Geza Vermes

A fully revised edition of the authoritative English translation of the Dead Sea scrolls offers an accessible look into the community that created the scrolls and the messages of the scrolls themselves. Original.

The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English

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

From Nazareth to Nicaea, AD 30-325

Christian Beginnings

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran, Palestine, in 1947 was one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. Written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and hidden in caves by an ancient Jewish sect, these mysterious manuscripts revolutionized our understanding of the Bible, of Judaism and the early Christian world. Geza Vermes is the world's leading Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, whose English translations brought these extraordinary documents to thousands, and whose life has been inextricably interwoven with the scrolls for over sixty years. In this illuminating book he relates the controversial story of their discovery and publication around the world, revealing cover-ups, blunders and academic in-fighting, but also the passion and dedication of many of those involved. He shares what he has learned about the scrolls and, evaluating passages from them, gives his views on their true significance and what they can teach us, as well as those areas where scholarly consensus has not yet been reached. Few scholars have been as closely associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls as Vermes. Writing with candour and unique authority, he has created an ideal introduction to understanding these miraculous documents.

The Miraculous Discovery and True Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Story of the Scrolls

A newly updated edition of the landmark translation by one of our greatest religious scholars Since its publication in 1962, esteemed biblical expert Géza Vermes's translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls has established itself as the authoritative standard. The original manuscripts, discovered in the Judean Desert between 1947 and 1956, completely transformed our understanding of the Hebrew Bible, early Judaism, and the origin of Christianity. Now in its seventh edition, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English has been updated with a number of previously unpublished texts, as well as extensive new introductory material and notes. Some sixty years after the Scrolls' discovery, this revised and expanded volume crowns a lifetime of research by Vermes. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Seventh Edition

During his life Jesus did not view himself as divine, nor did his disciples. In THE CHANGING FACES OF JESUS the great scholar Vermes works back through successively earlier accounts of the life of Christ to finally reveal the true, historical figureof Jesus hidden beneath the Gospels: a Palestinian charismatic convinced he had an essential role to play in bringing about the kingdom of God.

The Changing Faces of Jesus

In a similar format to the astonishingly successful The Passion Professor Geza Vermes now turns his attention to the other key festival in the Christian calendar - Christmas. Vermes articulately and controversially disentangles the Christmas story as we know it, relating it to prophecies in the Old Testament and also to later Christian folklore, putting the nativity into its true historical context. This will be required reading for anyone wanting to know the true story behind the Nativity.

History and Legend

The Nativity

Fergus Millar

Emil Schürer

Emil Schürer's Geschichte des judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, originally published in German between 1874 and 1909 and in English between 1885 and 1891, is a critical presentation of Jewish history, institutions, and literature from 175 B.C. to A.D. 135. It has rendered invaluable services to scholars for nearly a century. The present work offers a fresh translation and a revision of the entire subject-matter. The bibliographies have been rejuvenated and supplemented; the sources are presented according to the latest scholarly editions; and all the new archaeological, epigraphical, numismatic and literary evidence, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bar Kokhba documents, has been introduced into the survey. Account has also been taken of the progress in historical research, both in the classical and Jewish fields. This work reminds students of the profound debt owed to nineteenth-century learning, setting it within a wider framework of contemporary knowledge, and provides a foundation on which future historians of Judaism in the age of Jesus may build.

The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ:

The Nativity is the very heart of the Christian tradition. For more than 2,000 years, the story of Jesus’ birth has been told and retold, mythologized and sentimentalized. In The Nativity, Geza Vermes untangles centuries of storytelling and places the birth and the events surrounding it within their historical context. Vermes examines every aspect of the Christmas story: the prophetic star, the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, the miraculous birth in the stable, the arrival of the magi, and the murderous decree of Herod. Delving into all the available evidence—including the New Testament Infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke, Jewish documents of the period, and classical literary and historical sources—Vermes explains where actual history ends and legend begins. A masterful work of biblical scholarship, The Nativity penetrates the deeper meaning of the New Testament. By clarifying what belongs to real history and what derives from man’s hopeful and creative religious imagination, it gives readers a new and more powerful understanding of the events celebrated every Christmas season.

First published in English between 1885 and 1891, this book provides a critical presentation of Jewish history, institutions, and literature from 175 B.C. to A.D. 135. It has rendered invaluable services to scholars for nearly a century. This edition offers a fresh translation and a revision of the entire subject-matter.

There can be no doubt that Jesus, 'a religious genius' as Geza Vermes describes him, lived and taught in Palestine some 2000 years ago. The influence he has had is incalculable. How though can we distinguish between the doctrines shaped to the needs of the burgeoning Christian church and the original views laid out by Jesus himself? How can we dig back through the additions, misinterpretations and confusions of later writers and two millennia of tradition to get back to the authentic gospel of Jesus? In his new book, Vermes subjects all the sayings of Jesus to brilliantly informed scrutiny. The result is a book of unique value and novelty--scraping aside the accretions of centuries to come as close as we can hope to be to the true Jesus.

The Authentic Gospel of Jesus

Uma tradução dos pergaminhos encontrados às margens do Mar Morto, em Qumran, escritos em aramaico e hebraico. Além dos textos originais da Bíblia, faziam parte desses pergaminhos outros textos, não-bíblicos, trazendo uma versão revolucionária do judaísmo e do cristianismo.

Manuscritos do Mar Morto, Os

The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ: Volume 3.i

The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ: Volume 3.ii and Index

Géza Vermès

Pamela Vermes

This marvelous book brings us up to date on the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, taking its place at the head of the line of introductions to the subject.

Qumran in Perspective

The Dead Sea Scrolls

La Natividad se encuentra desde siempre enraizada en lo más profundo de la tradición cristiana. Pero ¿cuál es la verdad que subyace a la historia de la Navidad que todos conocemos? ¿Dónde termina el relato histórico y empieza la leyenda? Geza Vermes, el más respetado historiador bíblico de nuestro tiempo, examina qué fue lo que realmente ocurrió cuando aquel 25 de diciembre, de acuerdo con la liturgia eclesiástica, nació Jesús, e investiga cada aspecto de la historia navideña –la estrella profética, la virgen y el espíritu santo, el viaje de María y José a Belén, el milagroso nacimiento en el establo, la llegada de los magos y el cruel decreto de Herodes–, situando los hechos en su contexto histórico. Sirviéndose de todas las evidencias disponibles, el autor examina los evangelios de Mateo y Lucas, así como otros documentos y fuentes de la literatura clásica y la historia, para distinguir los vestigios de los verdaderos hechos de la impronta de tantos siglos de leyenda. La Natividad nos brinda una idea más clara que la que nunca antes hemos tenido de qué es lo que pertenece a la verdadera historia y qué lo que se debe más bien a la imaginación religiosa, creativa y esperanzadora, penetrando en el significado más profundo del Nuevo Testamento que envuelve el acontecimiento que llamamos Navidad.

El nacimiento de Jesús

Penguin Books LTD

DIV 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. Through a forensic, brilliant reexamination 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 recognizable 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 centralized, 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, anticonformist Jewish subsect became the official state religion of the Roman Empire. /div

Geza Vermes

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