Barabbas

By Pär Lagerkvist

Barabbas is the acquitted; the man whose life was exchanged for that of Jesus of Nazareth, crucified upon the hill of Golgotha. Barabbas is a man condemned to have no god. "Christos Iesus" is carved on the disk suspended from his neck, but he cannot affirm his faith. He cannot pray. He can only say, "I want to believe."

Translated from the Swedish by Alan Blair

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307807120

Reviews for Barabbas

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Knap door zijn inventieve verwerking van bekende materie. Psychologische uitdieping van de zoekende Barabbas, die wel wil maar niet kan geloven. Gelukkig ontbreekt het traditionele Skandinavische gemoraliseer. Literair mooi uitgeschreven, met soms prachtige passages, en zelfs in vele opzichten een evocatie van het leven in de marge en het centrum van het Romeinse Rijk. Stof en setting leenden zich zelfs tot een iets volumineuzer uitwerking.

[maxernst11 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Knap door zijn inventieve verwerking van bekende materie. Psychologische uitdieping van de zoekende Barabbas, die wel wil maar niet kan geloven. Gelukkig ontbreekt het traditionele Skandinavische gemoraliseer. Literair mooi uitgeschreven, met soms prachtige passages, en zelfs in vele opzichten een evocatie van het leven in de marge en het centrum van het Romeinse Rijk. Stof en setting leenden zich zelfs tot een iets volumineuzer uitwerking.

[bnielsen_30 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Judæa, år 33 eller deromkringBarabbas er blevet benådet og Jesus er blevet korsfæstet. Barabbas er forvirret. Han går rundt i Jerusalem og taler med Jesus' disciple og Lazarus.En pudsig bog. Egentlig kan jeg slet ikke tage den alvorligt, for alt i den er jo en konstruktion. Både Jesus og Barabbas er historiske personer, men hvad de har tænkt og gjort er der jo ingen, der ved. Det er kun i evangelierne at det overhovedet er nævnt at romerne skulle have benådet folk på den måde. Men hvis og hvis og hvis ... så er det sikkert en bog, der siger nogen noget væsentligt. Barabbas har været der og set tingene selv, men han er ikke troende, for han kan også finde rationelle forklaringer på de ting, han har set.

[widsith_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My kids love churches, but not having been brought up religiously, they don't understand any of the iconography. Trying to explain to a six-year-old why they all have statues of this beardy guy slowly dying on a stick has really brought home to me what a hideous and morbid idea Christianity is built on. I understand that some people find it very touching and beautiful, but I find it difficult to see it that way. Telling people that this man went through agony, and then died, on your behalf, whether you like it or not, is a heavy load to lay on someone and entails a serious amount of what I suppose psychologists would call guilt.What's very clever about this book is that Pär Lagerkvist has found a way to examine this idea which works whether or not you believe in the metaphysics: Barabbas, the man acquitted in Jesus's place, is someone in whom the central myth of Christianity is literally true.They spoke of his having died for them. That might be. But he really had died for Barabbas, no one could deny it!So the reactions of Barabbas – relief, disbelief, morbid curiosity, survivor's guilt – become a kind of study in what Christian dogma might imply for the human mind. Barabbas can never quite bring himself to believe in Jesus as a divine figure, but, as he says in the novel's most famous passage: ‘I want to believe.’ That conflict is the essence of the book.Barabbas is a great figure to expand upon, since in the source material he is both crucial and barely mentioned. The Bible gives very few details about him, though there's some suggestion in Luke that he took part in riots in Jerusalem. John, usually the most poetic of the gospels, is disappointingly brief: it simply says, ‘Barabbas was a bandit [λῃστής].’ This gives Lagerkvist great freedom to construct a suitably rough past for him, and the scope to imagine how this one act of being freed might have affected the rest of his life.In some versions of the Biblical text, Barabbas's full name is ‘Jesus Barabbas’ (which would make sense of Pilate's question to the crowd in Luke – ‘Who would you have me free, [Jesus] Barabbas or the Jesus that is called Christ?’). This may reflect a later mythological tradition, but even so, it points to a deep sense in which the two are equated – indeed, there are serious Biblical scholars who believe that they are one and the same person. This duality is fully explored in Lagerkvist's story, which sees Barabbas go through similar ordeals and, for that matter, end up nailed in the same place.His state of mind and his state of belief at that point are open to interpretation. It's a very incisive way of looking at the challenges and mysteries of such big topics as atonement, the crucifixtion, and faith – and one which goes to the heart of them in a way that theological texts generally do not.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sparse and compelling, this is a tense read. The condition of the imagined Barabbas, who was released so that Jesus could be crucified, is one of doubt. Born of a rape, and a possible parricide, Barabbas spends the remainder of his life trying to understand the man killed in his stead. The Roman world is not really well realised but the book is a parable for modern man, anyway. Raised as a Lutheran, I'd call this a very Lutheran book, indeed!

[ariesblue · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story of Barabbas being unbeliever although he has witnessed the crucifixion eclipse that darkness that accompanied the crucifixion and was supposed to be a miracle and also t he resurrection of Jesus after he had been crucified and buried and his visit to , a man who lived through the resurrection process. All this doesnt prevent him from being a skeptic who cant believe that God could be crucified , and has his own doubts through his journey searching for answers……and peace for his soul and cure for his loneliness that he recognized at the end……in contrary to Sahak who is Faithful Believer and is willing to die for what he believe without witnessing the miracles that Barabbas has , this raise a question ,should faith be taken by mind as Barabbas who suffered the darkness of the soul or by heart like Sahak did and find his own peace… ……

i think Barabbas struggling to believe might have a reflection on Pär life ,his own trial to understand Jesus.......

[ctpress_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novel is a fictional account of what happens to the historical Barabbas, who was acquitted in stead of Jesus - we follow Barabbas from the time he is freed from his death sentence. He’s drawn to this mystical figure who is innocent yet who give up his life. He watches the crucifixion, he visit the grave, he talks to Lazarus, but all the time he has rational answers for the miracles. He didn't remember ever having seen anyone like him before. Though it must have been because he came straight from the dungeon and his eyes were still unused to the glare. That is why at first glance the man seemed to be surrounded by a dazzling light.His life is one big crisis of faith - he’s seeking, watching the Christians, analyzing their behavior, wanting to have the assurance of faith yet are unable to grasp it. The swedish Nobel-prize winner Pär Lagerkvist draws a powerful portrait of the modern sceptic. Lagerkvist called himself "a believer without a belief, a religious atheist". It’s remarkable how honest this crisis of faith is portrayed in Barabbas. It’s not a relief, but a real dilemma - one that Lagerkvist knows all too well.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This story is about Barabbas, the man who was released from prison instead of releasing Jesus. Barabbas was the scapegoat. I never thought about what Barabbas may have thought and how his life may have been affected. This short tale gives us a look at the man Barabbas, the man acquitted. Pär Lagerkvist is a Swedish author. This book was added with the second edition. My guess is because he was Swedish and could represent that country. The story was written in 1951 and Mr Lagerkvist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1951. I don’t think a book like this would be written today and it would never win the Nobel Prize. The author writes this story with historical accuracy especially about Roman rule. The first part takes the reader to the crucifixion and after that switches to the focus on Barabbas. At first Barabbas watches the crucifixion, then he tries to figure out the followers of Jesus. The Christians are not represented well. The author shows them at biased and unloving even though they talk about Jesus taught love. Then Barabbas finally disappears and we find him a slave in mind where he is chained to a man who is a Christian. The slaves have a metal necklace around their necks that identify them as slaves of the Roman government. Barabbas’s partner has ‘Christos Iesus’ on it. Barabbas has ‘Christos Iesus’ scratched unto the back of his metal. Later, when they are brought before the Governor, the partner tells the governor that he is a slave to Jesus, Barabbas tells the governor that he put it on his metal ‘because I want to believe’ but he doesn’t believe. His partner is crucified and Barabbas is released and made a personal slave of the governor and taken back to Rome upon the retirement of the governor. The author reportedly struggled with his own lack of faith. This book is about a crisis of belief. Barabbas feared the realm of the dead and the final pages finds Barabbas in the catacombs looking for the Christians and ends with the great fire of Rome. He is arrested and crucified as a martyr of a faith he doesn’t understand.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is probably Lagerkvist's most famous book, although most people know the story from the film adaptation by Christopher Fry, directed by Richard Fleischer, and starring Anthony Quinn in the title role. To the side of the crowd as Jesus is crucified on Mount Golgotha stands Barabbas. Being a violent man, a brigand and a rebel, he cannot muster much respect for the resignation of the man who died in his place. While skeptical about the holiness of Jesus he is also fascinated by the sacrifice and he seeks out the different followers of Jesus trying to understand, but finds that their exalted views of Jesus do not match his down to earth observation of the man. More importantly, since he had not ever been the recipient of love, he finds that he is neither able to understand love nor to understand the Christian faith. Barabbas says that he "Wants to believe," but for Barabbas, like many skeptics before and since, understanding is a prerequisite for belief, so he is unable. During his life Pär Lagerkvist struggled with his lack of faith and this is a theme in many of his novels. In this story Barabbas too is a man who does not understand Jesus and does not know how to love him. The novel presents many Christians with some wrong concepts of the faith as negative examples, to bring out the message about how to love Jesus. While I enjoyed the book I think more highly of Lagerkvist's less well-known works, especially The Dwarf.

[arubabookwoman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the introduction to this novel by Nobelist Lagerkvist, Andre Gide describes it as follows:"Par Lagerkvist has shown the mysterious springs of an emerging conscience secretly tormented by the problem of Christ at a time when the Christian doctrine was still in the process of formation, when the dogma of the Resurrection still depended on the uncertain evidence of a few credulous witnesses who had not yet bridged the gap between superstition and faith."Barabbas was the criminal who was to be crucified, but who was freed when Jesus Christ was crucified in his place. Immediately after his release, Barabbas follows Christ and witnesses his death. Days later he witnesses what could have been the Resurrection. For the rest of his life, Barabbas struggles between accepting Christianity and disbelief. He wants to believe, but finds he cannot. "Believe! How could he believe in that man he had seen hanging on a cross!" Nevertheless, Barabbas feels an affinity with Christ, in the sense that he feels he has also been given a second life (or resurrection) when Christ was executed in his place:"If a man is sentenced to death, then he's dead, and if he's let out and reprieved he's still dead, because that's what he has been and he's only risen again from the dead, and that's not the same as living and being like the rest of us."This book is written in simple and spare prose. Although the book is set in a Christian context, it can be savored by believers, agnostics and atheists alike, as an incisive examination of one man's struggle to understand life.

[the_awesome_opossum · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Barabbas is the criminal acquitted when Jesus Christ was condemned. He wears Christ's name on a disk around his neck, his own personal albatross, and struggles to find his place in society. Since he's had his religious experiences, he no longer wants to belong to the group of criminals and outcasts whom he previously was with, but of course the Christians don't want him either, holding him personally responsible for their savior's death. He is also isolated by his hesitation and fluctuating faith - he cannot bring himself to say that he believes Jesus is the Christ, or to pray, but he desperately *wants* to believe. The minimalism, both in terms of writing and story, emphasize the emptiness of Barabbas's life in the face of the glory of God, and his uncertainty about the power of religion

[ostrom_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my very favorite novels. Its spare narrative inhabits Barabbas's point of view convincingly. Lagerkvist started with a challenging premise and succeeded.