The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

2022: AÑO SARAMAGO

The human novel of the events in the life of Jesus: a story that surprised the Catholic world

Who is this God, first Hebrew and now Christian, who demands blood, death, so that the balance of a world where only his laws prevail can be restored? How can the new law be a law of Love if eternal damnation still weighs upon human beings? How can one believe oneself to be a divine creature worthy of immortality if one must submit to a law of terror that pre-exists and is external to oneself?

This novel, which so surprised the Catholic world, presents a different, much more earthly vision of the events concerning Jesus: the circumstances of his birth, the first interrogations of his mother, Joseph tormented by guilt for having chosen to save his son rather than alert about Herod's intentions, the encounters with angels and demons, the discovery of love alongside Mary Magdalene, the existential dialogues and the anguish of knowing the true meaning and purpose of his existence in the eyes of God...

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ responds to the desire of a man and a writer to reach the origin of his own civilization to find there the essential questions. Without denying the divine or the latent religiosity in the heart of every human being.

Critics have said:
«The Gospel According to Jesus Christ is enough to give Saramago a place in the universal library and in the memory of men».
The Nation

«Saramago makes an elusive reality understandable, with parables sustained by imagination, compassion, and irony».
Nobel Committee

«A man with a sensibility and a capacity to see and understand that are far beyond what we ordinary mortals generally see and understand».
Héctor Abad Faciolince

«Saramago is an example, a most dignified style of life and literature, which demonstrates the possibility of sailing against the current [...]. His words have the value of an antifreeze, a personal remedy against the gales of cynicism that surround us».
Luis García Montero

«I don't know, nor do I want to know, where Saramago got that diabolical narrative tone, tough and pious at the same time, [...] that allows him to tell so close to the heart and at the same time so close to history».
Luis Landero

«Saramago writes novels about myths to demystify them, [...] always to address the reality around him, to deal with current problems that concern everyone, and so that everything is clear from the beginning».
Rafael Conte, Babelia

«Like Günter Grass or Cees Nooteboom, Saramago aspires to connect with an audience that transcends national boundaries».
El País