Géza Vermes

A British biblical scholar of Hungarian-Jewish descent, Vermes produced the first complete English translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, opening a body of ancient text to readers well beyond specialist circles. His scholarship reframed Jesus as a figure of first-century Judaism rather than reading him primarily through later Christian doctrine, work that made him one of the most influential voices in modern historical Jesus research. He had served as a Roman Catholic priest in his youth before returning to the Judaism of his birth.