having been written about Jesus by knowledgeable scholars, it is quite a task to be original except in the details. Vermes accomplishes this in two ways. First, methodologically, he works his way backwards from least to the most historically grounded texts dealing with the life and person of Jesus. Second, he draws on his own considerable knowledge of Jewish history tradition to place Jesus in context.

Vermes' methodology might be questioned. For instance, he places Paul, our earliest source in some senses, towards the "least" end of the spectrum, off there with the gospel attributed to John. He has an argument for this of course. Paul's epistles give virtually no account of the earthly person. The only "facts" that count for Paul are his death and resurrection and Vermes, who doesn't have a place for miracles in history, prefers the earliest texts which give no resurrection account at all.

And although it has been done before, such as in Samuel Sandmel's several books about Jesus for Jewish readers, I was impressed by Vermes' erudition as regards the Palestinian background and later, rabbinic traditions. Jesus becomes a lot less unique when Jewish parallels are adduced.

Although Vermes is a formidable intellectual figure, his book is not difficult. One should be familiar with the bible. He'll guide you through the rest.

[Tommi Karjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Assumes that the gospels represent a distorted message that removes the reader from the real, Jewish Jesus while at the same time argues that 3rd and 4th century rabbinic texts (and later) represent basically an unchanged tradition going back centuries?

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most interesting part of the book, to me, was the difference between how the synoptic gospels portrayed Jesus and John's portrayal, which was essentially written by an evangelical Christian writer three generations after Matthew, Mark and Luke. In a nutshell, John has shaped most of the modern-day Christian view of Jesus, but is, the book seems to argue, the least reliable source.

[Stelian F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mai multe perspective din care este văzut Iisus în încercarea de a ajunge la cel autentic.
Un credincios va ieși paradoxal, întărit în credința lui cu toate că Geza Vermes pune sub semnul întrebării prezentarea creștină a lui Hristos.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is so good, learn so much from him

[Fred Kohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a disappointment; not because the book is bad (it isn't), but because The True Herod by the same author was so much better. I found the chapter on Paul almost insufferable and was quite surprised to look back and see that it was only 20 pages! On the other hand, the later chapters on the Synoptic Gospels and their historical background were quite good. I had decided early on that I would skip Vermès most famous book, Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels, but by the end I had reconsidered.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chapters 1 and 2 - http://thatjeffcarterwashere.blogspot...
Chapters 3 and 4 - http://thatjeffcarterwashere.blogspot...
Chapter 5 - http://thatjeffcarterwashere.blogspot...
Chapter 6 - http://thatjeffcarterwashere.blogspot...
Chapters 7 and 8 http://thatjeffcarterwashere.blogspot...

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

A jewish historians view of the representation of Jesus in the major books of the New Testament. Develops a theory of how the image of Jesus progressive changes through the synopic gospels, Acts, the letters of Paul, to the Gospel of John. Not as convincing as I thought it might be and plays fast and loose with the cronological developemnt of the various works. Seems to have his own goal in mind and then fits the facts to met the goal. A disappointing example of scholarly cherry picking.

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good book, but a little too much "in the Book" for my tastes, and for anyone else who is not a serious bible scholar. I liked his "Jesus the Jew" book a whole lot; that was a lay person's version of this book, and I highly recommend it. It's fascinating for anyone to read, no matter what religion you like or hate. Some day I'll take on his Dead Sea Scrolls.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this work by Vermes a good continuation from 'The Resurrection.' I'm not deep into Theology, but I do enjoy this learned professors search for the historical Jesus. He works on the N.T., mainly the synoptics, John and St.Paul Vermes dows a good job to show that Jesus wouldn't recognise his own face today.

[Ned · Rating 5 out of 5]

absorbing! you might be surprised

[!Tæmbuŝu]

Reviewed by NYRB

[Vince · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone interested in the history of the early church.