The Speech that Moved the World

by Hugh J. Schonfield

Overview

A long-lost and forgotten book by the author of the Passover Plot, Hugh J. Schonfield under the pseudonym of "Hegesippus"
First published in 1932, this little book caused a sensation and stir amongst conservative Christians yet its explanation of the famous so-called Sermon on the Mount still blows like a breath of fresh air today!
The original dust jacket reiterated current reviews:

"From first to last the pages vindicate the tenets and words of Christ." – the Christian
"This moving book which all earnest Christians will welcome." – Dr. McInnes in the Scots Observer
"His book is of immense importance." – City Mid-Week
"The Arguments are put forward with so little passion or rhetoric and are so obviously supported by scholarship and knowledge that the case seems beyond refutation." – City Mid-Week
"The exposition here given is supported by Talmudic and other Jewish writings ... singularly apt and illuminating." – The Christian
It probably remains, as also stated on the front cover:

The Greatest Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798369247143
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	05/09/2023
Pages:	84
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.20(d)

About the Author

Schonfield was a liberal Hebrew Christian. In 1937 Schonfield was 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 or IMJA). He later associated with Messianic Judaism for a while, but was bitterly disillusioned by the experience.

Schonfield was one of the original Dead Sea Scrolls team members.

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 the thesis of which 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.