The Last Temptation of Christ (novel)

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 critic I. A. Richards has stated that Kazantzakis' novel tries to reclaim the values of early Christianity, such as love, brotherhood, humility, and self-renunciation.[1] According to the book's English translator, Peter A. 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.[2]

On January 12, 1954, the Catholic Church added the novel to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, a list of works deemed heretical, in a brief decree stating only that "things of faith and morals are to be safeguarded".[3] In February 1955, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church in Athens attempted to have all of Kazantzakis' books banned in Greece, arguing that The Last Temptation of Christ "contains evil slanders against the Godlike person of Jesus Christ....derived from the inspiration of the theories of Freud and historical materialism, [this book] perverts and hurts the Gospel discernment and the God-man figure of our Lord Jesus Christ in a way coarse, vulgar, and blasphemous."[3]

In 1963, a Roman Catholic priest in Ashland, Wisconsin forbade one of his parishioners from returning a library copy of The Last Temptation of Christ, arguing "that it would be a mortal sin to make it available to others."[4] In 1964, a right-wing extremist group called the Citizens Group for Clean Books demanded that the novel be removed from public libraries in Arcadia, California on the basis that it was "blasphemous, obscene and defamatory"; as a result, the book was made "available on a limited basis to persons over the age of 18."[5]

The director Sidney Lumet acquired the film rights to Kazantzakis' novel, describing it as the story "of how a man pushes himself to extremes he never knew he was capable of," with Judas emerging "as a strong man, a sort of hero". Lumet commissioned a screenplay written by Lazarre Seymour Simckes and announced his plans to shoot the film in the fall of 1971, though the project did not come to fruition.[6] After many delays, a film version directed by Martin Scorsese was released in 1988, starring Willem Dafoe as Jesus and Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot.

The American singer-songwriter Judee Sill referred to Kazantzakis as her favorite writer; her 1971 song "Jesus Was a Cross Maker" was inspired by the depiction of Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ.[7]