Vermesh, Geza

Born in a Hungarian Jewish family. At the age of seven, he was baptized by his parents (also baptized) in the Catholic faith . Father and mother died during the Holocaust ( 1944 ). After the war, Vermesh became a Catholic priest. He studied in Budapest , then at the University of Leuven , received a doctorate in theology ( 1953 ), the dissertation was devoted to Qumran manuscripts . In 1957 he left the Catholic Church, moved to the UK, got a place at Newcastle University . In 1965 he moved to Oxford University , was the first professor of Jewish studies in him, and retired in 1991 . In 1970 became a member of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue of London .

Until his death, he was an honorary professor of Jewish studies, an honorary member of Wolfson College (Oxford), editor-in-chief of the Journal of Jewish Studies (c 1971 ), director of the Oxford Forum of Researchers at Qumran (since 1991 ). He initiated the creation of the British ( 1975 ) and European ( 1981 ) associations of researchers of Judaism. Under his editorship (together with Fergus Millar and Matthew Black) came out an updated and revised translation of the fundamental work of Emil Schürer, “The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ” (3 vols., 1973 - 1987 ).

Died of cancer.

One of the first researchers of Qumran manuscripts, translated them into English ( 1962 ). The author of a kind of revolution that brought about the historical Jesus of Nazareth in connection with Jewish tradition and thought, called for the separation of Christ's teachings from Christianity.

• The Holy Book and Tradition in Judaism / Scripture and Tradition in Judaism: Haggadic studies (Studia post-biblica) , Brill, Leiden 1961 ISBN 90-04-03626-1
• The Dead Sea Scrolls in English. Baltimore: Penguin, 1962 (reprinted)
• Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels , Minneapolis, Fortress Press 1973 ISBN 0-8006-1443-7
• Post-Biblical Jewish Studies , Brill, Leiden, 1975 ISBN 90-04-04160-5
• Qumran Manuscripts / The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective , Minneapolis, Fortress Press 1977 ISBN 0-8006-1435-6
• Jesus and the World of Judaism / Jesus and the World of Judaism , Minneapolis, Fortress Press 1983 ISBN 0-8006-1784-3
• Essenes of Classical Sources / The Essenes According to the Classical Sources (co-authored by Martin Goodman), Sheffield Academic Press 1989 ISBN 1-85075-139-0
• Religion of Jesus-Jew / The Religion of Jesus the Jew , Minneapolis, Fortress Press 1993 ISBN 0-8006-2797-0
• The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English , Penguin 1997 ISBN 978-0-14-044952-5 (reprinted)
• Providential accidents: an autobiography . Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1998 (autobiography; reprint. 1999, Hungarian trans. 2000)
• The Changing Faces of Jesus / The Changing Faces of Jesus , London, Penguin 2001 ISBN 0-14-026524-4
• Jesus in his Jewish Context , Jesus in his Jewish Context , Minneapolis, Fortress Press 2003 ISBN 0-8006-3623-6
• The True Gospel of Jesus / The Authentic Gospel of Jesus , London, Penguin 2004 ISBN 0-14-100360-X
• Passion / The Passion , London, Penguin 2005 ISBN 0-14-102132-2 .
• Who's Who in the Age of Jesus , London, Penguin 2005 ISBN 0-14-051565-8
• Christmas : History and Legend / The Nativity: History and Legend , London, Penguin 2006 ISBN 0-14-102446-1
• The Resurrection : History and Myth / The Resurrection: History and Myth , Doubleday Books 2008 ISBN 0-385-52242-8 .
• Searching for the Real Jesus / Searching for the Real Jesus , London, SCM Press 2010 ISBN 978-0-334-04358-4
• The Story of the Scrolls: The Miraculous Discovery and True Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls , London, Penguin 2010 ISBN 978-0-14-104615-0
• Jesus: Nativity - Passion - Resurrection / Jesus: Nativity - Passion - Resurrection , London, Penguin 2010 ISBN 978-0-14-104622-8
• Jesus in the Jewish World , London, SCM Press 2010 ISBN 978-0-334-04379-9
• Primary Christianity from Nazareth to the First Council of Nicaea / Christian Beginnings from Nazareth to Nicaea, AD 30-325 , London, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-84614-150-8

Member of the British Academy . Honorary Doctor of the University of Edinburgh , Durham and Sheffield , Central European University in Budapest. He was awarded the commemorative medal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( 1996 ) and the commemorative medal of his hometown ( 2008 ). Vermesh's works have been translated into many languages, including Japanese.

• A Tribute to Géza Vermès: essays on Jewish and Christian literature and history / Philip R. Davies & Richard T. White, eds. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990

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