Jesus the Jew

This book is absolutely essential--whether you are a historical Jesus scholar, a Christian, and especially if you are concerned with anything Jewish. This is the groundbreaking work which has paved the way for "Meeting Jesus again for the First Time" (Marcus Borg), "Rabbi Jesus" (Bruce Chilton), and Richard Horsley's "Bandits, Prophets and Messiahs". Geza Vermes was/is professor of Jewish studies at Oxford, and his excellent approach in this tome is to avoid both the pitfalls of narrow-minded orthodoxy and the sterile, mechanistic strains of German theological scholarship. Instead, Vermes lets Jesus' Jewishness speak for itself, and letting his Galilean nature breathe like a sea breeze blowing onto Capernaum. Vermes is curious, but never heavy-handed or brow-beating, either as a scholar or a theologian. He rightfully insists that his goal is not Christian or Jewish theology; he is an historian and reads Jesus as such. He delves into the rustic, Galilean strain of charismatic Chasidism for his Jesus, rather than the Hellenic waters of recent scholarship, and through his excellent studies one will be exclaiming "Rabbouni!" in awakened recognition of the Jew Jesus was and truly is. This has long since become a textbook classic of New Testament/Jewish studies, but it is absolutely essential reading for either the Jew seeking to know more about Christ, or for the Christian who might be seeking to know the Jew behind the gospels. Again, this is not theology. For those looking for synthesis of scholarship and theology, Marcus Borg is a better and more current place to start. But to understand Christianity, you must first understand Judaism; and to understand the relationship between the two, you must understand Jesus. This book is definitely a step in the right direction towards understanding the man from Nazareth, but the reader must make his own judgments about the Christ of faith, separate or in addition to this Jesus of history.

Jesus the Jew is the first book in a trilogy written by Geza Vermes, Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies at Oxford. The other 2 books in the trilogy are: "Jesus and the World of Judaism" and "The Religion of Jesus the Jew". No doubt the titles of these books will be a bit off-putting to some readers, however I believe that Vermes has done an excellent job in presenting an objective account of the historical Jesus that should be read by all interested Jews and Christians alike.Vermes takes the position that Jesus the historical figure may be best understood in terms of his Judaic origins. Vermes portrays him as a charismatic, Chassid, similar to a number of others that existed in Jesus' time. He argues that many of the titles given to Jesus or titles that Jesus ascribed to himself such as "Lord", "Son of Man" and "Son of God" may be best understood in terms of Jewish culture and Jewish writings of the time. In fact a great deal of the book is devoted to explaining these and other titles. An example is given where the title "my Son" (son of God) was at one point bestowed upon a Jewish charismatic named Hanina Ben Dosa who, like Jesus, also broke Pharisaic etiquette at times but nonetheless was a respected teacher and miracle worker. Upon this point, Vermes concludes that the notion of "Son of God" in the Gospels is not an original form of terminology but was already well founded in Palestinian Jewish Belief to denote teachers that were highly respected by their peers.Many more examples such as the one mentioned above are given with regards to all titles bestowed upon Jesus in the Gospels. It is easy to see how such titles may have been adopted, misunderstood and finally corrupted by the gentile church to serve its own end. Many Christian readers may be shocked by the implications of Vermes' investigation, however it is important to remember after all that Jesus was Jewish and therefore certain elements of the Gospels would no doubt adopt some Jewish precepts. All in all, Vermes has shown himself to be a Scholar of impeccable caliber and should be more widely read in Judeo-Christian circles. His book is at times a little dry and hard to read, but it is worth it for the wealth of information that it contains on the subject of Jesus the Jew.

The really great thing about this book is that it places Jesus within Judaism. We find both similarities and differences between Jesus and the Pharisees/Rabbinic literature, Jesus and the Essenes/Dead Sea Scrolls, and Jesus and the Hebrew Scriptures. This serves to create a Jesus that is believable and makes sense within the history of his people; in this book, Jesus feels authentic. I also find Vermes' Jesus to be one that is highly inspiring, being interested, ultimately, in what Vermes refers to as "the essence of true religion...the existential relationship between man and man and man and God."Vermes deals with a number of topics in this book - Jesus as Messiah, Jesus as Lord, Jesus the Son of God, and Judaism in Jesus' time. Vermes find similarities between Jesus and the ancient, charismatic Hasidim such as Honi the Circle Drawer and Hanina ben Dosa. Jesus should be viewed as a son of God (which is a term that implies intimacy), devout in his observance of the Torah, but also unconcerned with smaller aspects of the law at the expense of the larger aspects (like the other Hasidim).Vermes also enlightens the reader to the incredibly complexity of the Judaisms of Jesus' time without confusing the reader or bogging him/her down in needless, minute detail.Ultimately, this is the most rewarding book I have ever read on Jesus. It is enlightening, informative, and paints an authentic, inspiring picture of Jesus the charismatic Hasid.

Not since Schweitzer, has the world seen such a powerful reconstruction of the historical Jesus of Nazareth! Schweitzer's efforts were tainted by his strong Christian faith, and his tendency to see the apocalyptic in all of Jesus' thoughts and teachings. Vermes, on the other hand, gives us an intellectually more honest, less influenced, vision of the Galilean rabbi, whom many of us continue to worship twenty centuries after his public execution for sedition.In the first three chapters of this book, Vermes draws upon contemporary documents to clearly draw his picture of Jesus, the Jew, the Galilean, and the Hasid. The result is an image freed from the theological meditations of Saint Paul and the nascent Church, which recast the Jesus of history into the Christ of faith.In the next five chapters of his book, Vermes brilliantly examines some of the many titles given to Jesus, distinguishing between those that would have been used by Jesus, or others, in his own life time, and those imposed upon him after the crucifixion by the Church that worshipped him.Vermes' work should be mandatory reading for any serious student of the New Testament. If you are a believer, it will, occasionally, infuriate you. If you are a skeptic, you may find Vermes to be "too soft" on the traditional faith. ...but no matter what your faith, you will learn.