Customer Reviews

The Nazarene: A Novel Based on the Life of Christ

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Just as the reading of Josephus's 'Works' illumined my understanding of, and appreciation for, the Old Testament and the Jewish heritage of my Christian faith, so did reading 'The Nazarene' inform my understanding of 1st century Jewish life, culture, mores and religious practice. Seldom have I felt so utterly absorbed in the world of an author's creation (A possible exception being 'City of Joy'). I'm having a harder time convincing myself Mr. Asch wasn't a first-hand witness to the events he describes than I would convincing myself he was. For 600-odd glorious pages, I was there amidst all the political and spiritual tumult of the times and the confusion and emotional chaos of those grappling with the life and words of Yeshua of Nazareth, both from within and without the Messianic camp. In 'The Nazarene' I didn't read a book, I had a spiritual experience that - once I've had a chance to distill and absorb it - will profoundly affect the way in which I believe and, therefore, live and exercise my faith. I wish there were ten stars.

Mr. Asch has written a book of subtlety and magic with "The Nazarene." He deals beautifully with the complexity of the story of Christ, and adds an interesting and spiritually enriching twist on it by using "modern-day" characters narrate the events of the past by having past-life flashbacks. The ending is exquisite. Asch has always been able to capture the hearts of both Judaism and Christianity, displaying them not as enemies but as close cousins. Great great great!

The Nazarene paints a vivid, colorful picture of the historical era of Christ in the land of Israel. Asch excels in describing the culture, geography, politics and religious atmosphere in which Christ lived. Although, this book is slow in action, it is truly rich in character and background development. Readers of the Bible will see many of its holes filled in by knowledgeable contentions on the part of Asch who seems a keen expert on the times of Christ.

He oddly uses a narrative technique involving citizens of 1930's Poland who have connected with their past lives. In their past lives, they interacted in the events surrounding Christ's life, and they tell the story from their past lives' perspective. I found this aspect of the novel strange and unnecessary. Asch could have excluded the "reincarnation" scenario and just scripted an historical novel based on the known events of Christ's life.

This is not a quick read and was slow and methodical but provides such insight into Biblical events that it is worthwhile. Asch is a jewish writer but does not contradict Christian beliefs; he rather offers the reader varying accounts of characters in the book, as history itself has done.

This book is a long gospel.

It is unbelievably well-written and truly fascinating. The desriptions are vivid and colourful; Sholem Asch is simply great at revealing the mysticism of Judaism. I can only agree that it feels as if he has seen the events with his own eyes; his interpretation is well thought out and and well 'felt out'.

To me this book was a spiritual experience comparable to few others - like the Bible and 'The Glass Bead Game', perhaps.

Sholem Asch's `The Nazarene` attempts the impossible: to fill in the gaps left by the Gospels and retell the story of Yeshua, Rabbi of Nazareth. From the mammoth, gilded Herodian palace to the refuse-strewn back alleys of lower Jerusalem, the reader is transported back 2,000 years to Roman Palestine.

Jesus` story is retold in parallel with that of an aged, sickly Polish scholar of antiquity, Pan Viadomsky, who languishes on his Warsaw death bed just before the outbreak of WWII. Discredited in his field, Pan Viadomsky has become a bitter old man, prone to grand delusions. Claiming to have stumbled onto a hitherto unknown version of the New Testament, Pan Viadomsky believes he has the final word on Yeshua ben Joseph. Unfortunately for Viadomsky, the secret text is written in Hebrew, a language abhorrent to the virulent anti-Semite. Yet, he hires a young rabbinical student to help unearth its mysteries. In his dark, manuscript-strewn apartment, Viadomsky and his unlikely assistant begin deciphering the manuscript. During their work, the deluded scholar declares himself to be the spirit of Cornelius, the mighty centurion of Pilate's Jerusalem garrison.

At first, Viadomsky`s assistant is incredulous of the old man's apparent transformation. Yet, something makes him stay by the scholar's bed and hear out `Cornelius's` tortured story. The reader is compelled to read on as well; Viadomsky`s tale promises a new angle on an ancient story. Entranced by Cornelius` words, the young translator as well falls prey to the manuscript's magic and claims to be Josephus, pupil of renowned scholar and gospel character, Rabbi Nicodemus.

Asch weaves together these two very disparate viewpoints, one Roman, one Jewish, into a fascinating narrative web. Both Cornelius and Josephus escort the reader on Jesus`s journey. This journey centers around the two main focal points of Jesus` adult life: K`far Nahum (Capernaum) and the holy city itself, Jerusalem. The episodes of Jesus`s early years---the miraculous conception, the harried escape from Bethelem, and even his baptism--are all but left out. Those wanting insightful anecdotes about the Nazarene's early years will be disappointed. Instead, the Jesus we meet is the grown man of spiritual and intellectual maturity, the divinely empowered Son of Man who arrives in K`far Nahum in search of disciples and miracles.

While Rabbi Yeshua begins his mission of healing and teaching, Asch's tale begins a new twist. A new narrator steps onto the scene: Judah, man from Kiriot. Asch goes out of his way to portray Judah as not only physically unattractive but extremely unbalanced as well, prone to manic extremes of both elation and depression. Asch's Judas is a tortured soul perplexed as to the true nature of the Rabbi. Much of Judas` narration centers around his constant questionning: Is the Rabbi indeed the Messiah, liberator of Israel or just another righteous teacher?

As the Passover sacrifice nears and Yeshua and his disciples move into Jerusalem, the narrative switches again. Judas` vantage point is replaced by that of Cornelius and Josephus. Here, Asch overplays some events (i.e. Jesus`s clash with the moneylenders), while understating others ( i.e. Nicodemus`s night meeting with Jesus). Yet, the Passion is depicted with both authenticity and pathos. Asch's depiction of the tortured Jesus in Gethsemane and the near-broken man carrying his burden to Golgotha are both quietly affecting. Asch carefully avoids the more sensational aspects of the Christian passion: the gawking crowds, the flail of Roman whips, the wailing women.... Instead, the Passion described here is a solemn and profoundly solitary affair, all the more affecting with its sorrowful silence. The Rabbi's death is described in all its horrifying detail, from the nails pounded into alabaster palms to the contorted body struggling to maintain itself upright. These gruesome and painful details are made all the more powerful by their authenticity.

After the crucifixion, `The Nazarene` ends rather abruptly. Asch refuses to wander into the minefield of Christian orthodoxy and speculate on the `risen Christ`. Instead, he leaves that to Paul, Origen and later Christian apologists. Asch's Yeshua never leaves his rightful Jewish milieu. The resurrection is left as one option of reverence for the the Nazarene. Josephus mentions that his fellow Nicodemian pupil, Rufus, became one of those believers in the `risen` Rabbi. Josephus, on the other hand, along with Rabbi Nicodemus, remains content that "...memory of the righteous shall be invoked with blessing."

And thus ends Sholem Asch's interpretation of the greatest story ever told. Asch leaves the reader with a Jesus whose memory shall provide eternal spiritual support for the believer. Yeshua`s final image is that of man of supreme righteousness, the highest accolade Jewish tradition bestows upon mortals. But `The Son of God`? The Messiah? Asch lets the reader draw his/her own conclusions. Asch's Jesus never quite evolves into `The` Son of God.

`The Nazarene' includes all the diverse Gospel characters, some more developed than others. Judas is particularly well-drawn if one-sided. Simon Peter is there as the bear of a man with a heart of wax as is Mary of Magdalene with all seven of her demons meticulously detailed. But others like mother Mary, father Joseph, cousin John the Baptizer, all remain in the background as distant shades. On the other hand though, Pilate is one of Asch's best characterizations. Fattened and brutalized by Rome's excesses, Pilate is very believable as a man little tormented by regret.

Asch also includes characters the Gospels hardly mention. The high priests of the Hanan family and the Sadducees are shown to be mercenary wielders of political power, ultimately responsible (thinks Asch) for the Rabbi's death at Roman hands. Unfortunately, too little is shown of the Pharisee class, those excessively pious, hypocritical, and self-righteous interpreters of Jewish law that catch the full brunt of Jesus`s wrath in Matthew. In fact, Asch seems to suggest that the Nazarene was himself a Pharisee albeit a rebellious one.

In conclusion, Scholem Asch's Nazarene isn`t that different from the Saviour found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John: a stainless, transformative and utterly original individual. What is lacking from `The Nazarene` is a peek into the heart and mind of this phenomenal individual. What I missed most from Asch's monumental work were the unknowns, the uncertainties of Jesus`s character. Did he struggle with his `mission`? Did dark doubt ever assault his Masada of faith? Was the Son ever disappointed in, disenchanted with his Father? Little blasphemous delights to be sure, but such examinations would have made this book an even richer experience.

`The Nazarene` exhaustively details the environment of Rabbi Jesus but leaves the man as enigmatic as do the Gospels. For those whose faith demands fewer questions of the historical Jesus, reading `The Nazarene` will be a profoundly enriching experience. For those who seek more answers about the Son of Man, Asch's work ultimately fails to satisfy the hunger.

I finished this book a couple of nights ago. I felt as if a I were reading the Bible and understood it better, especially the Jewish religion. I wasn't sure which was fiction and which was taken from the Bible, but it didn't really matter. Reading it gave me a better understanding of the Jewish culture and why they still believe the Messiah hasn't come yet. I'm not sure I believe in regression and past lives, but it was used as a good vehicle to tell an age old story in a new light. I'm going to pass my copy on to a Methodist minister and I will be curious to see his reaction after reading it.

This book paints a picture of the characters in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. It is as if Sholem Asch were one of these characters, masterfully detailing life in Israel while under the rule of Rome, weaving the stories of individuals with the biblical accounts of Jesus and His disciples. Excellent book!

I read the Brazilian-Portuguese edition, translated by Monteiro Lobato, a well known brazilian writer. He has done a great job, too. The book is absolutely beautiful, captivating, magic. It transposes you in time and space. People and facts are presented with such clarity that it's almost if you were there, watching things happening. It provides an important lesson in the end, too.

Being a voracious and discriminating reader who has constantly read and reads books of quality and depth, there have been only rare occasions when a book has awakened and uplifted my soul. In other words, reading such a work went much further than the mere act of reading; I can look back and remember it as an *experience* transcending cognation. My encounter with such a book and author turned out to be a major event in my life, as real as birth, death, marriage, etc. I just now realize in writing this, that it was thirty years ago this month when I first read those words that began on the first page of THE NAZARENE: ". . . our senses are haunted by fragmentary recollections of another life. They drift like torn clouds above the hills and valleys of the mind, and weave themselves into the incidents of our current existence . . ." This novel begins in the old Jewish quarter of Warsaw, just prior to WWII, as Sholem Asch reveals that the truth of Yeshua the Nazarene is also the truth of the TORAH.
Also, there is an additional poignancy if one looks at the date when THE NAZARENE was published: 1939. The "modern" sections of the book took place in the Jewish physical and spiritual environment that soon faced its Passion.
THE NAZARENE is truly a spiritual classic.

I just finished The Nazarene, and it found a wonderful drama and synchronization of where Christians can agree with Jews, and visa versa, or where most of each could. For perspective of events and how contemporaries likely construed them, it seems a well-grounded book. I'll now order another of his works. Even in 2009, such matters matter much.