Searching for the Real Jesus. Geza Vermes

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СКАЧАТЬ when he failed to win over the Jews resident outside Palestine. It is Paul who must be recognized today as the real founder of Christianity. He fought with Jewish Christians and obtained the other apostles’ agreement to exempt his pagan flock from the obligation to adopt Judaism and undergo circumcision in order to become Christians. But Jesus’ message, which was directed towards Jews alone, was centred on the Law of Moses which he aimed to renew internally by insisting on its spiritual significance.

      Do we know why Jesus died?

      Jesus was arrested on the eve of Passover by the Jewish authorities, and was subsequently delivered to the Romans and was crucified. This horrible death on the cross lies at the heart of Christianity.

      The only event that can explain his arrest by the Jewish authorities of Jerusalem is the upheaval he caused when he attacked the merchants in the Temple. This happened in the midst of the preparations for Passover with a surcharged atmosphere of the city which was under Roman occupation. Although he was not a political rebel, he incited trouble during a revolutionary period. The provocative attitude he displayed before the priestly authorities – ‘I will answer you if you tell me what you think of John the Baptist’ – did not help the situation.

      How can the resurrection be explained?

      For the evangelists, and afterwards for the Church, the proof of the resurrection consisted in the numerous apparitions after the death of Jesus. One can also think that the apostles, traumatized by the cross, needed to feel that Jesus was with them and experience again his charisma for carrying on with their mission and announcing their message. According to the Acts of the Apostles, reinforced by the Holy Spirit, they continued to heal in the name of Jesus who was believed to support them having risen in their hearts.

      Did Jesus think that he was of divine nature?

      The texts must be read in their context.

      The phrase ‘son of God’ was current among Jews and was synonymous with ‘son of Israel’ or ‘a Jew very close to God’. Jesus’ deification was progressive. The first Jesus, the Jesus of the Synoptics, was a healer and a teacher. In the Acts of the Apostles he was a prophet, Lord and Messiah. In Paul, he became ‘Son of God’ after the resurrection, and a universal redeemer. Finally, the Gospel of John written between 100 and 110 CE, the theologically most developed book of the New Testament, turned him into a supernatural being, the eternal Word of God, a stranger from heaven who became human for a short while to reveal the heavenly Father to humankind. It is on this notion, developed by the neo-Platonic philosophy of the Greek Church fathers, that the Christian Creed was built.

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