The Last Temptation of Christ Nikos Kazantzakis

This book was simply the story of Jesus told in the form of a novel. It started in his adulthood and ended with his crucifixion and strayed somewhat from what is written in the bible, to the point of heresy in the eyes of Christians.

It begins in a compelling way, with a prophet being prepared by the Romans for crucifixion, an occurrence which is apparently common, and Jesus the son of the carpenter preparing and delivering the cross himself, all while being decried by his neighbors. Hes having nightmares where hes running from a giant man with a red beard and a bunch of little old goblins, and God is clawing into him as if large bird. Hes tortured by these things and eventually leaves his family and goes to the desert to become a monk.

On the way he passes through Magdala and goes to say goodbye to Mary Magdelene, his former fiance. After finishing with several customers, she allows him in and they have an unpleasant night together before he leaves for good, to become a monk. At the monastery, the Abbot is seeing visions and is told by God that he will see the messiah, then die. He tells this to the monks, then falls ill. When Jesus arrives, the Abbot points to him and smiles, then dies. Judas arrives to do work for the monks and intends to kill Jesus in the process, determining him to be an agent of the Romans. They form a pact to go see John the Baptist who will decide once and for all if he is the messiah, at which point Judas is free to kill him if he is not.

Along the way they accrue a few more disciples and after passing through the notable degenerate Jerusalem, arrive at John the Baptists spot in the river where he performs his work. He ceases his baptisms and spends three days with Jesus, at the end of which he seemingly declares that he is indeed the messiah. They return to Nazareth and soon hear word that John the Baptist was killed by the Romans.

Jesus message along the way changes drastically. At first its all about love. He says were all brothers, including the Romans. Judas distrusts this message, but the poor love it and he finds adherents. Later, after Johns death, he becomes much more harsh. On a later trip to Jerusalem he talks more about a second Ark, but instead of a flood of water, it will be a sea of fire. He intends to burn down Jerusalem and then rebuild it with his followers.

This eventually leads to a meeting with Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Jerusalem. Hes kind, if mocking, to Jesus and seems to know that Jesus wishes to be crucified, but will deny him that, mostly to please his wife. Pilate plays a small role in this version of the story.

After raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus sees a large boost in popularity and seems eager to die in order to begin the kingdom of heaven. He arranges his only strong disciple, Judas, to betray him to the Romans after he has threatened to burn down the temple. They come and Pilate allows the people of Jerusalem to choose his punishment, and they choose the cross. In a very brief scene of the book, Jesus is crucified and promptly loses consciousness.

Jesus awakes and finds Lazarus village. Lazarus has been killed by the mob, so Jesus goes to his home where his two sisters live and, with the help of a guardian angel, takes on the disguise of Lazarus and is able to live there with them. He has children with one and eventually with the other as well and they have a giant happy family and he grows old while the guardian angel accompanies him disguised as a small negro boy. One of the girls has visions in which angels tell her this life is a dream, but Jesus calms her. Eventually a man comes to the village named Saul preaching the Good Word. Jesus is furious when its said that he was crucified and rose from the dead. After so many years living a comfortable life, he believes that having children gives you immortality. That this life is as close to God as one can get. This man is Paul of Tarsus and mocks Jesus, saying that the myth is more powerful than the truth, and that even if the story didnt actually happen, it basically is true as long as people believe it and it gets them closer to God. Jesus is finally disillusioned and doubting himself, so the angel, who implies that he is the devil, allows the disciples to come. They have all withered and lost hope and feel that Jesus is a coward and a traitor. Judas above all wishes to punish him. Finally, he denies this last temptation, the temptation to live peacefully with women and children, and he returns to the cross where the story ends.

Despite being a longer book than Im used to, at 500 pages, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone familiar with the story. It forces you to think about the story of Jesus and the meaning of different parts of it, but also keeps you on your toes because of the additions made by the author.