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This is an extraordinary book. The term ‘masterpiece’ is over-used but this is the genuine article. It is no small thing to reinterpret the story of the Passion and I could see from about page five why the Vatican banned it when it was published in 1955.
You need to know the scriptures, especially the Old Testament prophesies, the Gospels and the writings of Paul, to fully understand the extent to which Kazantzakis has subverted them. We meet a feeble Jesus when he is 20 years old, tormented in his dreams and during seizures by visions of pursuing angels insisting he is The One. He fights back by making crosses for Roman crucifixions as evidence of his sinfulness and unfitness for the office of Messiah but he is captured into his mission nonetheless.
Kazantzakis gives us a flawed human Jesus taking on the might of Jewish tradition while his entourage of illiterate fishermen and wild-eyed Zealots simply want to oust the Romans. As is the case within the bible itself, Jesus struggles to convey his concept of heaven on earth, spirit within matter in the here and now, belief in which promises immortality. He resorts to parable after parable but all of it goes over the heads of his followers who hear nothing more than ‘Kingdom’ and ‘riches’ as they pin upon him all their hopes of freedom from Rome.
Spoiler Alert!
All Christians know that Jesus asked God to take the cup of poison from him as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he was arrested. Kazantzakis has a disguised Tempter intervene at this point and grant his wish. Cleverly, this alternative outcome is not one of hedonistic indulgence but of ordinary mortal life – marriage, family, tilling the land, and great joy in all of it – until a ragged, firebrand apostle called Paul arrives with a very different version of events that he intends to write down and send out into the world. And thus Jesus is recaptured.
This was a compelling read – admittedly a disjointed one as busy life consumes my reading time – and not one that committed Christians will like at all. There is far more I could say about it, not least the role of women within the novel but I don’t write long reviews so I’ll leave it there.
Best wishes to my GR friends. I have not had much time to browse my stream recently.
You need to know the scriptures, especially the Old Testament prophesies, the Gospels and the writings of Paul, to fully understand the extent to which Kazantzakis has subverted them. We meet a feeble Jesus when he is 20 years old, tormented in his dreams and during seizures by visions of pursuing angels insisting he is The One. He fights back by making crosses for Roman crucifixions as evidence of his sinfulness and unfitness for the office of Messiah but he is captured into his mission nonetheless.
Kazantzakis gives us a flawed human Jesus taking on the might of Jewish tradition while his entourage of illiterate fishermen and wild-eyed Zealots simply want to oust the Romans. As is the case within the bible itself, Jesus struggles to convey his concept of heaven on earth, spirit within matter in the here and now, belief in which promises immortality. He resorts to parable after parable but all of it goes over the heads of his followers who hear nothing more than ‘Kingdom’ and ‘riches’ as they pin upon him all their hopes of freedom from Rome.
Spoiler Alert!
All Christians know that Jesus asked God to take the cup of poison from him as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he was arrested. Kazantzakis has a disguised Tempter intervene at this point and grant his wish. Cleverly, this alternative outcome is not one of hedonistic indulgence but of ordinary mortal life – marriage, family, tilling the land, and great joy in all of it – until a ragged, firebrand apostle called Paul arrives with a very different version of events that he intends to write down and send out into the world. And thus Jesus is recaptured.
This was a compelling read – admittedly a disjointed one as busy life consumes my reading time – and not one that committed Christians will like at all. There is far more I could say about it, not least the role of women within the novel but I don’t write long reviews so I’ll leave it there.
Best wishes to my GR friends. I have not had much time to browse my stream recently.
