The Quest for the Historical Vermes
TALK by Alex Faludy
Geza Vermes FBA (1924-2013A talk about an important and distinguished Anglo-Hungarian intellectual & scholar. A household name in the 1960s through his best-selling translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, he was appointed the first ever Professor of Jewish studies at Oxford.
His own life was dramatic – with a narrow escape from the Hungarian Holocaust. Despite a considerable public presence in emigration, he managed to remain elusive in personality, paradoxical in belief.
This talk, a decade after his death, seeks to assess his importance and probe some of the puzzling aspects of character and biography.