Apr 28, 2004 08:35 AM
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(Updated Apr 28, 2004 08:35 AM)
Kazantzakis? The Last Temptation of Christ is an attempt to humanize Christ before us. The author paints Christ as a man with most of the frailties and imperfections that we are prone to as human beings. And no wonder, the book has drawn much flak from so-called christians around the world. It even managed to get successfully blacklisted by the catholic church. When a book is blacklisted, no catholic is supposed to read it, as it may take them away from their faith!!
Let this be noted that I am not questioning the fundamentals of christianity. But christianity in the sense of following Christ and as it is practiced by the Church is an entirely different thing. This has caused major curses being pronounced by pulpits around the world on this honest attempt by the author to show Christ as he really was.
The book is the product of the imagination and feeling of the author for Christ and is not a historical description. Of course, history comes in between and historical anecdotes from the bible was portrayed.
Kazantzakis? Christ feels temptation for the beautiful prostitute Mary Magdalene and struggles to overcome that. He feels tempted to the ways of the world, to marry and settle down as normal human beings. He considered himself no different from others, though he knew that the normal ways of the world is not meant for him. The author has painted a clear picture of the pain that his mother Mary goes through when she finds Jesus very different from the rest of the people.
This book is a must read for anyone who has some feeling for Jesus, and not necessarily for christianity. Unfortunately, the powers-that-be in the Church have declared fight against this book. That makes it doubly interesting. I feel the author is far more closer to Christ than all the cardinals and popes and bishops of the world put together. The author writes with genuine feeling for the man.
It is because of the human nature of Christ, his temptations, his anger, his follies and his final agony on the cross that he endears himself to us. He has also suffered much like most of us ? he does not tower over us in unmitigated perfection. If I may add without hurting other religions, it is because of this human nature of Jesus that his religion has spread half the world. Look at Krishna ? he is in perfect bliss all the time.. look at Buddha ? he is so detached, nothing matters to him. They don?t really seem human. But Jesus seems to be an exception.
The author seems to be telling us that Jesus was not the man the church is hell bent on projecting. Look at the pictures of him wearing nice clothes and with a halo around his head ? go to any catholic?s house and you can see that picture. Jesus nowhere would have been like that. The church even says he never laughed. Can you imagine a man throwing a party at the drop of a hat not laughing? He was a man who ate with prostitutes and publicans. He partied even the day before his crucifixion. Imagine such a man not laughing.
This book, in short, is a radically different view of Jesus and is at variance with views universally accepted. A must read.
