The Authentic Gospel of Jesus

Rating:
Summary: Hidden academic bias
Review: I was given this book by a friend after a discussion regarding the historicity of the New Testament documents so I could delve into more detailed scholarship regarding the Gospels. I found the book slightly tedious in that it analyses every saying attributed to Jesus within the Gospels, which merely multiplies its opportunities to propound the author's conclusions regarding a particular topic. For someone who has never read a commentary before, however, this may be novel material for them.

Unfortunately, the author reveals his fundamental religious bias at the start, hides his presuppositions until the end and often categorically states that certain passages are legendary without even qualifying why they are legendary. I appreciate his interest in Jesus' Jewishness, but does that mean that the author has to stuff Jesus into a Jewish mould without any possibility that any aspect of Jesus' life extended beyond the Jewish culture of his time?

The author's analysis is very simplistic as well. For example, he states that (1) Either Jesus believed he had an exclusive mission to the Jews (2) Or Jesus had a universal mission to the world. Because Jesus was Jewish and a universal mission sits more comfortably with the Greek churches, therefore (1) is the only option. However, the author completely ignores the fact that Jesus may have had a vision of a number of phases to spreading the gospel, with the first phase involving him focussing on Judea and Galilee, and the second phase involving his disciples spreading the gospel to the rest of the Greek world and beyond. This is precisely the concept that is offered in the Gospels. Hence, the author constructs a false dichotomy and then leads us up a garden path to the conclusion that he wants us to reach, when in fact there is another option which is completely Biblical. This reductionistic approach which eliminates options appears all the time within the book. I have to say that I simply refuse to have my options restricted in this way.

It is certainly an interesting book that has the potential of providing deeper insight into the life of Jesus. However, many of the presuppositions of the author, though sounding scholarly, are far too simplistic. There are other fascinating books such as J.P. Moreland's "Scaling the Secular City" which are less dogmatic in their approach and honestly consider the alternatives rather than hiding valid alternatives.

Rating:
Summary: Not Another "Life of Jesus", Please.
Review: Mr. Vermes gladly embraces all the worst methods of the notorious "Jesus Seminar", methods which are overwhelmingly rejected by the vast majority of New Testament scholars.

The method essentially consists in this: If the authors of the Gospel agree with my agenda then what they say is true. If they disagree, then they or someone else must have added something in. Sigh.

As well, for years Vermes has been trying to slot Jesus in with someone called "Honni the Circle-Drawer". This is beyond absurdity. In fact, all the books Vermes has "dedicated" to Jesus are absurd. They all simply wreak of agenda-politics.

Is this what passes for scholarship at Oxford University? God help us.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary!
Review: This is a wonderful book, all the individual sayings of Jesus in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) are studied one by one in the context of the Judaism of the time, and comparisons are made with the Qumran texts, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Old Testament. The figure of the historical Jesus that emerges is a very credible one: Jesus had an eschatological hope of an imminent coming of the Kingdom of God. After his death, the disciples' experience of his resurrection led to the awaiting of his second coming, the Parousia, with a Final Judgment. Vermes, writing from a Jewish perspective, sees Jesus as the greatest of all Jewish prophets.