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The Changing Faces of Jesus by Geza Vermes
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The Changing Faces of Jesus (edition 2002)

by Geza Vermes

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Rather than attempting to retrieve the historical Jesus by eliminating later theological accretions, this book starts by setting out four fully developed portraits, beginning with the most evolved and retreating towards the more primitive.
Member:uujeff
Title:The Changing Faces of Jesus
Authors:Geza Vermes
Info:Penguin Books (2002), Paperback, 336 pages
Collections:Religion
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The Changing Faces of Jesus by Géza Vermes

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Who was the real Jesus? How was this Palestinian charismatic transformed by later generations into the heavenly savior who is the focus of the Christian Church? Did Jesus's own teachings lead to his divine characterization? Or did the church-centered needs of gentile Christianity hide his true face, obscuring the religion he preached and practiced? With unique authority, sensitivity, and insight, renowned scholar Geza Vermes explores these difficult questions by examining the New Testament writings, placing them in the context of the Jewish civilization of the first century. Starting with the elevated, divine figure of Christ presented in the most recent Gospel, the Gospel of John, Vermes travels back through earlier accounts of Jesus's life to reveal the true historical figure.
  tony_sturges | Jan 29, 2018 |
The Changing Face of Jesus, by eminent biblical historian Geza Vermes is both authoritative and readable. In this work, Vermes focuses on how Jesus is portrayed in the gospels, the Pauline Epistles, and Acts. What makes this work so important is the Vermes delves deeply into the differences in the “face of Jesus,’ between these sources. He does so with deep textual analysis combined with masterful contextual background in the culture and faith of 1st C. Palestine. For example, in his study, Vermes deals with specific terminology applied to Jesus in different sources, and contextualizes phrases like “the son of man” or “Lord,” bringing them back to their true meaning when they were used.

Vermes’ contention is that it was not the charismatic itinerant preacher that made of himself the divine figure we now know, but that each successive generation of followers added a new layer to the story crafted out of the very real concerns and issues of their respective times. Paul, unlike his fellow apostles (with whom his relationship was famously contentious). writes philosophically, devising a theology admittedly devoid of the living man, but heavily informed by the mystery cults and rhetoric of his Hellenistic upbringing. The synoptics, on the other hand, focus on the life of Christ hagiographically more than historically, and, as we might expect of a biography of a beloved icon, tailor their accounts to the audiences for which they write. John, the latest gospel by decades, is markedly different from both Paul and the synoptics, and it is primarily from John that we get the divine Christ. As Vermes puts it: "Quite frequently John's gospel speaks of the actual oneness of Father and Son. The synoptics would have had the cold shivers." (p.50) John's Jesus is the only one cast in vitriolic, even violent. opposition to the Jews, a direct response to the deep and often equally violent conflict between Jews and the ‘new’ faith, only just distinguishing itself from Judaism.

Overall, if you are interested in a scholarly, textual, and historical understanding of the Jesus story and how it changed since its beginnings, this is a superb place to begin. Those seeking Christian apologetics may not be pleased by this work, as Vermes looks to history, not faith. He is not writing as a religious man for religious readers, he writes as a scholar for genuinely interested readers. ( )
1 vote Mithalogica | Jan 26, 2014 |
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Rather than attempting to retrieve the historical Jesus by eliminating later theological accretions, this book starts by setting out four fully developed portraits, beginning with the most evolved and retreating towards the more primitive.

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