Hugh J. Schonfield
Encyclopedia
Hugh Joseph Schonfield was a British Bible
scholar specializing in the New Testament
and the early development of the Christian religion and church
. He was born in London, and educated there at St Paul's School and King's College
, doing postgraduate religious studies in Glasgow
, Doctor of Sacred Literature. He was one of the founders of and was president of the pacifist
organization Commonwealth of World Citizens
"Mondcivitan Republic," and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1952 for his services toward international humanity.
, in 1956.
team.
Schonfield wrote over 40 books including commercially successful books in the fields of history and biography as well as religion. In 1958 his non-ecclesiastical historical translation of the New Testament was published in the UK and the US, titled The Authentic New Testament. This aimed to show without idealised interpretation the meaning intended by the writers while maintaining the original structures. A revised version appeared in 1985 titled The Original New Testament. In 1965 he published the controversial The Passover Plot
, a book whose thesis is that the Crucifixion
was part of a larger, conscious attempt by Jesus to fulfill the Messianic expectations rampant in his time, and that the plan went unexpectedly wrong.
Schonfield followed The Passover Plot with a sequel in 1968, Those Incredible Christians. This was also described as controversial, but had less impact than the earlier book.
An additional aspect of his work was the revision of the Hebrew writing system. In The New Hebrew Typography, published in 1932, he argued for a revised version of the Hebrew alphabet
modeled after the Latin Alphabet
, including a capital-lowercase distinction, no final forms, a vertical emphasis, and serifs. This alphabet has not been adopted.
Articles
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
scholar specializing in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and the early development of the Christian religion and church
History of Christianity
The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, its followers and the Church with its various denominations, from the first century to the present. Christianity was founded in the 1st century by the followers of Jesus of Nazareth who they believed to be the Christ or chosen one of God...
. He was born in London, and educated there at St Paul's School and King's College
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, doing postgraduate religious studies in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Doctor of Sacred Literature. He was one of the founders of and was president of the pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
organization Commonwealth of World Citizens
Commonwealth of World Citizens
The Commonwealth of World Citizens was initiated by Hugh J. Schonfield, an associate and disciple of H.G. Wells...
"Mondcivitan Republic," and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
in 1952 for his services toward international humanity.
Schonfield and Humanism
At one time he was president of the H.G. Wells Society. He founded the "Mondcivitan Republic," Commonwealth of World CitizensCommonwealth of World Citizens
The Commonwealth of World Citizens was initiated by Hugh J. Schonfield, an associate and disciple of H.G. Wells...
, in 1956.
Schonfield, Hebrew Christians and Messianic Judaism
Schonfield was a Hebrew Christian. In 1937 Schonfield was a expelled from the Executive Committee of International Hebrew Christian Alliance (IHCA), of which he had been a member since 1925, this organisation is now the International Messianic Jewish Alliance (IMJA). He later for a period associated with Messianic Judaism, though was bitterly disillusioned by the experience.Works
Schonfield was one of the original Dead Sea ScrollsDead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
team.
Schonfield wrote over 40 books including commercially successful books in the fields of history and biography as well as religion. In 1958 his non-ecclesiastical historical translation of the New Testament was published in the UK and the US, titled The Authentic New Testament. This aimed to show without idealised interpretation the meaning intended by the writers while maintaining the original structures. A revised version appeared in 1985 titled The Original New Testament. In 1965 he published the controversial The Passover Plot
The Passover Plot
The Passover Plot is the name of a controversial, best-selling 1965 book, by British Biblical scholar Hugh J. Schonfield who has also published a translation of the New Testament informed with a Jewish perspective....
, a book whose thesis is that the Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
was part of a larger, conscious attempt by Jesus to fulfill the Messianic expectations rampant in his time, and that the plan went unexpectedly wrong.
Schonfield followed The Passover Plot with a sequel in 1968, Those Incredible Christians. This was also described as controversial, but had less impact than the earlier book.
An additional aspect of his work was the revision of the Hebrew writing system. In The New Hebrew Typography, published in 1932, he argued for a revised version of the Hebrew alphabet
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
modeled after the Latin Alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
, including a capital-lowercase distinction, no final forms, a vertical emphasis, and serifs. This alphabet has not been adopted.
Selected bibliography
- An Old Hebrew Text of St. Matthew's Gospel, Translated (translator, with notes and appendices)
- Letters to Frederick Tennyson (editor)
- The New Hebrew Typography
- The Authentic Photograph of Christ (by Kazimir de Proszynski; editor and author of "historical supplement")
- For the Train: Five Poems and a Tale (by Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
; arranged poem order, wrote preface) - The Book of British Industries
- The History of Jewish Christianity from the First to the Twentieth Century(1936)
- Richard Burton, Explorer
- Ferdinand De Lesseps
- According to the Hebrews
- Travels in Tartary and Thibet
- Travels and Researches in South Africa
- The Suez Canal
- Jesus: A Biography
- The Treaty of Versailles
- Readings from the Apocryphal Gospels
- Judaism and World Order
- Italy and Suez
- This Man Was Right: Woodrow Wilson Speaks Again
- The Jew of Tarsus: An Unorthodox Portrait of Paul
- Saints Against Caesar: The Rise and Reactions of the First Christian Community
- Lost Book of Nativity of John
- The Suez Canal in World Affairs
- Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Studies Towards their Solution
- The Song of Songs
- The Bible Was Right: An Astonishing Examination of the New Testament
- A Popular Dictionary of Judaism
- A History of Biblical Literature
- The Passover PlotThe Passover PlotThe Passover Plot is the name of a controversial, best-selling 1965 book, by British Biblical scholar Hugh J. Schonfield who has also published a translation of the New Testament informed with a Jewish perspective....
: New Light on the History of Jesus - Reader's A-to-Z Bible Companion
- Those Incredible Christians
- Suez Canal in Peace and War
- Politics of God
- The Jesus Party
- For Christ's Sake
- The Shroud of Turin
- The Original New Testament (originally published in 1958 as The Authentic New Testament, updated and re-published under this title in 1985)
- The Essene Odyssey
- After the Cross
- Proclaiming the Messiah
- The Mystery of the Messiah
- Jesus: Man and Messiah
Articles
- Wells as religious humanist
External links
- The Hugh & Helene Schonfield World Service Trust
- The International Leadership and Business Society ( A business society based on the ideas of Hugh Schonfield)
- The Schonfieldian Script Page
- Debate between Hugh Schonfield and Baptist minister Walter Martin - MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
file - Harvey 'Passing over the Plot: The Life and Work of Hugh Schonfield' (in Mishkan ISSUE NO 37 Fall 2002, Caspari Centre, Jerusalem)