The autobiography of the Dead Sea Scrolls expert, who was born in Hungary, became a Roman Catholic priest in Belgium, studied in Paris, married in Newcastle and found fame and happiness in Oxford.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
It is a remarkable story. (Times Literary Supplement )
Vermes provides a more intimate view of the twists and turns by which he entered the church, survived fascist Hungary and the Nazis, studied in Louvain and Paris, entered British academic life and a life outside the church, came to Oxford, fought for almost forty years for free access to the treasures of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and came to search for the historical Jesus. It is a truly gripping narrative….His memoir is also a love story…[and] and international thriller, especially with the high-level goings-on around the Scrolls. (The New Republic )
Geza Vermes is one of the most prominent and most productive Dead Sea Scroll scholars in the world. His is the most widely used translation of the scrolls... a leading scholar in what is referred to as historical Jesus studies. (Hershel Shanks Bible Review June 1999 )
Vermes provides a more intimate view of the twists and turns by which he entered the church, survived fascist Hungary and the Nazis, studied in Louvain and Paris, entered British academic life and a life outside the church, came to Oxford, fought for almost forty years for free access to the treasures of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and came to search for the historical Jesus. It is a truly gripping narrative?.His memoir is also a love story?[and] and international thriller, especially with the high-level goings-on around the Scrolls... (The New Republic ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Vermes provides a more intimate view of the twists and turns by which he entered the church, survived fascist Hungary and the Nazis, studied in Louvain and Paris, entered British academic life and a life outside the church, came to Oxford, fought for almost forty years for free access to the treasures of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and came to search for the historical Jesus. It is a truly gripping narrative….His memoir is also a love story…[and] and international thriller, especially with the high-level goings-on around the Scrolls. (The New Republic )
Geza Vermes is one of the most prominent and most productive Dead Sea Scroll scholars in the world. His is the most widely used translation of the scrolls... a leading scholar in what is referred to as historical Jesus studies. (Hershel Shanks Bible Review June 1999 )
Vermes provides a more intimate view of the twists and turns by which he entered the church, survived fascist Hungary and the Nazis, studied in Louvain and Paris, entered British academic life and a life outside the church, came to Oxford, fought for almost forty years for free access to the treasures of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and came to search for the historical Jesus. It is a truly gripping narrative?.His memoir is also a love story?[and] and international thriller, especially with the high-level goings-on around the Scrolls... (The New Republic ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
About the Author
Geza Vermes is a fellow of the British Academy and professor emeritus of Jewish Studies at the University of Oxford.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Life Experience of a Great Scholar,
By Joseph Cook (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Providential Accidents: An Autobiography (Paperback)
Providential Accidents - what a well-chosen title- gives a moving insight into the colorful life of a scholar who is world-famous for his pioneering work on the Dead Sea Scrolls and on the historical Jesus. It reveals also in a very impressive way Vermes's personal development starting from provincial Hungary between the wars to his appointment to the chair of Jewish Studies in the University of Oxford and to a Fellowship of the British Academy. A few extracts from the press reviews of the British edition will show the profound impact of this beautifully written book. "Geza Vermes changed accepted views of the life of Christ. Now he has written his own life: the story of a Jew who converted to Catholicism, became a priest, and has now reaffirmed his Jewishness" - The Independent, London. "Vermes believes that Jews and Christians have a lot to learn from looking at Jesus as he was 'thoroughly Jewish'" - The Jerusalem Report. "Providential Accidents is a remarkable story. Vermes' stunning autobiography provides constant evidence of the intuition, wholeness and humility that facilitated the 'providential accidents' which have shaped his life" -The Tablet, London (Roman Catholic) "It reads better than a novel" - Expository Times, Edinburgh.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Providence than Accident,
By
This review is from: Providential Accidents: An Autobiography (Paperback)
An autobiography of the world's foremost expert on the Jewish Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls might seem like a snorer to anyone outside academe. But if you enjoy a good character novel, if Dickens or Trollope turn you on, you need to read Providential Accidents. Vermes' life is one of those stranger-than-fiction stories, with more Twists than Oliver, and more intriguing clerics and clerical intrigue than Barchester Towers. Born of non-observant Jews in pre-WW2 Hungary, the young Geza and his family convert to allow him access to better education. Soon he's in Catholic seminary (for much the same reason) and ordained. The War sends most of his family to the death camps, and Geza to Paris, where he joins an order dedicated to converting Jews. His career in Biblical scholarship leads the gifted priest to question his Church's views on Jesus, until he finally leaves both priesthood and Christianity, becoming, against all odds, the first professor of Jewish Studies at Oxford. A "novel-within-the novel" deals with Vermes' leadership of the movement to free the Dead Sea Scrolls from the grip of their restrictive and anti-Jewish guardians.Vermes is neither novelist nor biographer, and the writing is a bit stuffy. And the book does leave one wishing for more insight into his inner process of "reconversion." Psychological novel this isn't; still, I expected a treatise and got a page-turner. Vermes is a hero.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New adjective must invented to honor such knowledge,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Providential Accidents: An Autobiography (Paperback)
It has happened in Hungary.The 1848 anti-Hapsburg uprising was crushed, but fortunately, enlightened Ferenc Deak 1803-1876 has managed to develop a new national concept, the NonViolence. It has restored Hungar's dignity, earned the respect of Vienna, and allowed an educational revolution. Dedicated teachers raised generations of great scholars. Geza Vermes is one such graduate. The rest is history. He wrote his ph.d. on the Dead Scrolls, and revised the history of Jesus Christ. He went on to teach in Newcastle and Oxford. Words can fail to honor his knowledge.
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