Rating: 
Summary: Vivid and engrossing
Review: This book is thought-provoking, vividly painted, and emotionally powerful. My religion teacher in 7th grade mentioned it one day in class as a suggestion for a book report, and mentioned the fuss about it, and so I had to read it.Maybe the fuss was because some people simply can't stand the humanization of religion. This book portrays Jesus as a man, which is in direct contrast to the currently accepted version of him, which is of a divinity who was only incidentally a man. Kazantzakis' choice of perspective is what makes this book such a worthy read. It's not only Jesus who is first and foremost mortal, but also his disciples, most notably Judas. Jesus' relationships with those around him are painted with such exceeding care that you can almost feel his torture, longing, and fear. My heart twists and soars alternately throughout this book. Taken simply as a work of fiction, this book is worth the time it takes to read it. The accuracy and vividness of the historical setting are amazing, as are the well-drawn characters. But one can also choose to look at it as something more, and if so, won't be disappointed. This is one of the most inspiring books I've ever read; I've always believed that bearing the responsibility of the Messiah (or of any other savior) must have been, in part, psychological torture. Kazanzakis understood that, but also understood the ecstasy of the burden. Look at Jesus, Judas, and the others, and be inspired, whatever your religious belief. At the heart of everything, they were merely human; but men who worked with their human frailties to bring about something that has profoundly impacted the rest of history after them. If you enjoyed this book, I would suggest that you also look at Taylor Caldwell's _Dialogues with the Devil_ and for a hilarious-but oddly meaningful-take on relgion, try _Good Omens_.
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Summary: The Last Temptation eh...?
Review: Banned by the Catholic church, excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox and labelled as 'blasphemous filth' is unusual praise for perhaps the most important book of the 20th Century and it's author. Very rarely is a book so lovingly constructed by the author, Nikos Kazantzakis doesn't just transport the reader back in time to follow Christ on his journey, but allows us to enter his own mind, and follow his own spiritual and mental voyage. Never before has a book left me breathless after the introduction alone, however, by the time this book has passed you by, you will either want to read it again, or it has already changed your life forever. The wonderful depiction of Christ is possibly the most accurate that there has ever been, ever will be, he is a man, a man who finds God, not a God who finds man. I pronounced this the most important book of the 20th century, and in a society as ruthless as today, man needs to think once in a while about the issues here; God, life, the spirit, himself. I have found no better source of information and reference for my own life and I can guarantee that you will be prompted to write your own review once you have finally put the book to one side.
Rating: 
Summary: It's irony on a base level, but you can get a hoot.
Review: The same people that he believed himself sent to earth to save, their the ones that crucify him. Quick breakdown of the book; The first four hundred pages were good, the next fifty I didn't really care for, then the the last fifty I really enjoyed
Rating:
Summary: Fantastically rich
Review: I won't waste much time praising how wonderful this book is. Kazantzakis is one of the few writers who constantly impresses his reader with an incredible Mediterranean passion. As for the depth of the book, at times it is a bit blunt but still, simply a spectacular novel. I don't agree with it on every single point but an almost unbearably moving book.
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Summary: Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis/ Father + Son = Holy Ghost
Review: In my readings of the critiques of this novel, I found that it was quite clear, if nothing else, that Nikos Kazantzakis was some kind of walking contradiction. One who, in my opinion, actually fleshed out the Hegelian dialectic--"the unity of opposed parts". His views and goals were passionate and extreme, yet somewhat antithetical. In my opinion, Nikos Kazantzakis' fate was to write a great piece like "Last Temptation of Christ" because, he himself was termendously torn between the spirit world(s) and the sensual world(s). Kazantakis wrestled with man's (thus his own) search for meaning. NK put out his own "Odyssey: A Modern Sequel" shortly after James Joyce's "Ulysses"--to continue the epic of Homer's Odyssey, but it ended up being extremely long, and somehow glorifying and justifying the plummaging, the violence, the robbery and the homelessness in the characters' quest to find God... HK was a socialist, bent towards communism who loved Jewish women. He was a Nietzshean scholar who later became as passionate about Christian and Buddist tenets. He said he believed everyman should be married, yet stayed at home with his wife no time at all, once you consider 'til death do us part'. He wishes to have a soul as paganistic and fearless as the lustful Zorba, whom he immortalized in letters, yet ends up the man who searches every tome and cuniform for some answers to every snapping twig. Who else could have written an exploratory on what could have been Christ's dreams, his thoughts, the Messiah's last earthly temptation, as it were? In NK's book, Jesus faints on the cross and dreams of his life if he were to lead a earthly life. He marries Magdalen and Martha, becomes a carpenter-farmer who says "I never knew the world was so beautiful, or the flesh so holy"...a truly heretical statement to those who are believers of the written word in the Bible, but it is one from the passionate NK. But the story also goes on to say that Paul of Tarsus appears at Jesus doorstep with news of the arisen Christ, who is to reward all those who believed in him as God-made-man. Jesus tries to repudiate Paul's charge (redeeming sin to all believers) opting to continue with his life with wives, children, work. This is when Jesus wakes up and finds himself on the cross...and Jesus as the Christ "came true". No one really knew what NK was inferring by the story, (would it be the greater sin to repudiate the pleasures of the common life, of the flesh?) for all we know it could hold some amount of truth to it. I know that most of us would probably have some of these thoughts if we were to become the Christ...that's how we humans think. NK was almost excommunicated by the Greek Orthrodox Church because of it. I feel that it is a greatly told story...the descriptions and the passions will have the reader spellbound...from a greatly passionate man. One who, in my opinion, was destined to write such a work...
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Summary: Pat Robertson ... eat your heart out
Review: "The seed is love"! I was raised in a christian household where we didn't question the literal truth of the bible and Jesus was a white man who was not of this earth. When I grew up and became a man, I resented the teachings I was given and rebelled against the church (and became a die hard athiest) After reading this book I was overwhelmed with a sense a inspiration and awe that no minister could ever plant in my soul. I saw for the first time the passion of Christ through the eyes of Jesus the man. I still am very much against organized religion and all its hippocrites, but I now refer to myself as agnostic. For someone to write these beautiful words about such a loving and tolerant man, proves that there must be some sort of an oversoul (like Emerson's). This is a must read book for the open minded soul who has questions about their fundamentalist upbringing. It is not for those who are intolerant, close minded, and think they have all the answers. Jesus spoke of love and compassion, he didn't judge his fellow man like most all christians do today (gays, muslims, jews, different races, hindus, drug users, and anyone who doesn't agree with them), Jesus would have not tried to change them by condeming them. Jesus would have loved them - nothing more. Fanaticism breeds contempt, the more fanatical and judgemental you are the more people will stop listening to you! By the way, Jesus was more than likely not a white, european, english speaking man. He was a Jew who probably looked more of Eygptian descent. Open your mind and heart and read this book - Absolutely mind shattering and sure to be a tear jerker for the compassionate soul.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant, and nothing more
Review: i'm an orthodox christian and i still fully admire this book. i can cry just by thinking about it. the book is fine just so long as you don't confuse this jesus with the One in the gospels. i have little sympathy with those people who claim that we are just now discovering the person of jesus and that the original runners from israel confused the matter completely. anyway, this book is brilliant, but only insofar as it portrays the tantalizing human emotional (spiritual) realm. if you want the empty hands of that outreach to be filled, you'd be far better off reading about the real Jesus in the book of john.
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Summary: The struggle between flesh and spirit
Review: After viewing the movie, I decided to give the book a try and was delighted with what I found. The concept of the novel alone is worth the 5 stars! If Christ was a man, then he would have had temptations and moments of weakness as any other man experiences. Kazantzakis illuminates this aspect of Christ(the human aspect) with an imaginative, fictional storyline. The book is heresy only to those who are closed-minded about Jesus the man; however, if Jesus is the Christ, than I believe he is more spiritual than flesh-like and was not, nor is, a typical man with typical self-doubts. And last but not least, Albert Schweitzer, one of the most God-gifted men ever to live on this planet, was an admirer of the book.
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Summary: THE JOURNEY WITHIN!
Review: THIS IS SURELY A MASTERLY WORK THAT TOUCHED EPIC DIMENSIONS...ALL THROUGH THE AGES EVERY SENSITIVE HUMAN BEING WAS CONFRONTED BY THE FIERCE INNER CONFLICT BETWEEN THE POLAR OPPOSITES OF "SPIRIT" AND "FLESH"...THIS CONFLICT IS BEAUTUFULLY RECONSILED IN THE MOST REALISTIC WAY.THE CHRIST DEPICTED IN THIS WORK CLEARLY POINTS TO THE CHRISTHOOD LATENT WITHIN EVERY HUMAN..AND THIS IS THE HALL MARK OF A TRULY GREAT WORK!THIS WORK OF COURSE SHOULD BE READ WITH AN OPEN,CRITICAL MIND TUNED TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH NO MATTER HOW IMPERIOUS IT IS...SURELY ONE FINDS ONESELF A BETTER HUMAN AFTER READING IT....BECAUSE THIS HELPS US TRANSCEND THE MINDSET-BOUNDARIES WITHIN.HAPPY READING!
Rating:
Summary: Should be an all-time classic.
Review: To think, that the critics have called this blasphemy? This book is ground-breaking both in its perspective and psychological analysis of the figure that is Christ. Be sure to read the preface, written by Kazantzakis...it's very moving.
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