The Last Temptation of Christ (novel)


The Last Temptation of Christ or The Last Temptation is a historical novel written by Nikos Kazantzakis, first published in 1955 in its original Greek, then published in English in 1960. The Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church in Athens wanted this book banned in Greece stating:
I. A. Richards claims that Kazantzakis, in his The Last Temptation novel, tried to reclaim the values of early Christianity, such as love, brotherhood, humility, and self-renunciation. According to P. Bien, the psychology in The Last Temptation is based on the idea that every person, Jesus included, is evil by nature as well as good: violent and hateful as well as loving. A psychologically sound individual does not ignore or bury the evil within him. Instead, he channels it into the service of good.
The central thesis of the book is that Jesus, while free from sin, was still subject to fear, doubt, depression and reluctance. Kazantzakis argues in the novel's preface that by facing and conquering all of man's weaknesses, Jesus struggled to do God's Will without ever giving in to the temptations of the flesh. The novel advances the argument that, had Jesus succumbed to any such temptation, especially the opportunity to save himself from the cross, his life would have held no more significance than that of any other philosopher.
The book was on the list of Index Librorum Prohibitorum, although the Church abolished the Index in 1966.

Film version

In 1988, an equally controversial film adaptation by Martin Scorsese was released, which starred Willem Dafoe as Jesus and Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot.

In popular culture

It is discussed in The Da Vinci Code in a flashback Sophie remembers her grandfather defending the film version.