Who was Jesus after all? For centuries now, this troubling question has returned again and again, seeking a convincing answer. Across the world, more and more seekers of truth have multiplied in relation to this legendary figure, who more than any other left his mark on the history of humanity.
In Greece, as early as 1980, Nikos Kokkinos, then a young and enthusiastic researcher and today an established academic, made a strong impression with his work The Enigma of Jesus of Galilee, attempting to offer his own answers to the question.
The book’s three reprints quickly sold out. The author’s approach was unprecedented for its time, with the possible exception of a similar attempt by the great historian Giannis Kordatos.
Where and when was Jesus born? Who was married at the Wedding at Cana? Was he a carpenter or the descendant of a royal lineage? What was the role of John the Baptist, the disciples, the high priests, the Herodians, and Pilate? Why was Jesus crucified? Where is his “tomb” located? Did he truly die on the cross?
After exhaustive research into both Christian and non-Christian sources, the author vividly reconstructs the era in which Jesus lived, his stance, and the role he played, radically overturning the image we have of him.
The Enigma of Jesus of Galilee is republished with a new and extensive introduction by the author, as fresh as ever in its ideas, demonstrating that thirty years before the “Da Vinci Code,” the “Holy Grail,” and the “Judas” narratives, a young researcher had already placed Jesus in a human historical framework, examining his historicity and demythologizing doctrines and rigid structures.
