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The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

José Saramago,

Giovanni Pontiero (Translator)

4.30 · Rating details · 25,828 ratings · 1,646 reviews

This is a skeptic' s journey into the meaning of God and of human existence. At once an ironic rendering of the life of Christ and a beautiful novel, Saramago' s tale has sparked intense discussion about the meaning of Christianity and the Church as an institution. Translated by Giovanni Pontiero.
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Paperback, 341 pages

Published December 26th 1999 by Harvill Press (first published 1991)

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May 03, 2016 Vit Babenco rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62
José Saramago put his hand to the quill and looked back… He looked back deep into the past…

…thought, when all is said and done, as others and we ourselves have observed before, is like a great ball of thread coiled around itself, loose in places, taut in others, inside our head. It is impossible to know its full extent, one would have to unwind and then measure it, but

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Feb 23, 2021 Candi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: european-literature, philosophy, religion, book-i-own

There are two topics that are both sensitive and ‘dangerous’ to discuss both in our everyday lives and in an online forum – politics and religion. I refuse to get into discourse on either subject even with the majority of close friends and family members. I have to know someone quite well and trust him or her implicitly before engaging in real life conversations. Therefore, this review is not going to contain much substance. Not just because I would like to avoid debate, but also due to the fact There are two topics that are both sensitive and ‘dangerous’ to discuss both in our everyday lives and in an online forum – politics and religion. I refuse to get into discourse on either subject even with the majority of close friends and family members. I have to know someone quite well and trust him or her implicitly before engaging in real life conversations. Therefore, this review is not going to contain much substance. Not just because I would like to avoid debate, but also due to the fact that I am not even close to being informed enough to take on the Bible and any controversial writings that follow it.

I have not read the Bible. I am familiar with many of the stories, however. I am not a religious person, but I am inquisitive and like to inform myself about the beliefs of others. I have been very curious about Saramago’s novel for quite some time and couldn’t quite get the idea out of my head that I needed to read this. So I made it a goal for 2021 and knocked it off early. I’m very glad I did. First of all, I found that it confirmed some of my own ideas about Jesus as well as the poor image of women that has been promoted by a number of world religions (something that irks me to no end!) Jesus is portrayed here as a human being with questions, doubts, and desires. Many of the gospel stories that we know are told from a very different perspective. I nearly started to count the number of times Saramago reminds us, with irony of course, the way women were perceived. Here are a couple of examples, which I imagine the author writing at his desk with tongue in cheek:

“Unlike Joseph her husband, Mary is neither upright nor pious, but she is not to blame for this, the blame lies with the language she speaks if not with the men who invented it, because that language has no feminine form for the words upright and pious.”

“Which part of woman’s nature is demonic and which divine and what kind of humanity they have… I was talking about women, who generate beings such as ourselves and who may be responsible, perhaps unknowingly, for this duality in our nature, which is base and yet so noble, virtuous and yet so wicked, tranquil and yet so troubled, meek and yet so rebellious.”

That’s as far as I go down this road. I have a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head and they’re likely to stay there, simmering. This is my first experience with Saramago. I’ll just finish up with a couple brief reflections on the writing. First of all, it was dense. Dense in subject matter especially! I often wanted to set this down and escape to something much lighter. Paragraphs are very lengthy, often going on for pages at a time. Anyone that resents a lack of quotation marks should be warned in advance. I don’t have a problem with this. In fact, after the first couple of chapters I grasped the flow of dialogue. The prose itself is tightly written and obviously skilled. There is no denying that Saramago was a master at his craft. However, I need to choose a different sort of novel altogether when I next pick him up, and I need to do so before long. I think we might have a bright future; but I’ve had my fill of anything remotely theological for quite some time, even if it does stand popular belief on its head.

“… we refrain from asking a question because we are unprepared or simply too afraid to hear the answer. And when finally we summon the courage to ask, no answer is forthcoming…”
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Feb 22, 2008 Aduren rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: EVERYONE

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Jose Saramago is atheist. This should be enough warning for everyone that desires to read the book. It is very explicit and so religion it’s exposed at its weakest and God as a character is revealed. I come from a Roman-Catholic background but I still wanted to read it, ever since the Gnostic gospel where Jesus childhood is revealed and he changes from a mischief bad behave kid to the Jesus from the new testament I wanted to see Saramago’s take on it. Saramago is such a master of words that he m Jose Saramago is atheist. This should be enough warning for everyone that desires to read the book. It is very explicit and so religion it’s exposed at its weakest and God as a character is revealed. I come from a Roman-Catholic background but I still wanted to read it, ever since the Gnostic gospel where Jesus childhood is revealed and he changes from a mischief bad behave kid to the Jesus from the new testament I wanted to see Saramago’s take on it. Saramago is such a master of words that he makes every bit of faith look totally illogical.

It does not take long for us to find out that Saramago is extremely sharp at finding all contradictions on roman-catholic religion. In the novel God seems to be the greediest of all gods, the vainer, the more detach from his people. Detached even from his son as he appeared to him in different shapes, only in the meeting at the lake did he appear to him as a man. God does not command, he orders, he tricks his own son into following his plan to the end. Ultimately Jesus’s betrayal was his last act of martyrdom.

The devil is given the name of Pastor. This has caused some confusion for English readers. When I was reading the book with some Jesuits this person contacted them just to let them know (as a good Christian I assume) how blasphemous was to name the devil pastor. It took me 30 minutes to explain that person that Pastor does not means priest, but rather it comes from the Latin word “pastor” meaning shepherd. Now did he use the word shepherd on purpose? Yes, what is the devil but a shepherd of men leading them to hell, just as Jesus is a fisherman of men. In the book Pastor is the most humanitarian, the more repented, so repented that when asked to be forgiven a clear distinction between right and wrong has to be made so God decides not to forgive him because what is a good God without evil? Saramago decides there cannot be one without the other.

The characters in the book are fascinating; my Jesuits friends and I laughed and enjoy this book. There were no doubts in our head by the end of the book. We did not feel like it shook our religion or affected the way we perceived God. This book was after all under fiction so everyone that is easily offended stay away from this book and stop complaining about blasphemy and crying around like little kids. Saramago is a Nobel price winner and foremost a grown man that is entitled to his own opinions. This one of his finest, if not the best, of his book in my opinion, a must read.
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Mar 03, 2011 K.D. Absolutely rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Joselito

Shelves: religion

This is a bold fearless work and definitely not for the faint-hearted readers. I am not surprised that when this was originally published in 1991, it created lots of controversies with the Catholic Church condemning Jose Saramago for harboring anti-religious vision and his own Portuguese government asking the European Literary Prize to remove this from its shortlist because of the book’s offensive content to religion. Despite this book’s existence, Saramago won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literatur ...more

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Dec 02, 2009 Sonia Gomes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: fantastic, lost-in-translation, portuguese

The Vicar was not happy that I was reading, ‘Gospel according to Christ’ for he felt I would lose my faith, as though Faith is not a part of your inner being, but a handkerchief, one misplaces oh so casually.

I am glad I disobeyed him, for this book only made me surer of my faith.

This book shows Christ in all his Humanity, Humanity so naked, so simple and so beautiful that it humbles you to the core of your being.

If I could say, to this so very Human Christ,

‘Let me but touch the hem of your robe ...more

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Jul 21, 2015 Paul Bryant rated it liked it

Shelves: novels, eurolit

I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SLIP SOME BENZEDRINE INTO THIS GUY’S COFFEE

This is a very peculiar novel. I’m not quite sure what the hell it is. Some of it reads like deleted scenes from Monty Python’s Life of Brian

Now be off with you, said God, for I have work to do and can’t stay here chatting all day

Or

Mary : Is there any proof that it was the Lord’s seed which engendered my first-born?
Angel : Well, it’s a delicate matter, and what you’re demanding is nothing less than a paternity test.

The rest of it ...more

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Jan 04, 2009 Natalie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: atheists, Christians, and Jews

Shelves: god-is-dead

Or: Adolescent Jesus as Imagined by a Brilliant Authorial Atheist.

That's unfair and reductive, however. Jose Saramago is an atheist, and the book does explore the parts of Jesus' life that most people pretend didn't exist (early adolescence to just before the time when he knew he had Messianic Son-of-God Superpowers), while at the same time gently but firmly questioning the nature of God, divinity, religious fervor manifesting itself as the oppression of others, bizarre religious ritual, and rel Or: Adolescent Jesus as Imagined by a Brilliant Authorial Atheist.

That's unfair and reductive, however. Jose Saramago is an atheist, and the book does explore the parts of Jesus' life that most people pretend didn't exist (early adolescence to just before the time when he knew he had Messianic Son-of-God Superpowers), while at the same time gently but firmly questioning the nature of God, divinity, religious fervor manifesting itself as the oppression of others, bizarre religious ritual, and religious hypocrisy.

The familiar Biblical story arc of Mary and Joseph's pilgrimage to Bethlehem for a census begins the story, though Saramago quickly dispenses with any notion that Mary was a virgin; she also has, in quick succession, many other children after Jesus' birth. (Both of these points, of course, are regarded as highly sacred/controversial in most Church law; it is essential that the Mother of God be stripped of her sexuality, and it has long been denied, mostly by the Catholic church, that Mary gave birth to any other children besides Jesus.)

Throughout the novel, Jesus questions himself, his status as the son of God, the idea that he may be the Messiah of the Jewish people, and even God's own divine plan (revealed to Jesus as a stunning display of hubris, arrogance, and selfishness) - but always remains steadfast in his devotion to Mary Magdalene, with whom he lives freely and openly in a sexual relationship outside the bonds of marriage, and whom he treats as equally as any man. (The book makes clear from page one the wretchedly inferior status of women in ancient Judaic times.)

Saramago points out something that many modern Christians tend to forget, in their re-branding of God as a benevolent Father/Protector/Wish-Granter: the God of the ancient Jews and the Old Testament was a complete prick. If God singled you out for his special attention, that was just as frightening as his anger toward you. He pissed in Job's face, played keep-away with Moses and the Promised Land, turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt simply for showing a bit of momentary concern for her neighbors, and totally Punk'd Abraham about that whole son-sacrificing thing, with all the equal amounts of jealousy and wrath that Old Testament God is famous for.

Of course Satan makes an appearance as a character, but Saramago fashions him as a much more interesting, multifaceted figure, possessed of depth, humor, and perhaps not as evil as he's often cast. He and God are posited to be old friends, not necessarily enemies, and in a co-dependent relationship of sorts in an arrangement to preserve the others' power. A very morally/religiously complex and long chapter is devoted to this balance of power, and for me was the climax of the novel - while God is telling Jesus of the horrific events that will occur in his name, Saramago devotes four pages of God's dialogue to alphabetically listing the names of martyred saints and the graphically violent ways in which they were killed for their belief.

The prose is beautiful, but Saramago's authorial imprint and style is his distinct lack of quotation marks in dialogue, and lack of paragraph breaks during dialogue between characters. It can be difficult to follow, particularly in situations with more than two characters speaking.

This is highly recommended for believers and non-believers alike. ...more

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Jun 25, 2020 Luís rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: religion, historical-fiction, portugal, romance, saramago

Everyone knows more or less about the birth of Jesus: the manger, the donkey and the ox, the three wise men, all that, all that. Adult life too, moreover: even without having received a Christian education, one has a vague idea of preaching, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection. And between the two, childhood, adolescence…? Well, we don't know: the bible does not say anything about it, and no credible source exists on the subject (although some myths (trip to Egypt, Asia, England) emerged la Everyone knows more or less about the birth of Jesus: the manger, the donkey and the ox, the three wise men, all that, all that. Adult life too, moreover: even without having received a Christian education, one has a vague idea of preaching, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection. And between the two, childhood, adolescence…? Well, we don't know: the bible does not say anything about it, and no credible source exists on the subject (although some myths (trip to Egypt, Asia, England) emerged later.

José Saramago, therefore, gives us his vision of this unknown Jesus, while reinterpreting in his sauce some biblical subjects. The result is probably not very canonical, since we see a Jesus first educated by the Devil, then discovering sexuality in the arms of Mary Magdalene, a prostitute with whom he falls in love. However, I did not see any desire to satire: on the contrary, we discover a character torn by the codes of the society of his time, the gradual discovery of his identity, and above all the feeling of being a toy of fate.

The author managed to get me interested in this character again, much to my surprise. Because my catechism lessons and then discussions with a few stubborn fundamentalists had given me a rather old-fashioned image: either a character of absolute drought or on the contrary sticky with marshmallow, his questions, his doubts, his errors also ended up making him endearing. The story strongly tinged with humour also contributes to this, especially when certain miracles are re-presented with a little common sense: thus, when Jesus brings out a demon from a man to move him into a herd of pigs, he must flee. The village running, chased away with stones by the owners of the livestock who are not very happy to lose their precious source of income. If the prestige takes a hit, one can only feel sympathy for this clumsy full of good intentions.

A wonderful moment in this book company started a little derisively at the time of the end of the year holidays, but which finally fascinated me from the first to the last page. ...more

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Mar 06, 2019 MihaElla rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What I like the most about this day, 8 of March, in case GR posts a different date on this text, which is a great day as any other day to live, is that from early morning following my daily path on the strolling alleys (that is on the ground) but also under-ground (that is by metro) I have been hit by groups and groups of men, each carrying in their arms a big bucket of flowers (thin flowers but very beautiful with lots of colours). Most of them displayed wide smiles while maybe feeling themselv What I like the most about this day, 8 of March, in case GR posts a different date on this text, which is a great day as any other day to live, is that from early morning following my daily path on the strolling alleys (that is on the ground) but also under-ground (that is by metro) I have been hit by groups and groups of men, each carrying in their arms a big bucket of flowers (thin flowers but very beautiful with lots of colours). Most of them displayed wide smiles while maybe feeling themselves a bit different than yesterday because of this very soft, delicate but wondrous burden they were delivering to their places of work. I have enjoyed more than the other days of the week my morning journey to work. But the nicest surprise was when I entered the office building where was this bodyguard who handed over to me a beautiful yellow rose with a wish of happy woman’s day. He made my day! Happy to see and be a witness of such lovely gestures and, wishing that the message and the intentions behind this int’l celebration should not fade away without producing any positive change within our hearts and minds.
This was supposed to be a review but as usual I am sliding on a different track and I reach nowhere 😉 which is a good direction still because I can further multiply my searches to other nowhere.
With each new book of Saramago I feel myself enriched with a direct geometrical progression of my admiration towards his innate genius, very much alive and kicking its way to the endless limits. This writer is just simply Great. First and foremost, I am highly subjective towards him and will continue to be so. Hence, I am at a loss at establishing a hierarchy regarding which novel I loved most of the ones I read so far. Each one of his novels is a stand-alone masterpiece.
The Gospel according to Jesus Christ is truly a shining brilliant jewel, maybe a bit more because it brought back to my mind memories long time put to sleep. Through quick mind flashes, I got back my childhood years spent together with my favorite maternal grandfather who used to keep my imagination at work by telling me about the Bible works. He got me so interested that I eventually took the Bible and read it, wholly. I was far too small of age back then and I cannot assert I did understand what may be of high relevance but I did enjoy it more because of the stories put in a more interpretative light by my grandfather. He did study four years of theology but he didn’t practice not even one day as a priest. His main passion was to be an automation engineer which is what he practiced his whole professional life. He was my first guide through this immense chapter in human life and I feel fortunate that he had enough of an open developed mind not to corrupt my own innocent undeveloped at that time mind with any preconceptions about religion. He always let me wander through the land of ideas without forcing any definitive answer on any questions that were posed. That is why now I cannot even say what is I am of, if I do belong to any group, of the few main known ones. I guess I take a bit from all of them, but just the part that feels integrative and positively affecting my whole being, mind, heart and soul.
It was enchanting and challenging to read this novel. Once you overcome the ethical and theological confrontations, even before opening the first page of this gospel, though impossible not to recur from time to time, letting your eyes linger through the pages of this book proves to be an entirely awesome and pleasant reading. And not because it is about Jesus’s life, as obviously Jesus is the main hero of this gospel, but because it seems the book does not have (it never had, maybe) the irreverent purpose of contradicting what others have written in those long past times, and therefore does not dare to say that it did not happen what happened, putting instead a YES a NO, being Jesus this hero and his adventures well known from official religious books.
Yes, it's easy to get close to him and to know his future, the good and miraculous things that have existed in his life, miracles such that some will give food, others will restore health, one that will defeat death.
Yes, it's easy to change your ideas when you encounter unexpected, miraculous situations, lacking the power of an explanation by reason, but it's just as easy to keep intact your robust skepticism, sometimes characteristic to the golden age of youth, sometimes due to a closed mind.
One of the very best parts from this jewel of book is the three-party interview between the God, the Devil and Jesus, on a boat, in the unknown middle of the sea, surrounded by a thick obscure fog, and which lasted for, more or less, just about 40 days, although for Jesus was just a matter of a couple of hours as for his own perception, especially that returned back on the shore the people waiting for him anxiously started to assault him with questions of what has happened there out in the sea. Although this meeting was highly interesting – definite one of the finest brushes of Saramago narrative genius – for these poor people (fishermen by profession) was a kind of no-work period, not that they went on strike purposely but more because they just couldn’t practice their daily job because the heavy tick wall of fog that made sailing a meeting with death, just in case of trying though… I think in a corner of my mind I also linked this with something I have been affected by recently. I did under-go the work assessment for previous year and I chose the attribute to qualify my performance as outstanding, top of top on the ladder. Upon final discussion with my boss, I was told that in order to deserve this I should be capable of walking on water, to which my sudden lament came uncontrollably: But I am not Jesus Christ‼ He was only One.
My Saramago reading adventure continues with high gusto and I am already so very certain that it will bring further personal rewards that are not helped by words to be expressed. So happy he did have, even limited like all of us, existence on this Earth for some of us to feel overjoyed for reading his novels.
≪ Multa vreme vor ramane aici acesti copaci, si va sosi ziua cand se va fi pierdut memoria a ceea ce s-a intamplat, si atunci, cum oamenii vor pentru orice cate o explicatie, falsa sau adevarata, se vor inventa cateva istorii si legende, la inceput mai pastrand inca o oarecare relatie cu faptele, apoi din ce in ce mai slaba, pana cand totul se va transforma in pura fabula. Si va sosi alta zi cand copacii vor muri de batranete si vor fi taiati, si alta cand, din pricina unei autostrazi, sau a unei scoli, sau a unei case de locuit, sau a unui centru comercial, sau a unui fort militar, excavatoarele vor rascoli terenul si vor scoate la lumina zilei, pentru o noua nastere, scheletele care au zacut acolo vreme de doua mii de ani. Vor veni atunci antropologii si un profesor de anatomie va examina resturile, pentru ca, mai tarziu, sa anunte lumii scandalizate ca, de fapt, pe vremea aceea, oamenii erau rastigniti cu genunchii indoiti. Si cum lumea nu-l putea dezavua in numele stiintei, l-a detestat in numele esteticii. ≫ ...more

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Dec 02, 2015 Edward rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 2015, nobel-winners, religion, literary-fiction

Caveat: This book has a very limited audience. Those with little interest in the Christian religion will find it a difficult and unrewarding slog. Conversely those with strong religious beliefs may be challenged or offended and avoid the book for those reasons. Additionally, the writing is very dense and somewhat difficult and will deter casual readers who may be otherwise interested in the subject matter (while the book is only 340 pages, the font is small and tightly packed, and there are few Caveat: This book has a very limited audience. Those with little interest in the Christian religion will find it a difficult and unrewarding slog. Conversely those with strong religious beliefs may be challenged or offended and avoid the book for those reasons. Additionally, the writing is very dense and somewhat difficult and will deter casual readers who may be otherwise interested in the subject matter (while the book is only 340 pages, the font is small and tightly packed, and there are few paragraph breaks and no line breaks for dialogue, so this feels more like a 500+ page book). This leaves a very narrow band of likely readers, namely mildly or formerly religious people who enjoy reading difficult literature. People like myself, who are for reasons of upbringing or possibly masochistic tendencies, cursed with a deep fascination of the subject despite believing not a word of it.

This is a masterpiece of historical and philosophical fiction. It is simply a beautifully written book, both in the style of prose and the content. Overall, it is very respectful to the source material. There is no overt mocking element; the writing does not look down on religion. The characters are very real and human, and are treated with seriousness and dignity. The subversive element is quite subtle (with the arguable exception of one chapter close to the end of the book), and on the whole arises naturally from the interactions between the characters and the situations in which they are placed. The characters are forced to work through difficult moral situations and in doing so bring to light the absurdity of the various doctrines of the religion. This is treated so lightly that I fear the moral questions raised are likely to be missed if one is not paying attention.

One thing I really liked was the way the book handled depictions of ancient Jewish life. The role of women being completely subservient to men: first to their fathers, then husbands, and ultimately to their own children, and the effect this had on their relationship with their families. It also depicted honestly the ritual of quotidian animal sacrifice - the absolute savagery, cruelty and waste of this practice, which is often overlooked when we think about that culture and that time.

If I have one small criticism, it is that the final two chapters appear somewhat rushed, as if the author has said what he needed to say in the preceding chapter (which is in fact the crux of the book and seems to contain the culmination of the author's message) and was simply trying to conclude the book. It's a pity because those final chapters contain some key events that were worthy of closer scrutiny. ...more

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May 09, 2019 David rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: español, portuguese-lit

Philosophical question 1
If you knew that someone was going to kill all the children under three, would you tell others to save their children? Or just save your own child?

Philosophical question 2
How do you feel knowing that so many others died but you survived?

Philosophical question 3
What do you think of your father who saved you but not others?

Those are some deep questions. And if you are Jesus and your father was Joseph, you would be into some serious head scratching. Or maybe you find out tha ...more

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Feb 15, 2021 Pedro rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1990s

I wasn’t the right reader for this one, I’m afraid. I couldn’t have been raised further away from religion and catholic doctrines as I was, so I lacked the religious background, knowledge and interest to truly appreciate its nuances. Also I’ll have to say that I truly can’t figure out who the people were that turned this into such a controversial piece of writing. I lived in Portugal for thirty six years and never knew anyone who had actually read this novel (or any other Saramago by the way). I ...more

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Mar 28, 2020 Mark André rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: saramago

This sad and familiar story makes for a challenging read. The relationship with Mary Magdalene is a nice addition. The conversation in the boat in the mist between God and Jesus and the devil is very bold. The devil gets the best line:
“ ... I myself can see things in the future, but I’m not always certain if what I see there is true or false, in others words I can see my lies for what they are, my truths, but I don’t know to what extent the truths of others are their lies.”

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May 10, 2017 Tudor Vlad rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-fiction

Saramago has me at a loss for words yet again. I can't decide if this is his best work (from what I have read of his) but it definitely is at least equal to Blindness and Death with Interruptions. I'm not a religious person, so I had no problem with the liberties he took in this novel. In fact, I was blown away by his characterization of Jesus Christ and how he managed to humanize him. The writing is also pure Saramago, it bewitches you and doesn't let you go. It also feels so effortless, he rea ...more

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Oct 21, 2017 Maru Kun rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: p-nobel-lit, 20th-century-lit, c-portugal, w-saramago-jose

One day when I was ten years old sitting in the school library it occurred to me that Jesus Christ was just a big confidence trick. I shared my theological insight with my neighbor, a girl who instantly stood up and ran to the teacher’s desk shouting “Maru Kun thinks Jesus is a confidence trick, Maru Kun thinks Jesus is a confidence trick”. My New Testament exegesis hadn’t been entirely thought out when the teacher came over to ask exactly what I had in mind, but fortunately she didn’t press me One day when I was ten years old sitting in the school library it occurred to me that Jesus Christ was just a big confidence trick. I shared my theological insight with my neighbor, a girl who instantly stood up and ran to the teacher’s desk shouting “Maru Kun thinks Jesus is a confidence trick, Maru Kun thinks Jesus is a confidence trick”. My New Testament exegesis hadn’t been entirely thought out when the teacher came over to ask exactly what I had in mind, but fortunately she didn’t press me for details and instead focused on calming down the young zealot, which I recall she did quite effectively.

Unfortunately I didn’t take my insight any further, which is a shame because if I had I might have written ‘The Gospel According to Jesus Christ” and won the Nobel Prize for Literature instead of Jose Saramago.

At the risk of simplifying what is a very powerful, thoughtful and entertaining book the main premise of ‘The Gospel According to Jesus Christ” is that God created Jesus to help spread His Church, and hence His power, by scripting a very dramatic human-interest story, the Life of Christ, that will hold enormous appeal to its audience, humanity. The devil is in on the deal, as he prospers from an expanding Christian church just as much as God does. In this respect God is a lot like a reality TV producer trying to bring out a world-beating TV series starring a reluctant Jesus Christ (a charismatic rebel who won’t stick to the script, destined for a tragic end) with support from a sexy older woman with a past (Mary of Magdalene) and featuring plenty of family conflict, money worries, political revolution and a few miracles thrown in to justify the special effects budget.

This is a deeply subversive book; it succeeds in turning Christ’s last message from the cross into a cry for human dignity against the war and suffering caused by religion:

Jesus realized then that he had been tricked, as the lamb led to sacrifice is tricked, and that his life had been planned for death from the very beginning. Remembering the river of blood and suffering that would flow from his side and flood the globe, he called out to the open sky, where God could be seen smiling, Men, forgive Him, for He knows not what He has done.

If the book had been written before 1826, the year of the last execution under the Spanish Inquisition, Jose Saramago would undoubtedly have been burnt at the stake. (The last person to die on the Spanish Inquisition, Cayetano Ripoll, was hung by the civil authorities, much to the annoyance of the Church who buried him in a barrel painted in flames to compensate for this unwarranted act of secular generosity). It is no surprise that the Catholic Church tried to get the book banned, not just because it is subversive but also because it is pretty entertaining.

I have been an atheist ever that first encounter with religious extremism in the school library. Since then I have become a not-very-good-Buddhist (a sect that allows drinking, getting angry and an inability to remember the Four Noble Truths while acknowledging that Buddhism would be a good idea if more people could actually understand it, one of the fastest growing Buddhist sects in the West) and am happy to leave the Christians alone as long as they don’t interfere with me. As the Dali Llama once wisely said, you are better off sticking with the religion of your parents and trying not to do any bad stuff rather than change your religion unless you ready to put up with a lot of trouble. Being a not-very-good-Buddhist is decent compromise between the advice of the Dali Llama and my Church of England upbringing.

Sadly Christians these days, in particular some (not all) Christians in the US, are showing every sign of wanting to interfere with me, and my friends and pretty much anyone else on the planet that doesn’t fit in with their ideal of the high-earning, gun-toting, liberal-smoting American Jesus who is happy to start WWIII if it would bring on the Rapture and His Kingdom that much quicker.

So I would recommend this book to any un-godly atheist destined for the deepest pit in hell who wants to renew his religious non-belief but who would appreciate a break from Hitchens/Dawkins/Harris and the like. Refreshingly, the Jesus it depicts is quite the opposite to the American Jesus as he has much more in common with the Jesus of the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John - a figure one can admire in many respects but who seems pretty much forgotten about these days. ...more

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Jul 05, 2014 Susana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: emprestados, favorites, portugueses, religião

(review in English below)

O melhor de Saramago e um dos melhores livros que já li!

A escrita é magnífica, riquíssima de estilo e significado, repleta de filosofia como se nada fosse, ou como se fosse a coisa mais natural do mundo. Tenho pena de não ter copiado algumas pérolas, mas talvez ainda vá procurá-las.

Os diálogos entre Jesus e Deus são fabulosos, ao mesmo tempo duma profundidade e dum humor que, parecendo incompatíveis à partida, fazem todo o sentido.

Depois de ter dado 5 estrelas a "Caim", ...more

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May 30, 2018 Fede rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hispanic-and-portuguese, fiction

"Blasphemy": the exploitation of religious imagery and/or language to serve an anti-religious purpose.
"Kitsch": poor taste turned into artistic value.

Saramago's book is both.
It's blaspheme and kitsch, somewhere between Monty Python's "Brian of Nazareth" and the Arian heresy of the 4th century.
It's not overtly anti-religious, since any book related to Jesus Christ is related to a whole system of thought that, like it or not, goes far beyond the historical / anthropological / literary approach; ...more

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May 29, 2015 Marc rated it liked it

Shelves: christianity, portugese-literature

This was a nice read, at least for the first 300 pages. Saramago's very personal style, with its long meandering sentences and sarcastic remarks and witticisms, here really comes into its own. The book is above all the result of a rich imagination: Saramago reinterprets the Jesus story and fills in some gaps especially about his youth.

That he, as an atheist, presents a very human Jesus does not need to wonder. His focus is on the psychological struggle of the carpenter's son, a struggle first w ...more

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Aug 13, 2013 Claudia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: z-to-a-saramago, satire, religion-atheism-spirituality

Definitely not recommended for very religious people.
Otherwise, I think of it as a true masterpiece. Saramago is a magus of words...

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Jul 20, 2017 Ivan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, mythology-and-folklore

Saramago is jumping on my favorite author list with each book. Wherter is it historic fiction or religious satire, his cynicism and sharp writing style and dry humor really float my boat.

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Jul 02, 2009 Amy Reed rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: smart people

OK, I have officially given up on this book. I have 75 pages left, but I just can't do it. For the last few days, I have picked it up only to put it down again as soon as I read the first sentence five times. I feel stupid. This guy is a Nobel Prize winner, so that must mean I'm an idiot if I don't like him, right?

This book is smart, don't get me wrong. It's obvious a genius wrote it. But I don't read for intellectual stimulation unless I'm in a literature class. Perhaps that makes me a lazy re ...more

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Sep 20, 2020 Ria rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 3stars

“God will save you.
Surely you're forgetting that God saves souls rather than bodies.”

i got kinda bored so i'm giving this a 3 but it's a really good book so ignore me. i kinda wanna give it a 5 because of the *cough* subject *cough* but i won't. i do think that it is a book that people should read tho. if u are a uwu cry baby don't because no one wants to read ur essay on how this is a blasphemy. it's not. if u think that it is u a just a pussy ass bitch. grow up i guess.
lowkey pissed that t ...more

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Jan 08, 2014 Jareed rated it liked it

Recommends it for: 1

Shelves: fictional-novels, written-by-nobel-laureates

Also posted on my blog:i'mbookedindefinitely

Appreciation of this book dictates that you have to contend with two premises:

First: That Saramago's signature writing is characterized by sentences that are paragraphs long occasionally digressing from the thought of the sentence.

Second: That this book is about the humanization of Jesus Christ necessarily entailing innumerable repercussions to the orthodox belief of his 'socially' constructed divinity.

Of the two, I met with some negligible difficulty ...more

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Mar 02, 2014 sologdin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: of-best-sentence-and-moost-solaas, never-were-any-human-spirits-saved, sympathy-for-the-devil

Early on, “Mary’s legs were now open, perhaps they had opened by themselves as she dreamed and she did not close them out of this sudden lassitude, or else from the premonition of a married woman who knows her duty […] the holy seed of Joseph poured into the holy womb of Mary” (13), sufficiently heretical without the immediate afterthought: “there are things God Himself does not understand” (id.). Don’t worry--this is merely prelude to Jesus & Magdalena: “Discover your body, and there it was, te Early on, “Mary’s legs were now open, perhaps they had opened by themselves as she dreamed and she did not close them out of this sudden lassitude, or else from the premonition of a married woman who knows her duty […] the holy seed of Joseph poured into the holy womb of Mary” (13), sufficiently heretical without the immediate afterthought: “there are things God Himself does not understand” (id.). Don’t worry--this is merely prelude to Jesus & Magdalena: “Discover your body, and there it was, tense, taut, roused, and she, naked and magnificent, was above him and saying, There is nothing fear, do not move, leave this to me. Then he felt part of him, this organ, disappearing inside her, a ring of fire around it, coming and going, a shudder passed through him, like a wriggling fish slipping free with a shout, surely impossible, fish do not shout, no, it was he, Jesus, crying out as Mary slumped over his body with a moan” (237)--which is something of a miracle, as JC should’ve been like the 40-Year Old Virgin here instead of Ron Jeremy.

So, yeah, it’s that kind of book. Jesus is born in a cave (58). Some dicking around in the beginning about who actually knocked Mary up--Satan, YHWH, big Joe.

Running commentary throughout on gender politics, such as “Mary is neither upright nor pious, but she is not to blame for this, the blame lies with the language she speaks if not with the men who invented it, because that language has no feminine form for the words upright and pious” (16) or “we mustn’t forget that this whole process, from the moment of impregnation to the moment of birth, is unclean, that vile female organ, vortex and abyss, the seat of all the world’s evil, an inner labyrinth of blood, discharges, gushing water, revolting afterbirth, dear God” (54).

We get a Life of Brian joke: “The is not the only couple called Joseph and Mary expecting a baby, who perhaps two infants of the same sex, preferably male, will be born at the same hour and only a road or a field of corn between them. The destinies that await these infants, however, will be different” (52).

In addition to gentle political ribbing and express heresy, there’s effective satire throughout, such as the alphabetical listing of martyrs (321-25) and the history of Jesus’ foreskin (63) (I love the latter particularly because my own favorite internet alt 15 years ago was Christ’s Foreskin; it was the ideal prophylactic to slip on and penetrate online religious discussions.)

Basic engine of the narrative is that Joe overhears plans for Herod’s slaughter of infants and runs back to save Jesus, but doesn’t bother to warn anyone else, and thereafter carries guilt for this omission; novel intones “A father’s guilt falls on the heads of his children” (88), and so Christ carries this with him after Joe gets crucified by the bloody Romans (it really is very difficult to read this without thinking Monty Python.) There’s a great moment where Jesus literally steps into Joe’s shoes as a subrogee (137). Christ is haunted by dream visions of the slaughter of innocents, and author reminds us that “it may seem inappropriate to put the complex theories of modern thinkers into the head of a Palestinian who lived so many years before Freud, Jung, Groddeck, and Lacan” (162).

Anyway, “God does not forgive the sins He makes us commit” (127). And “man is free […] so that he might be punished” (171). But cf.: “your God is the only warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God” (197). It is “impossible to tell the difference between an angel of the Lord and an angel of Satan” (213). (The Lucifer character is very interesting--not Milton-interesting, but alright.)

Overall, zips right along.

Recommended for those who learn that certain things can be understood only if we take the trouble to trace them to their origins, incubuses who violate women in their sleep, and readers who show that supreme indifference which we associate with the universe, or that other absolute indifference, the indifference of emptiness, which will remain, if there is such a thing as emptiness, when all has been fulfilled.
...more

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Jul 15, 2009 Kitap rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: religion, fiction, christianity, translated-into-english, nobel-prize

In this novel Saramago has created a masterpiece, both in terms of style and content.

The prose is musical, poetically evocative of the streams of consciousness and conversation that fill our lives. While Saramago's paragraphs often run several pages in length, and his idiosyncratic use of punctuation (e.g., his refusal to use quotation marks to delimit speech and his insistence on ending all sentences--including questions--with a period) can seem daunting, the fluid, melodic language makes readi ...more

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Jun 04, 2008 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Let me say at the outset that this book will probably be quite a challenge to anyone who holds (and doesn’t want to let go) a very traditional, orthodox reading of the traditional gospels in the Christian Testament. What Saramago has done here is to IMAGINE a gospel that places at least equal weight on Jesus as divine AND human. He also IMAGINES God (the Father, that is) who might also be both divine and human (as the ancient Greek gods were, with all their jealousies, rivalries, self-interests, ...more

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Sep 26, 2014 David rated it it was amazing

Let's face it, I'm infatuated by the writing of José Saramago, and will continue to read the few novels he wrote that I have not yet had the chance to. Granted, his style takes some getting used to, with the paragraph long sentences, liberal use of commas, and complete lack of conventional standards for dialogue.

The book is certainly blasphemous from a purely theological standpoint, as Saramago was an atheist, but make no mistake; this is a towering work of literature. The characters are fleshed ...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Shaimaa Ali added it · review of another edition

One of the rarest times ever that i'm not able to rate a book!
Saramago at his best & worst at the same time!!

I've read lots of Saramago novels (Blindness , Seeing, The year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, the Cave, Manual of Painting and Calligraphy, the voyage of the elephant) and still have others by him to read.. My luck lead me today to start reading "The Gospel" as it has a very seductive title..
Knowing that Saramago was an atheist before start reading this novel will make it a bit of a reli ...more

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Apr 29, 2019 Branko Nikovski rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: saramago-sabato

[I]Read this masterpiece during the week between the Catholic and Orthodox Easter ; it was a logical mental gymnastic in a time interval where [during this 9-8 days] human hypocrisy is at its peak and honesty and humility are only pronounced words that cover the mask of vanity and arrogance.
Reviewing Saramago is high over my metaphysical jurisdiction, but even with only a rudimental meta-metaphysical analysis you can understand that uncle José was a genius.

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Feb 22, 2017 Andrew rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary

Saramago, an atheist, attempts to retell the story of Jesus Christ in a manner that suits his religious and philosophical beliefs. Most of the strength of this novel lies with the realism of the story's setting (you can often see the dust of 1st century Palestine, etc.) and the occasional humor of Saramago's oft absent-minded, sometimes contradictory narrator.

The story begins with a foreword of sorts, describing a painting of the Crucifixion. Just a few pages in, Saramago's narrator claims that Saramago, an atheist, attempts to retell the story of Jesus Christ in a manner that suits his religious and philosophical beliefs. Most of the strength of this novel lies with the realism of the story's setting (you can often see the dust of 1st century Palestine, etc.) and the occasional humor of Saramago's oft absent-minded, sometimes contradictory narrator.

The story begins with a foreword of sorts, describing a painting of the Crucifixion. Just a few pages in, Saramago's narrator claims that Jesus is mistaken to forgive the repentant thief while condemning the other thief on the cross. After this, Saramago tells the story (or at least his cherry-picked version) of the Anunciation, moving on to the Nativity, the death of Joseph, Jesus' coming of age, and finally, His ministry and crucifixion (naturally, Saramago leaves out the Resurrection, the great event that distinguishes Christianity from all others from both a theological and a historical point of view).

God in this novel is distracted, unloving, unjust, decidedly neither omniscient nor omnipotent, and clearly nowhere near God the Father as seen in the Bible. Jesus Himself is fallible (even error-prone on some occasions), sinful (He has lots of sex with Mary Magdalene out of wedlock), and, again, nothing like the Jesus we know from Scripture. And as for the Holy Spirit, well, He is hinted at as an impersonal force rather than a divine person.

Apart from being rank blasphemy (an obvious theological issue which all Christians should take into account), the novel has many problems. Saramago's characters often get into philosophical arguments, wherein his anti-God views also come out on top. The problem is that Saramago sometimes makes assertions without offering any sort of narrative argumentation (i.e. the narrator is basically telling the reader what to think without offering a "why"), and regardless of how the argument is made, he never seems to be uncertain. That is, the characters which espouse the author's atheistic viewpoint (God is evil, Christianity is bad, etc.) are never confounded are made to truly question their own beliefs. Unlike great authors, Saramago never offers much room for interpretation or the possibility of being wrong or even in doubt. There's nothing wrong with being firm in your convictions, but good fiction written for the literary set is not made of such one-dimensional thought.

Related to this complaint, Saramago paints a picture of Christianity that is 100% negative. Near the end, Jesus asks God to tell Him what will happen after the former's death on the cross. God goes on for about half a dozen pages naming martyrs and the ways in which they died for the gospel and then mentions the Crusades and the Inquisition. Religion in this novel is generally portrayed as a brutal, ignorant force. Saramago never even hints at incalculable good which Christianity has wrought upon the world (for starters, there's the Salvation Army, United Way, Heartland Hope, Open Door Mission, and thousands upon thousands of hospitals, shelters, and soup kitchens here in the US alone, and that's only scratching the surface). If Saramago had examined both the good and bad of Christianity and found the latter to outweigh the former, I can respect that even if I fervently disagree with the conclusion. However, to dwell on the bad without even hinting at or touching upon the good of Christianity is intellectually dishonest. Again, Saramago is only telling the side of the story that will prove his own point without suggesting even a hint of doubt about his beliefs.

This last criticism is more a matter of personal taste, but given how big a role it played in my reading of the book, I have to mention it: Saramago's idiosyncratic style and refusal to use quotation marks or italics or create indentations more than once or twice a page is, in my opinion, no good. Some critics may adore it, but I find it unbearable, annoying, and pointless (i.e. it added nothing to the book).

In all, Saramago's work has some slight positive elements, but on the whole, I simply find it lacking and will never read it again. ...more

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About José Saramago

José Saramago

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José Saramago is one of the most important international writers of the last hundred years. Born in Portugal in 1922, he was in his sixties when he came to prominence as a writer with the publication of Baltasar and Blimunda. A huge body of work followed, translated into more than forty languages, and in 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Saramago died in June 2010.

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“...for human words are like shadows, and shadows are incapable of explaining light and between shadow and light there is the opaque body from which words are born..” — 44 likes

“السبب الرئيسي لتقدمه ببطء كان إيمانه الراسخ بإنه سينجح، كأنه يفكر في نفسه، أكاد أصل، لكن في أعماقة شيئاً آخر يؤخره، هاجساً يمكن التعبير عنه بهذه الكلمات، كلما أسرعت في الوصول كلما تحتم علىّ الإسراع بالمغادرة” — 39 likes

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