Christian Beginnings

Product Description

Geza Vermes translator & editor of The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls" & worldwide expert on the life & times of Jesus tells the enthralling story of early Christianity & 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 yet one of the least understood. With a forensic brilliant re-examination of all the key surviving texts of early Christianity Geza Vermes illuminates the origins of a faith & traces the evolution of the figure of Jesus from the man he was
- a prophet in the tradition of other Jewish holy men of the Old Testament
- to what he came to represent: a mysterious otherworldly being at the heart of the official state religion of the Roman Empire. " Christian Beginnings" pulls apart myths & misunderstandings to focus on the true figure of Jesus & the birth of one of the world's major religions. Reviews: "A beautiful & magisterial book". (Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury " Guardian"). " An exciting & challenging port of call sweeping aside much of the fuzzy thinking & special pleading that bedevils the study of sacred scripture.. .courteously expressed & witty". (Diarmaid Mac Culloch " The Times"). "A challenging & engaging book that sets out to retrace the route by which a Jewish preacher in 1st-century Israel came to be declared as consubstantial & 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 & entertaining read". (" Scotland on Sunday" Books of the Year). "A magnum opus of early Christian history & one of the year's most significant titles". (" Bookseller")."