Christian Beginnings: From Nazareth to Nicaea, AD 30-325 - Hardcover

Vermes, Geza

3.86

253 ratings by Goodreads

9781846141508: Christian Beginnings: From Nazareth to Nicaea, AD 30-325

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846141508 ISBN 13: 9781846141508

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2012

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Geza Vermes, translator and editor of The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls and worldwide expert on the life and times of Jesus, tells the enthralling story of early Christianity and the origins of a religion.

The creation of the Christian Church is one of the most important stories in the development of the world's history, but also one of the most enigmatic and little understood, shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding. With a forensic, brilliant re-examination of all the key surviving texts of early Christianity, Geza Vermes illuminates the origins of a faith and traces the evolution of the figure of Jesus from the man he was - a prophet fully recognisable as the successor to other Jewish holy men of the Old Testament - to what he came to represent: a mysterious, otherworldly being at the heart of a major new religion. As Jesus's teachings spread across the eastern Mediterranean, hammered into place by Paul, John and their successors, they were transformed in the space of three centuries into a centralised, state-backed creed worlds away from its humble origins. Christian Beginnings tells the captivating story of how a man came to be hailed as the Son consubstantial with God, and of how a revolutionary, anti-conformist Jewish sub-sect became the official state religion of the Roman Empire.

Reviews:

'A beautiful and magisterial book' Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Guardian

'An exciting and challenging port of call, sweeping aside much of the fuzzy thinking and special pleading that bedevils the study of sacred scripture ... courteously expressed and witty' Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Times

'A challenging and engaging book that sets out to retrace the route by which a Jewish preacher in 1st-century Israel came to be declared as consubstantial and co-equal with the omnipotent, omniscient only God' Stuart Kelly, Scotsman

'A major contribution to our understanding of the historical Jesus' Financial Times

'A very accessible and entertaining read' Scotland on Sunday Books of the Year

'A magnum opus of early Christian history and one of the year's most significant titles' Bookseller

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Review:

A beautiful and magisterial book (Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury Guardian)

The subject is not exactly the Christian Church, which makes an appearance effectively only half way through the text; it is Jesus - what he was, what he said he was, and what Christians said about him after his crucifixion. For anyone puzzling over such questions, this is an exciting and challenging port of call, sweeping aside much of the fuzzy thinking and special pleading that bedevils the study of sacred scripture ... [a] courteously expressed and witty little book (Diarmaid MacCulloch The Times)

This book represents the summation of [Vermes's] thinking about the early history of Christianity. It is a challenging and engaging book that sets out to retrace the route by which a Jewish preacher in 1st-century Israel came to be declared as consubstantial and co-equal with the omnipotent, omniscient only God (Stuart Kelly Scotsman)

A very accessible and entertaining read (Scotland on Sunday BOOKS OF THE YEAR)

A major contribution to our understanding of the historical Jesus (Financial Times)

A magnum opus of early Christian history and one of the year's most significant titles (Bookseller)

About the Author:

Geza Vermes was born in Hungary in 1924. He studied in Budapest and Louvain, and was the first Professor of Jewish Studies at Oxford. He is one of the world's greatest experts on early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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