About The Author

Geza Vermes was born in Hungary in 1924. After attending the University at Budapest he went to Louvain, Belgium, where he obtained a license in oriental history and philology in 1952 and a doctorate in theology in 1953. For four years he studied post-Biblical Judaism in Paris, where for a time he was also employed at the Center National de la Recherche Scientifique and was joint editor of Cahiers sinoniens. Since 1957 he has been a divinity lecturer at King's College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Dr Vermes is one of the pioneers of Qumran studies. His first book, Les Manuscripts du desert de Juda, appeared in 1953 and was later translated and published in New York. He has published Scripture and Tradition in Judaism (Leyden, 1961) and is the translator of A. Dupont Sommer's The Essene Writings from Qumran (1961). In addition he has written a number of articles for journals on the Scrolls and related subjects.