Book description
The books of the New Testament are some of the most extraordinary
documents ever created - brilliant, vivid works central to the lives of
many millions of readers over the centuries. Yet, the picture they give
of Jesus' world is a very partial one. Written thirty to eighty years
after the events they describe and with very specific doctrinal aims
they addressed a Greek-speaking audience when Christianity was at its
most precarious. Geza Vermes, one of the world's foremost biblical
scholars, is uniquely positioned to guide the reader through the many
conundrums presented by the New Testament. Who's Who in the Age of Jesus
is an ambitious and enjoyable attempt to sift through all the sources
for the period to create biographies of the major (and some fascinating
minor) figures from Jesus' era. The book allows readers to understand a
Jewish, Roman and Hellenistic world crowded with explosive, mutually
antagonistic groups - a world which would give rise both to a new
Judaism and ultimately to Christianity. From detailed, convincing
portraits of Jesus, John the Baptist, Pontius Pilate, Herod and other
key New Testament figures to the Jewish and Roman leaders like Hillel,
Caiaphas, Augustus, Vespasian and Titus, hardly or not at all mentioned
in the Gospels or the Acts of the Apostles, Geza Vermes' illustrated
Who's Who will throw much fresh light on the age of Jesus and provoke
innumerable arguments and discussions. Geza Vermes was born in Hungary
in 1924. From 1957 to 1991 he taught in at the Universities of Newcastle
and Oxford. Professor Vermes is the author of The Complete Dead Sea
Scrolls in English (1997), The Changing Faces of Jesus (2000), The
Authentic Gospel of Jesus (2003) and The Passion (2005). He lives near
Oxford.
