In The Changing Faces of Jesus world renowned scholar Geza Vermes explores the New Testament writings about Jesus that have subsequently defined two millennia of Christian belief, worship and speculation. With unique authority and insight, Vermes treats these accounts as an authentic part of the first-century Jewish world, and so transforms our understanding of Jesus.
Beginning witht the elevated, divine figure of Christ presented in the most recent Gospel, the Gospel of John, Vermes invites the reader to join him on a fascinating journey back through successively earlier accounts of the life of Jesus. He is finally able 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? Did Jesus’ own teaching of the Kingdom of God lead directly to his subsequent divine characterization? Or was it rather the church-centered needs of gentile Christianity that hid the true face of Jesus, obscuring the religion he preached and practiced?
Geza Vermes acts as a sensitive, learned, and thought-provoking guide. His memorable account presents the fruit of both a lifetime’s scholarship and a lifelong quest to properly understand a solitary giant among Jewish prophets.