Hugh J Schonfield

A long-lost and forgotten book by the author of the Passover Plot, Hugh J. Schonfield under the pseudonym of "Hegesippus"First published in 1932, this little book caused a sensation and stir amongst conservative Christians yet its explanation of the famous so-called Sermon on the Mount still blows like a breath of fresh air today The original dust jacket reiterated current reviews: "From first to last the pages vindicate the tenets and words of Christ." - the Christian"This moving book which all earnest Christians will welcome." - Dr. McInnes in the Scots Observer"His book is of immense importance." - City Mid-Week"The Arguments are put forward with so little passion or rhetoric and are so obviously supported by scholarship and knowledge that the case seems beyond refutation." - City Mid-Week"The exposition here given is supported by Talmudic and other Jewish writings ... singularly apt and illuminating." - The ChristianIt probably remains, as also stated on the front cover: The Greatest Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount

A long-lost and forgotten book by the author of the Passover Plot, Hugh J. Schonfield under the pseudonym of "Hegesippus"First published in 1932, this little book caused a sensation and stir amongst conservative Christians yet its explanation of the famous so-called Sermon on the Mount still blows like a breath of fresh air today The original dust jacket reiterated current reviews: "From first to last the pages vindicate the tenets and words of Christ." - the Christian"This moving book which all earnest Christians will welcome." - Dr. McInnes in the Scots Observer"His book is of immense importance." - City Mid-Week"The Arguments are put forward with so little passion or rhetoric and are so obviously supported by scholarship and knowledge that the case seems beyond refutation." - City Mid-Week"The exposition here given is supported by Talmudic and other Jewish writings ... singularly apt and illuminating." - The ChristianIt probably remains, as also stated on the front cover: The Greatest Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount

Hugh J. Schonfield wurde 1901 in London geboren. Nach seinem Studium in London und Glasgow widmete er seine Lebensarbeit als Historiker der Zeit Jesu und des fr hen Christentums. Zahlreiche Ver ffentlichungen zu diesem Thema brachten ihm weltweite Anerkennung. Seine B cher "The Passover Plot" und "Those Incredible Christians" erreichten eine Gesamtauflage von mehr als zwei Millionen Exemplare.Mit dem vorliegenden Buch versucht Schonfield eine zeitgem e Interpretation der messianischen Idee.

Hugh Schonfield is best known for his controversial book (and the film) "The Passover Plot" yet he was a writer of considerable scope and often composed essays or gave talks on many of his pet themes, including approaching ancient religious literature from a historical point of view. Through these studies he portrays man on a path of destiny to a Wellsian future and often calls his listener to consider the meaning of true religion.In this book we are confronted with a collection of essays which have never been put into print and which were discovered in the articles of the Mondcivitan Republic (Commonwealth of World Citizens).Although the idea of founding a virtual Republic based on the concept of a serving world nation seems far-fetched to readers today, it expressed ideas of non-violence and sharing which perhaps will one day find themselves realised in another form from which their originator envisaged.Hugh Schonfield arrived at his revelation of a Servant-People though his extensive research into Christian, Jewish and Biblical history. This becomes apparent when reading this collection of essays.It has been a purpose of the Hugh and Helene Schonfield Trust to keep these ideas alive for that future generation who will one day take up the gauntlet of finding a way of creating a better and more peaceful world for all.Schonfield‛s ideas did not fall on deaf ears and inspired many of his followers to make their own attempts of making this ancient dream a reality.I have also included an essay from Sir Anthony Brooke who was a strong supporter of Schonfield's ideas.It is hoped that the reader will find these essays both inspiring and a source of pleasure.Stephen A. Engelking (Editor)

Hitherto few scholars have treated John the Baptist as an independent personality, apart from the subordinate position accorded him in the Gospels of forerunner to Jesus. The policy of the Gospel writers, crystallized in the saying put into the mouth of the Baptist in the Fourth Gospel, "He must increase, but I must decrease," was consistently directed to utilizing this historic figure as the supreme witness to the Messiahship of Jesus, and then, his purpose served, to relegate him to the limbo of forgetfulness. Here and there, however, even in the Gospels, we catch a glimpse of a higher role which many of his generation assigned to the Baptist: "The recently recovered witness of the Old Russian version of Josephus' Wars confirms the theocratic objective of the Baptist's ministry. "He came to the Jews and summoned them to freedom, saying: God hath sent me, that I may show you the way of the Law, wherein ye may free yourselves from many holders of power. And there will be no mortal ruling over you, only the Most High who hath sent me."This short introduction on the Baptist and his disciples will have served its purpose if it has drawn attention to the Messianic character of the life and teaching of John in the period of Jewish history which more than any other was full of Messianic expectation, and also to the undoubted fact that John was regarded as Messiah by a numerous following. The gnostic affinities of the Baptist sect in later times, and the various vicissitudes through which it passed, make it improbable that anything like a straightforward narrative of John's life (such as the Gospels provide of the life of Jesus) was ever composed, but there are evidences to show that there did once exist a book describing the marvellous birth of John in his character of Messiah, compiled by his disciples, which in parts paralleled the account of the birth of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. This book, which would antedate the Gospel Nativity narratives and may have helped to produce them, is still largely recoverable from different sources. In this book an attempt has been made to resurrect the lost Book of the Nativity of John, and to show how the legends contained in it, and in the Gospel narratives of the birth of Jesus, originated.

This book would be well worth reading as a survey of human progress towards World Order from the Code of the Hammurabi to the concept of International Law, as an outline of governmental institutions from the Roman Empire to the United Nations, as an objective consideration of universal programmes as diverse as Functional Federalism and State Shintoism. But the book is even more worth reading as a masterly analysis of current problems and principles, spiritual, political and scientific, which affect mankind in its quest for harmony and unity.But the reason why this book must be read by everyone concerned for the issues of War or Peace is because it makes a major contribution towards the solution of our international difficulties. The author gives here not only an answer - but perhaps The Answer - to the great question of our time.This book has something to tell which is NEWS, real and thrilling news, which thousands the world over will want to hear about and discuss. An enterprise has been begun - not just contemplated or proposed - which none of the Governments could have undertaken and which, in its fruition, can transform the international situation. The unexpectedness of the new agency may arouse controversy and even criticism in some quarters but by most it will be warmly and thankfully welcomed.

It is somewhat surprising and illuminating to discover for how many people the Prophet of Nazareth has been little more than a theological concept with a semblance of humanity. I have chosen the ambitious description of biography for this life of Jesus, because that is the class of writing to which it is intended to belong. My book is not designed to serve any theological or propagandist purpose whatsoever. I have attempted to take the subject out of the domain of purely religious literature, though I know how difficult it is-and has been for myself-to acquire the unbiased and detached viewpoint which is vital to such an experiment. I cannot pretend that I have always succeeded; but I believe that I have gone further in this direction than any of my predecessors. The name of Jesus is so intimately bound up with an exalted faith, which is daily operative for thousands, that the task of him who would remember only that his function is to relate the story of a Galilean Jew, who lived nearly two millenniums ago and claimed to be his people's Messiah, is no enviable one.

Originally published in 1943, this book provides both valuable insights into the problems confronting Judaism at the end of the Second World War but also a solution towards peace for mankind in general.The books covers such subjects as why anything Jewish has suffered so much hatred which caused even a hatred of Christianity and the democratic way of life.This is pertinent to the situation between Christians, Jews and Moslems today.The book is an appeal for the building of a 'Dienstvolk' as the only alternative to a 'Herrenvolk'. There may be lessons here also for the modern State of Israel which since then has become a fact and the dilemma of a people which are actually called as messengers of peace.

In this scholarly yet readable book Schonfield tries to unravel the mysteries behind the development of early Christianity in the thirty years between the crucifixion of Jesus and the Fall of Jerusalem.It builds on the famous work 'The Passover Plot' by the same author. It is a companion reader also to 'Those Incredible Christians' and 'The Politics of God' and provides challenging insights into a world we thought we understood.We discover a movement amongst Jewish people of the time who were not concerned with establishing a new religion but rather with a new social order - a new Israel.Thus the writer lifts this early Nazorean group out of the context of Roman Christianity and clears the path for a fresh look at the meaning of the Messianic message.

In the spring of 1925 the writer purchased from a London antiquarian bookseller a small volume, dated A.D. 1555, containing the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew, followed by a series of Jewish objections to the Gospel to the number of twenty-three, also in Hebrew. The text of the Gospel was accompanied at the end of the volume by a Latin translation. A dedicatory epistle to Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine, relates how Jean du Tillet, Bishop of Brieu, while travelling in Italy in the year 1553, found the Hebrew manuscript among the Jews, and brought it back with him to Paris, where he commissioned a Hebrew scholar, Jean Mercier, to translate it into Latin. Mercier, however, has a slightly different tale to tell. In his own preface he states that the Bishop of Brieu had extorted the MS. from the Jews of Rome for the purpose of examination. Confirmatory evidence of this statement appears in the fact that, on 12th August 1553, Pope Julius III. signed a decree for the suppression of the Talmud on the representation of the anti-Semitic Pietro, Cardinal Caraffa, the Inquisitor-General, afterwards Pope Paul IV. This decree was carried into effect in Rome with great ruthlessness on Rosh Hashanna (Jewish New Year's Day), 9th September 1553, for not only were copies of the Talmud seized, on the plea that it was inimical to Christianity, but every Hebrew book on which the minions of the Inquisition could lay their hands. It is highly probable that the Bishop of Brieu found the Hebrew MS. of Matthew's Gospel among the confiscated books.

The story of Jesus as the writers of the New Testament meant it to be told. Astonishingly unlike the New Testament as it has been handed down to us today, this remarkable new translation makes the story come alive as never before. Impelled by the latest archaeological and historical discoveries, eminent scholar Hugh J. Schonfield has returned the New Testament to its own time and place, relating its documents to contemporary literature, customs and beliefs. The first truly historical translation with no theological motivation or devotional purpose, The Original New Testament rediscovers the force and urgency of the original message. Dr. Schonfield systematically corrects mistakes in translation that have been compounded over time, and eradicates later theological developments that he believes were falsely ascribed to the original writers. Here is a work at once passionate in dedication and scholarly in execution. The fresh and very readable translation of The Original New Testament suggests to both Jews and Christians that they have missed something in the story of Jesus of Nazareth. In a very real sense, it re-emphasises the "Jewishness" of the New Testament. And to those of both faiths, it offers new opportunities for understanding and applying the Bible's message. Included are full historical and explanatory notes making this a vivid and inspiring translation which will also support the student of bible studies. In this edition, Schonfield's helpful notes have been included within the body text which reinforces the erudition of this translation.