Searching for the Real Jesus by Geza Vermes (SCM press,

£14.99) Geza Vermes is the greatest living scholar on the historical Jesus of Nazareth, with six decades of scholarship behind him. He was one of the first academics to see the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, just a couple of years after his Hungarian Jewish parents were murdered by the Nazis and he had become a Catholic priest (before reverting to Judaism).
Turning 86 this month, he is still lecturing and writing, and in his latest publication offers a series of accessible essays on the subjects he has made his own. Part one deals with the historical Jesus, and features essays on Jesus the Jew, Jesus’s humanity and a review of Pope Benedict’s book, Jesus of Nazareth. Part two tackles Christmas and Easter, and such subjects as Caiaphas’s innocence and the Jewish origins of Matthew’s Nativity, while chapter three is about the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Ed West