2020/12/24

코로나도 증명해준, 법성게가 말한 세상의 실상은 : 조현이만난사람 : 휴심정 : 뉴스 : 한겨레

코로나도 증명해준, 법성게가 말한 세상의 실상은 : 조현이만난사람 : 휴심정 : 뉴스 : 한겨레


코로나도 증명해준, 법성게가 말한 세상의 실상은

등록 :2020-12-23

[짬] 동국대 경주캠퍼스 불교학과 김성철 교수



치과의사에서 불교학자로 변신해 일가를 이룬 김성철 동국대 교수를 지난 18일 서울로7017 부근에서 인터뷰했다. 사진 조현 기자

‘하나 속에 모두 있고, 모두 속에 하나 있네’, ‘한 점 크기 티끌 속에 온 우주가 담겨있네’라는 <법성게>는 오랫동안 뜬구름 잡는 소리나 은유적 시구절 정도로만 여겨졌다. 코로나19라는 티끌보다 작은 바이러스가 이 세상을 옴짝달싹 못 하게 하기 전까지는 말이다.

‘불경의 왕’이라는 60권본 화엄경을 의상대사가 7언30구·한자 210자로 요약한 <법성게>는 팔만사천경의 고갱이라고들 한다. 이를 해설한 <화엄경을 머금은 법성게의 보배구슬>(도서출판 오타쿠 펴냄)을 최근 낸 김성철(63) 동국대 경주캠퍼스 불교학과 교수(불교학회 명예회장)를 18일 만났다.

‘한 점 티끌 속에 온 우주 담겨 있네’
뜬구름 잡는듯 은유적 시구 7언30구
의상대사 요약한 ‘법성게’ 해설서 내
“스마트폰이 전지전능 화엄시대 열어”



부친과 교유한 탄허 스님 모습 감명
치과의사 그만두고 불교학에 심취







“탄허 스님(1913~83)이 앞으로 초등학생도 화엄경을 공부하는 화엄의 시대가 올 것이라고 말했을 때 ‘설마 그럴 리가’라고 생각했다. 그러나 스마트폰 하나에 세상이 들어온다. 세계가 회통하고 있다. 화엄의 세계가 도래한 것이다.”

코로나19 사태가 알려주기 이전에 정보통신혁명으로 ‘우주 법계가 나와 다르지 않은 화엄의 세계를 열었다’고 그는 말한다. ‘화엄’은 워낙 방대해 자칫 뜬구름 잡는 관념으로 흐를 수도 있지만, 그의 책은 수학과 과학까지 동원한 체계적 길라잡이다. 불교학자로서는 드문 이과 출신답다.

김 교수는 치과의사 출신이다. 서울대 치대를 나와 치과의사를 하다가 동국대 대학원에서 인도불교를 전공했다. 같은 치과의사인 부인에게 “2년만 불교책을 원 없이 보겠다”고 양해를 구한 뒤 떠난 길이 본업이 돼 이제 정년을 2년 앞두고 있다. 그는 불교 공부를 하게 된 공을 부인에게 돌렸다.

‘불교학’은 그에게 필연이었는지도 모른다. 그는 서울대 사대 학장과 서울대 불교학생회 지도교수를 지낸 선친 김종서 교수가 가끔 모시고 온 탄허 스님을 어린 시절 집에서 만나곤 했다. 성인의 풍모지만 겸손하기 그지없이 ‘하심’(자기 자신을 낮추고 남을 높이는 마음)으로 일관했던 탄허 스님의 모습은 어린 그에게 깊게 각인됐다.

그는 고교 2학년 때까지 그림에 심취해 미술반 활동에 열심이었다. 그러나 “그림을 그려서는 밥 먹고 살기 어렵다. 치과의사는 몇 시간만 일하면 나머지는 원하는 불교책도 원 없이 읽고, 참선도 할 수 있다”는 어른들 말에 치대에 진학했다고 한다. 그래서 치대를 다닐 때도, 치과의사로 일 할 때도 틈만 나면 불교책을 보고 참선을 했다. 그렇게 열망했던 공부이기에 그는 삶을 위한 ‘불교학’을 할 수 있었다. 그는 ‘제2의 붓다’로 불리는 용수의 중관학으로 석·박사를 했다. 용수는 그에게 직업인으로서 불교학자가 되기에 앞서 삶의 길을 제시해줬다.

“처음엔 나도 불교 공부를 하면 일부 선승처럼 막행막식을 해도 되는 줄 알았다. 그래서 술도 많이 마셨다. 그런데 용수의 ‘대지도론’을 6개월간 필기를 해가며 읽다 보니, 불법엔 진제만이 아니라 속제, 즉 절대불변의 진리인 진제와 세속적 진리인 속제 둘 다 놓쳐서는 안 된다고 한 것을 알았다. 진제만 추구하면 사견에 빠져 가치판단을 상실하기 쉽고, 속제만 추구해 계만 지키고 착한 일에만 집착하면 성불할 수 없다. 육바라밀 수행을 통해 둘 다 챙겨 이웃도 내 자식을 보살피 듯 보듬고, 공(空)에 대해서도 자각해야 한다는 게 용수 보살의 안내였다.”

그는 한 때 ‘뇌 과학’에 심취한 적도 있었다. 뇌 과학은 불교적 깨달음이나 임사 체험조차 뇌가 일으키는 반응에 불과하다고 설명한다. 그러나 김 교수는 “전에는 모든 것을 아는 마음이 뇌에서 작동한다고 여겨 뇌가 삶의 구심점인 줄 알았는데, 뇌 역시 모든 현상을 만드는 다양한 조건 가운데 하나일 뿐이었다”고 말했다.

그는 이후 불교학 연구 열정을 불태워 가산학술상, 불이상, 청송학술상, 반야학술상 등을 휩쓸었다. 또 원효보다 150년이 앞서 우리나라 최초의 사상가로 꼽히는 고구려 승랑 스님에 대한 연구로 ‘한국연구재단 10년 대표연구성과’로 선정되기도 했다. 그는 2000년부터 동국대 경주캠퍼스 불교학과 교수로 재임하며 불교문화대학장, 불교사회문화연구원장, 티벳장경연구소장, 불교평론 편집위원장을 지냈다.

이번 ‘법성게 해설서’는 그의 연구와 활동의 결집체라 할 수 있다.

“컴퓨터와 스마트폰, 인공지능 등 4차 산업 문명은 천 개의 눈과 천 개의 손으로 중생의 고통을 살피는 천수천안 관세음보살의 실현이다. 숨어서 성폭력을 행사하거나 동물을 학대해도 다 드러나는 시대다. 전지와 전능이 현실화하는 셈이다. 화엄장 세계의 비밀인 법성게는 어느 곳에 있든 자신이 세상의 중심이 되고, 누구나 주인공이 되도록 깨닫게 하는 길잡이다.”

조현 종교전문기자 cho@hani.co.kr

원문보기:
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/well/people/975666.html?fbclid=IwAR12AhWiIuQbAG2aPUklOwvuoAtegLQ0L95N3cJkrbUEsiO3W_kc-ocnVaQ#csidx3e0ee03612eced88599987da8f24595


[eBook] 화엄경을 머금은 법성게의 보배구슬 - 한 톨 먼지 속에 온 우주가, 한 찰나 생각 속에 억겁의 세월이  pdf 
김성철 (지은이)도서출판 오타쿠2020-11-10



화엄경을 머금은 법성게의 보배구슬


전자책정가
15,000원

책소개

동국대 경주캠퍼스 불교학부 김성철 교수의 법성게 해설서. 법성게는 화엄경의 핵심을 7언 30구 총 210자로 요약한 화엄일승법계도의 게송으로 의상스님의 저술이다. 저자는 각 문구의 전거를 화엄경에서 일일이 찾아 제시하였고, 의상스님의 화엄일승법계도를 포함하여 신라, 고려, 조선시대에 국내에서 이루어진 법성게 주석서 및 두순, 지엄, 법장, 징관, 이통현 등 화엄가들의 저술 들을 참조, 인용하면서 해설하였다. 아울러 이들 주석서에 실린 해석의 범위를 벗어나지 않는 한도 내에서 아비달마교학이나 중관학과 같은 다른 분야의 불교사상은 물론이고 현대과학이나 서양철학, 미술이론, 정책론, 정신분석학, 뇌과학, 진화생물학 등 인접학문의 다양한 이론들과 연관시켜서 법성게의 각 문구를 해석함으로써 그 의미가 보다 분명하게 드러나도록 하였다.


목차

책머리에 3
차 례 9
일러두기 16
화엄일승법계도(법계도인) 17
법성게 法性偈 19

Ⅰ. 법성게 이해를 위한 기초지식 21
1. 법계도인(法界圖印)의 탄생 21
2. 법계도인 기하학의 상징적 의미 25
법계도인의 전체적인 모양에 대한 문답 26
법계도인에 적힌 낱글자에 대한 문답 28
3. 법성게의 과문 28

Ⅱ. 교학과 논리, 과학과 예시로 푸는 법성게 33
1. 자신을 이롭게 하는 수행 33
A. 깨달음 그 자체를 나타내 보임 33
①법성원융무이상 法性圓融無二相 33
①-1. 법성 - 법의 본성 33
법이란? 33
십이처의 법들 34
십팔계의 법들 36
오온의 법들 38
오온, 십이처, 십팔계설의 주관적 시점 39
오온이 난해한 이유 43
≪구사론≫의 5위75법 44
법과 법계 47
법성이란? 49
‘눈’이라는 법의 본질 - 눈이 없다. 52
①-2. 원융(圓融) - 원융하여 56
①-3. 무이상(無二相) - 분별함을 용납 않고 57
큰방과 작은방의 예로 분석한 ‘무이상(無二相)’의 의미 58
②제법부동본래적 諸法不動本來寂 61
②-1. 제법(諸法) - 모든 법은 61
②-2. 부동(不動) - 부동하여 61
혜능 스님의 부동 64
≪중론(中論)≫ 제2장 관거래품(觀去來品)의 부동 65
우리 인식의 미분(微分)기능과 일체유심조(一切唯心造) 68
승조의 <물불천론>에서 말하는 부동(不動) 71
②-3. 본래적(本來寂) - 본래부터 고요해서 75
③무명무상절일체 無名無相絶一切 80
③-1. 무명(無名) - 이름 없고 80
오온 각각은 정체불명이다. 81
십이처와 십팔계 낱낱은 정체불명이다. 82
세상만사는 정체불명이다. 86
③-2. 무상(無相) - 모습 없어 89
화엄학의 무상 91
시점에 따른 모습의 변화 - 무상 94
운동의 상대성과 무상 95
화가에게 보인 무상(無相)의 편린 96
③-3. 절일체(絶一切) - 모든 것이 끊겼으니 99
≪반야심경≫의 절일체 - 색즉시공 공즉시색 100
≪중론≫의 절일체 - 세간은 열반과 다르지 않다. 101
선(禪)의 절일체 - 육조혜능의 본래무일물 102
④증지소지비여경 證智所知非餘境 104
B. 연기의 원리를 드러냄 107
⑴ 연기의 본질을 가리킴 107
⑤진성심심극미묘 眞性甚深極微妙 107
⑤-1. 진성 - 참된 본성 107
⑤-2. 심심극미묘 - 아주 깊고 지극하게 미묘하여 109
⑥불수자성수연성 不守自性隨緣成 110
⑵ 다라니의 원리와 작용에 의해 그런 법의 종류별 내용을 설명함 116
⑦일중일체다중일 一中一切多中一 116
⑧일즉일체다즉일 一卽一切多卽一 116
‘일체’를 노래하는 ≪화엄경≫ 116
‘하나’와 ‘일체’의 상즉, 상입을 노래하는 ≪화엄경≫ 118
‘열 개의 동전 세기’로 설명하는 상즉과 상입 123
수십전법의 향상과 향하, 래와 거 127
일중일체, 일즉일체의 구체적인 예시 131
의상이 예로 드는 일중일체, 일즉일체 134
사사무애의 법계연기와 언어도단의 선(禪) 137
모든 개념엔 테두리가 없다. 142
a. 우주 143
b. 시계 144
c. 욕심과 이드(id) 145
d. 시작과 끝 147
e. 살, 신경, 뇌 149
f. ‘뇌’는 모든 현상을 있게 하는 조건들 가운데 하나 151
g. 안과 바깥 153
h. 과거, 미래, 현재 154
i. 웃음과 울음과 홍조 155
j. 부처 156
k. 밥 156
l. 똥 157
모든 개념의 ‘보법적(普法的) 속성’ 157
모든 개념의 테두리가 무한히 열리는 이유 159
지식과 지혜의 차이점 162
보법의 실천적 응용 164
a. 영화배우와 탤런트의 명품연기 164
b. 환경문제를 해결하는 발우공양 164
c. 정주영 회장의 소떼 방북 이벤트와 다면적 정책론 165
⑶ 구체적 현상을 소재로 삼아서 법의 종류별 내용을 밝힘 170
⑨일미진중함시방 一微塵中含十方 170
⑩일체진중역여시 一切塵中亦如是 170
일미진중함시방의 실례 174
보장엄동자(대위광태자)의 보살행으로 이룩한 화장장엄세계 176
실재의 최소 단위, 자상(自相)과 ‘점-찰나’ 182
라이프니츠의 모나드와 화엄의 일미진 187
견도(見道) - ‘점-찰나’에 대한 직관 193
견도 이상의 성자에게 보이는 세상 198
≪화엄경≫의 저자는 견도 이상의 성자 201
사물을 보는 두 관점 - 국소성(局所性)과 편재성(偏在性) 203
사물의 편재성과 일미진(一微塵)의 함용성(含容性) 207
정보통신문명의 발달로 인해 드러나는 화장장엄세계 210
한국의 신종교에서 희구하던 정신문명 시대의 도래 213
마음의 정체를 푸는 열쇠 - 일미진중함시방 217
a. 마음의 기원에 대한 뇌과학 이론의 문제점 217
b. 일미진중함시방으로 푸는 마음의 정체 220
⑷ 세속의 시간에 적용하여 법의 종류별 내용을 보여줌 225
⑪무량원겁즉일념 無量遠劫卽一念 225
⑫일념즉시무량겁 一念卽是無量劫 225
⑬구세십세호상즉 九世十世互相卽 233
찰나설의 논리적 문제와 방편적 효용 236
미진설의 논리적 문제와 방편적 효용 239
십세의 일념과 일미진의 방편성 240
⑭잉불잡란격별성 仍不雜亂隔別成 241
⑸ 수행 단계를 예로 들어서 법의 종류별 내용을 드러냄 252
⑮초발심시변정각 初發心時便正覺 252
부처와 천신과 아라한의 차이 252
부처님의 32상을 나타내는 상호업 254
≪화엄경≫ <범행품>의 초발심시변성정각 258
‘초발심시변성정각’에 대한 의상의 해석 261
육상의 의미와 초발심시변정각 265
깨달음 전과 후가 다르지 않은 수행자의 삶 269
천 리 길도 한 걸음부터 272
?생사열반상공화 生死涅槃常共和 272
⑹ 이상의 내용에 대한 총론 281
?이사명연무분별 理事冥然無分別 281
색즉시공과 이사명연무분별 281
≪화엄오교지관≫의 사리원융문(事理圓融門) 282
≪화엄경문답≫의 이사명연무분별 285
?시불보현대인경 十佛普賢大人境 287
시불(十佛), 즉 시방불(十方佛)이란? 289
보현보살은 어떤 분이신가? 292
2.남에게 이로움을 주는 수행 300
?능입해인삼매중 能入海印三昧中 300
?번출여의부사의 繁出如意不思議 305
우보익생만허공 雨寶益生滿虛空 306
중관논리로 분석한 비로자나 부처님의 중도법문 309
중생수기득이익 衆生隨器得利益 313
3.수행자의 방편과 얻게 되는 이익을 설명함 317
A. 수행의 방편을 밝힘 317
시고행자환본제 是故行者還本際 317
화엄경과 법성게의 본제 개념은 다르다 317
법성게 본제 개념의 전거 319
불교는 해체법이다. 321
파식망상필부득 ?息妄想必不得 324
무연선교착여의 無緣善巧捉如意 328
귀가수분득자량 歸家隨分得資糧 331
B. 얻게 되는 이익을 설명함 335
이다라니무진보 以陀羅尼無盡寶 335
장엄법계실보전 莊嚴法界實寶殿 335
궁좌실제중도상 窮坐實際中道床 335
구래부동명위불 舊來不動名爲佛 335
“내가 곧 부처다.” 341

부록 - 탄허스님의 예언과 정보통신 문화 347

참고문헌 목록 351
사진/그림 출처 355
찾아보기 359
----------------------------------
접기
저자 및 역자소개
김성철 (지은이) 

최근작 :


출판사 제공 책소개
저자는 법성게의 가르침이 4차산업혁명과 공명할 때 우리 사회의 구성원들은 보다 행복해질 것이라고 주장하면서 <책머리에>에서 다음과 같이 설명한다.

4차산업혁명과 함께 화엄의 시대가 도래하고 있다. ‘감각신경→ 중추신경 → 운동신경’의 3원 구조로 이루어진 인간의 신경망을 모사하여 ‘입력장치→ 중앙처리장치→ 출력장치’의 3원 구조를 갖는 컴퓨터가 탄생하였고, 정보통신기술의 발달로 우리사회 전체가 하나의 거대한 신경망과 같이 연결되면서 ‘무한입력→ 무한처리→ 무한출력’을 특징으로 하는 4차산업문명의 시대가 시작되었다. 컴퓨터의 경우 키보드와 마우스 정도가 정보 입력장치의 전부였는데, 지금의 이 시대에는 이와 아울러 바코드, QR코드, CCTV, 마이크로칩, 음성인식장치, 얼굴인식 … 등 정보를 입력하는 장치와 방식이 극도로 다양해지고 있다. 즉 4차산업문명은 정보의 무한입력을 지향한다. 또 과거에 컴퓨터의 중앙처리장치는, 인간이 미리 제작하여 설치한 프로그램에 따라서 연역적 방식으로 작동할 뿐이었는데, 지금 이 시대의 인공지능은 Machine Learning 또는 Deep Learning 방식을 통해 귀납적 방식으로 데이터를 처리하여 프로그램 모델을 만들어내기에, 경험적 지식에서도 인간의 능력을 능가한다. 그야말로 정보의 무한처리가 가능해진 것이다. 또 3D프린터, 드론, 로봇수술, 자율주행자동차 … 등 정보를 출력하는 방식 역시 한없이 다양해지고 있다. 정보의 무한출력이다.
그런데 이렇게 무한입력, 무한처리, 무한출력을 특징으로 하는 4차산업문명의 시대는 천수천안(千手千眼)의 관세음보살을 닮아있다. 천개의 눈으로 고통 받는 중생을 찾아 살피시고, 천개의 손을 통해 갖가지 방식으로 그들의 고통을 보듬으시는 관세음보살이다. 관세음보살의 천안은 무한입력, 천수는 무한출력과 대비된다. 다른 용어로 표현하면 천안은 전지(全知, Omniscient), 천수는 전능(全能, Omnipotent)에 해당할 것이다. 4차산업문명은 전지전능을 지향한다. 불교적으로 표현하면 누구나 부처님이고, 어느 곳이든지 불국정토로 변하고 있다. 외견상 화장장엄세계(華藏莊嚴世界)가 아닐 수 없다. ≪화엄경≫의 가르침을 210자로 농축한 법성게의 비밀이, 본서를 통해 우리사회에 널리 알려지고 4차산업문명과 공명(共鳴)함으로써, 누구나 주인공이 되고, 어디든 세상의 중심이 되는 차방정토(此方淨土)가 이 땅에 실현되는 그날이 보다 앞당겨지기 바란다. 접기


希修 윤리

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希修  < 윤리 >
.
우선순위에 대한 판단을 명확히 한 후, 그 우선순위에 따르는 기회비용을 피하려 꼼수 부리지 않고 기꺼이 감당하는 것. 
이것이 현명함이요 책임감이라고, 요즘의 많은 뉴스들이 한 방향을 가리키는 듯. 

남에게 피해주지 않는 것, 내 선택/소망으로 인한 기회비용을 남이 공동부담하는 상황이 초래되지 않도록 하는 것이 제1의 '윤리' (상식적인 '착함,' '따뜻함,' '좋은 취지'와 별개)이고 

그래서 계율도 지키는 것이며, 또 그래서 아라한이 '이타적인 인간'인 것이라고 (자신의 탐진치로 인해 남들에게 민폐 끼치는 일이 없기에) 초기불교는 말한다.
.

2020/12/22

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg - Wikipedia The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg - Wikipedia

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

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Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg (born March 1944) is a Scottish contemporary Torah scholar and author. She was born in LondonEngland, grew up in GlasgowScotland,[1] and moved to Israel in 1969, where she currently resides in Jerusalem.[2] Zornberg's father was Rabbi Dr. Wolf Gottlieb, Rabbi at Queen's Park Synagogue, Glasgow and head of Glasgow's rabbinical court (av beit din). Zornberg is a descendant of prominent rabbis from Eastern Europe. Her parents settled in Austria. Zornberg's family fled Austria after the Nazi takeover which led to the collapse of Jewish life and subsequent genocide of the Holocaust. Zornberg holds a PhD from Cambridge University in English Literature.[3]

She began her Bible teaching career roughly around 1980.[1] She previously taught English literature at the Hebrew University. Zornberg has grown to world acclaim through her writing and teaching of biblical commentary on the books of the Torah. She has lectured and taught internationally[3] and has appeared on PBS[4] (the American television Public Broadcasting Service) in Genesis: A Living Conversation, a series of programs discussing the Book of Genesis produced and hosted by Bill Moyers. She has published four books regarding her thoughts, theories, and commentaries:The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis,[5] which won the National Jewish Book Award for Nonfiction in 1995,[6] The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus,[7] and The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious,[8] which discusses selected passages from Genesis and other books of the Bible, including Jonah, Esther, and Ruth. Her last book published by Schocken is called Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers 2015. Her newest book, Moses: A Human Life a biography of Moses, was published in November 2016 by the Yale University Press in their Jewish Lives series.

Bibliography[edit]

  • The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis (1995)
  • The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus (2001)
  • The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious (2011)
  • Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers (2015)
  • Moses: A Human Life (2016)

References[edit]

  1. Jump up to:a b "torahinmotion.org Biography". Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  2. ^ Interview with Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
  3. Jump up to:a b Random House Canada, Author Spotlight: Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ PBS Genesis: Participants
  5. ^ Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg. The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis. New York: Image Books/Doubelday, 1995. ISBN 0-385-48337-6.
  6. ^ "Past Winners"Jewish Book Council. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  7. ^ Amazon.com: The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus
  8. ^ [1] Amazon.com: The Murmuring Deep

External sites[edit]


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The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis
by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
 4.48  ·   Rating details ·  174 ratings  ·  16 reviews
Turn the Scriptures over to Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg and what do you get? A unique blend of brilliant literary insights and theological wisdom, derived from a lifelong immersion in rabbinic traditions and lore. With amazing literary sensitivity, Zornberg ingeniously breathes new life into Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Rachel, and Joseph. The author's vibrant spirit, charming personality, and infectious enthusiasm for the Bible draw the reader into the search for meaning where real life and the biblical story intersect. The Beginning Of Desire imaginatively interweaves biblical, rabbinic, and literary sources into a colorful tapestry that is both intellectually stimulating and personally uplifting.



One of the Jewish biblical scholars scheduled to appear on the Bill Moyers PBS special on Genesis, Avivah Zornberg employs an amazing repertoire of literary sources to engage the audience and illuminate the text. Delivering her erudition in a pleasantly lyrical style, the author shares her experience of God with the world. It is an intimate, personal, and revealing encounter no one should miss. (less)
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Paperback, 456 pages
Published September 1st 1996 by Image (first published 1995)
Original TitleGenesis: The Beginning of Desire
ISBN0385483376 (ISBN13: 9780385483377)
Edition LanguageEnglish
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 Average rating4.48  ·  Rating details ·  174 ratings  ·  16 reviews

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Aryeh
Feb 15, 2014Aryeh rated it it was amazing
This is the best book I've read in years, and easily the best biblical commentary I've read in my life. Zornberg writes in an approachable manner that clearly shows her immense breadth knowledge while at the same time remaining spiritual. I have read a number of commentaries cover to cover, I'm just that kind of person. I've never read anything like this.

Broken down into the traditional weekly readings from Bereshit/Genesis, Zornberg takes the reader on a journey through the stories you likely know, but not in this way. Her discussion brings in everything from Talmudic sources to Kafka to Freud to Rashi to Dickens to the Zohar to a number of television shows and so much more. Zornberg plays with phrases from other parts of Torah to show parallel meanings, shows her reader the beauty of shever/sever--brokenness/hope, and teaches the importance of negating the negative. If you are even remotely interested in understanding Genesis in depth, and especially if you happen to be a scholar and think you have a fair grasp of the text: this book may be just the thing to make you question everything you know, and make you fall in love with it all over again. (less)
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Andy Oram
Mar 30, 2013Andy Oram rated it it was amazing
Shelves: religion
This is a book you must relax with and take in slowly, lovingly. Any brief characterization of this exploration of Jewish tradition would probably be oversimplifying, but I'll risk that and say that it's a view of Jewish myth and history as an existential search for peace in a fractured world. Zornberg applies her dual expertise--a deep knowledge of Talmudic scholarship and a love of the vast European literary and philosophical tradition--to making sense of the very messy lives of the characters in the book of Genesis. As a Jewish scholar, she flits about the texts of the ages freely, seeing it as an infinite world in which to wander. And to those reviewers who found the book hard to follow--yes, if you're not used to psychological and metaphysical explorations, the twists and turns are difficult and there were many passages that I reread four or five times. But an understanding of things that lie beyond simple rationality is a struggle to achieve, and if you can make it to the end, Zornberg describes even that. (less)
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Denise
Jan 03, 2012Denise rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
This provides extra-biblical Jewish commentary on the book of Genesis. Extremely insightful and scholarly.

As a Christian, I'd never been exposed to the Midrash or Jewish mystical sources. It caused me to dust off my copy of Strong's and examine several modern literal translations in order to check the verity and plausibility of the Jewish commentators, like Rashi.

As a result, the Bible has become illuminated. I now see broader, meta-messages in the text. Preconceived, narrow interpretations are now open to a more heart-felt reading that fully relates to the paradoxes and dilemnas of the human condition.

Not easy reading, but well worth the effort... (less)
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David
Aug 08, 2014David added it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: judaica
I heard an ON BEING podcast with Avivah Gottleib Zornberg and was impressed with her breadth of knowledge of midrash. In her book, she starts with Rashi as any traditional commentator would but also weaves in more modern understandings of Torah stories which makes her commentary and interpretation, for the most part, engaging.

Her approach to guiding the reader through the first book of the Torah, Genesis, also is reflected in how she views Rashi's commentary. "...Rashi usually writes in such a multivalent way, transforming the reader's comprehension of the biblical text, even in his most- apparently- fantastic citations from the midrash. His commentary works as a dreamtext, suggesting many alternatives- but not exclusive- facets of reality." (p. xiv) Zornberg opts to allow her imagination to read between the lines and cites midrash to fill in the gaps that are all over Torah stories. But she is very clear what is textual and what is her own interpretation.

I took the most from her juxtaposing the varying complexities that are in the stories. For example, she expands on the typical Rabbinic emphasis of Abraham's kindness and contrasts it with G-d's seemingly very cruel test for him to slaughter Isaac. So the Patriarch who is the archetype of kindness and generosity is asked to do something quite cruel. Similarly she highlights how Jacob tricked his father into blessing him, instead of Esav, and was then similarly tricked into marrying Leah and Rachel, when he really intended just to marry Rachel.

She of course finds many lessons within the text. In the story about the creation of Eve as a partner for Adam, Zornberg compares and contrasts our human perspective to the unique character of G-d's perspective. "To have a ben zug, an equivalent Other, with whom one must reckon, who limits the grandeur of one's solitude, with whom one speaks struggles and brings offspring into the world- all this is the very dfinition of the not G-dly, the not great. One has a ben zug is yoked to contingency, lives on the horizontal plane, whose blessing and imperative is increase." (p. 15) While, G-d on the other hand does not deal with the same contingencies and relationships to others.

On the other hand there are aspects that people can try to emulate G-d like with hesed (kindness). "In the world of hesed (as distinct from mishpat [law], in which man acts out of necessity or obedience, and in that sense is not G-d-like), man is truly in his element; he acts spontaneously and naturally, and 'walks in the ways of G-d' by acting of his own accord, of his own free will and unforced consciousness (me-atzmo me-retzono umeda'ato)." (p. 108) So when we act from the kindness of our heart we are emulating G-d.

Although at times Zornberg waxed poetic a little too much and belabored some points with too many outside sources she developed some fascinating incites into Genesis. It seemed very much like an Open Orthodox interpretation since she leaned most heavily on traditional sources but augmented with the modern. (less)
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Jenifer Nech
Jan 25, 2020Jenifer Nech added it
I read this book during Torah Study of Genesis. My Talmud teacher, Samara Schwartz recommended this author. What a wonderful book and very enlightening for a person who is studying Torah. I am now starting her book on Exodus. Difficult at times, over my head, very good and I guess I could call it 'brain calisthenics" (less)
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Sara Laor
Mar 03, 2020Sara Laor rated it it was ok
I'm conflicted about this book. It's very profound and has taught me many new ways of reading some Torah text. However, the Talmudic "pilpulims," andcient and modern, end up being a very exhaustive proposition. (less)
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Bonnie Buckner
Jan 07, 2018Bonnie Buckner rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
She is AMAZING! This book is one of the best Torah commentaries I've read. She is also amazing to hear speak. (less)
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John Adams
Mar 16, 2019John Adams rated it it was ok  ·  review of another edition
An occasionally interesting but dense isegesis on the narratives in Genesis.
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Chesna
Oct 29, 2016Chesna rated it liked it
Shelves: 20th-century, read-again
This book was rewarding, but really tough to get through. Read it slowly.
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Itai
Sep 08, 2007Itai rated it it was amazing
Shelves: judaism
Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg is a master teacher! I saw her speak in Portland one spring after reading several of her books.

http://www.torahinmotion.org/spkrs_cr...

Dr. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg was born in London in 1944 and grew up in Glasgow, Scotland. Her father was Dayyan Dr. Wolf Gottlieb, Av Beth Din (Head of the Rabbinical Court) of Glasgow; he was also her most important teacher. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from Cambridge University, and has studied at Gateshead Seminary and the Jerusalem Michlala. She taught English Literature at the Hebrew University from 1969 to 1976. Since 1980, she has taught Torah to classes in Jerusalem, at Matan, Lindenbaum, Pardes, and the Jerusalem College for Adults. She has lectured widely in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain.

Her first book, 'Genesis: the Beginning of Desire' was published by the Jewish Publication Society in 1995. It won the National Jewish Book Award for non-fiction, 1995. It appeared in paperback, published by Doubleday, in 1996.

Other publications include two essays: 'The Concealed Alternative,' in Reading Ruth: Contemporary Women Reclaim a Sacred Story, ed. Judith A.Kates and Gail Twersky Reimer (Ballantine); and 'Cries and Whispers: The Death of Sarah,' in Beginning Anew : A Woman's Companion to the High Holy Days ed. Judith A. Kates and Gail Twersky Reimer (Simon & Schuster).

Her book The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus was published by Doubleday (February 2001). Paperback (November 2002).

She holds a Visiting Lectureship at The London School of Jewish Studies.

Dr. Zornberg appeared on Bill Moyers' PBS programme, Genesis: a living conversation.

She is married to Eric Zornberg and they have three children. (less)
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E.
Jun 14, 2011E. rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Three years ago I checked out from the public library her book on Exodus and skimmed it for use in my Exodus sermon series. This year, coming round to Genesis again in the lectionary, I ordered this volume because I wanted some new approaches to Genesis, having used commentaries by Armstrong and Brueggemann to structure previous sermons series.

Though this volume was not as amazing to me as the one on Exodus, I still find her readings fascinatingly multi-layered. She opens up the breadth of the Jewish midrashic tradition, reads from a perspective deeply influence by psychoanalysis, and connects with the rich literary tradition of the West.

And through her I have encountered surprising readings. For instance, this year I made much of the idea that in Jacob's dream he learns that his body is the holy ground.

The book ends beautifully. I plan to post that over on my blog. (less)
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Nancy Moffett
Jun 17, 2014Nancy Moffett rated it it was amazing
I loved this book! So full of insights and understanding. This is a stimulating commentary on genesis. I will read it again.
flagLike  · comment · see review
Seana
Aug 05, 2013Seana rated it it was amazing
Discovering Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg was the most important thing I got out of watching Bill Moyers' show on Genesis. She has an amazing mind. (less)

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“Deserves to be the most widely read book on the Bible in years, perhaps decades.”
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“Not only is Zornberg’s book leagues removed from popular trivializations, it also does what all successful midrash is meant to do: open up new perspectives on ancient texts.”
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From the Trade Paperback edition.
About the Author
AVIVAH GOTTLIEB ZORNBERG is the author of The Begginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis (and winner of the National Jewish Book Award), The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus, and The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious. She lectures widely in Israel, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. She lives in Jerusalem.

--This text refers to the paperback edition.
From the Publisher
Turn the Scriptures over to Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg and what do you get? A unique blend of brilliant literary insights and theological wisdom, derived from a lifelong immersion in rabbinic traditions and lore. With amazing literary sensitivity, Zornberg ingeniously breathes new life into Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Rachel, and Joseph. The author's vibrant spirit, charming personality, and infectious enthusiasm for the Bible draw the reader into the search for meaning where real life and the biblical story intersect. The Beginning Of Desire imaginatively interweaves biblical, rabbinic, and literary sources into a colorful tapestry that is both intellectually stimulating and personally uplifting.
One of the Jewish biblical scholars scheduled to appear on the Bill Moyers PBS special on Genesis, Avivah Zornberg employs an amazing repertoire of literary sources to engage the audience and illuminate the text. Delivering her erudition in a pleasantly lyrical style, the author shares her experience of God with the world. It is an intimate, personal, and revealing encounter no one should miss. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Inside Flap
iptures over to Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg and what do you get? A unique blend of brilliant literary insights and theological wisdom, derived from a lifelong immersion in rabbinic traditions and lore. With amazing literary sensitivity, Zornberg ingeniously breathes new life into Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Rachel, and Joseph. The author's vibrant spirit, charming personality, and infectious enthusiasm for the Bible draw the reader into the search for meaning where real life and the biblical story intersect. The Beginning Of Desire imaginatively interweaves biblical, rabbinic, and literary sources into a colorful tapestry that is both intellectually stimulating and personally uplifting.



One of the Jewish biblical scholars scheduled to appear on the Bill Moyers PBS special on Genesis, Avivah Zornberg employs an amazing repertoire of literary sources to engage the audience and illuminate the text. Delivering her erudition in a pleasa --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
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This book develops an insightful and intellectually satisfying discussion of Genesis, using insights from the midrash, psychoanalysis and literature. The depth of the discussion leads the reader far beyond Christian exegesis and demonstrates the playfulness and creativity of interpretation that frees biblical study from narrow-mindedness and literalism, making the text far more relevant to people living in the 21st century. As a protestant Christian, I would like to see this book used for study in the church I attend because I believe in would broaden everyone's experience of their religion and deepen their faith.
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This is the definitive contemporary exegesis of Genesis. Zornberg is unique in her ability to integrate the insights of Rabbinic Midrash, critical literary analysis, and psychoanalytic Research. For me the result has been a plethora of 'I can't believe I never understood before' insights, that have blessed me with a deeper and more nuanced understanding of Genesis.
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I bought this book on a recommendation by a rabbi through an ecumenical reading group studying Genesis. Two of us worked together to read it discussing it section by section. We both learned a lot about midrash and how bits of Genesis have been evaluated over the centuries and found ourselves led to new appreciations of some of the major themes. Not for the faint of heart but worth the work. Academic in nature and psychological--reading it opens up new lines of thought about familiar material.
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Unknown years of Jesus - Wikipedia

Unknown years of Jesus - Wikipedia

Unknown years of Jesus

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Jesus teaching in the temple

The unknown years of Jesus (also called his silent yearslost years, or missing years) generally refers to the period of Jesus's life between his childhood and the beginning of his ministry, a period not described in the New Testament.[1][2]

The "lost years of Jesus" concept is usually encountered in esoteric literature (where it at times also refers to his possible post-crucifixion activities) but is not commonly used in scholarly literature since it is assumed that Jesus was probably working as a carpenter in Galilee, at least some of the time with Joseph, from the age of 12 to 29, so the years were not "lost years", and that he died on Calvary.[2][3][4]

In the late medieval period, there appeared Arthurian legends that the young Jesus had been in Britain.[5][6] In the 19th and 20th centuries theories began to emerge that between the ages of 12 and 29 Jesus had visited Kashmir, or had studied with the Essenes in the Judea desert.[4][7] Modern mainstream Christian scholarship has generally rejected these theories and holds that nothing is known about this time period in the life of Jesus.[4][8][9][10]

The use of the "lost years" in the "swoon hypothesis", suggests that Jesus survived his crucifixion and continued his life, instead of what was stated in the New Testament that he ascended into Heaven with two angels.[11] This, and the related view that he avoided crucifixion altogether, has given rise to several speculations about what happened to him in the supposed remaining years of his life, but these are not accepted by mainstream scholars either.[11][12][13]

The 18 unknown years[edit]

Jesus Discourse with His DisciplesJames Tissot, c. 1890

New Testament gap[edit]

James Tissot's depiction of a young Jesus at the Temple (Luke 2:46), c. 1890 Brooklyn Museum

Following the accounts of Jesus' young life, there is a gap of about 18 years in his story in the New Testament.[4][8][14] Other than the statement that after he was 12 years old (Luke 2:42) Jesus "advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men" (Luke 2:52), the New Testament has no other details regarding the gap.[4] Christian tradition suggests that Jesus simply lived in Galilee during that period.[15] Modern scholarship holds that there is little historical information to determine what happened during those years.[4]

The ages of 12 and 29, the approximate ages at either end of the unknown years, have some significance in Judaism of the Second Temple period: 13 is the age of the bar mitzvah, the age of secular maturity,[2] and 30 the age of readiness for the priesthood, although Jesus was not of the tribe of Levi.[16]

Christians have generally taken the statement in Mark 6:3 referring to Jesus as "Is not this the carpenter...?" as an indication that before the age of 30 Jesus had been working as a carpenter.[17] The tone of the passage leading to the question "Is not this the carpenter?" suggests familiarity with Jesus in the area, reinforcing that he had been generally seen as a carpenter in the gospel account before the start of his ministry.[17] Matthew 13:55 poses the question as "Is not this the carpenter's son?" suggesting that the profession tektōn had been a family business and Jesus was engaged in it before starting his preaching and ministry in the gospel accounts.[18][19]

Background of Galilee and Judea[edit]

The historical record of the large number of workmen employed in the rebuilding of Sepphoris has led Batey (1984) and others to suggest that when Jesus was in his teens and twenties carpenters would have found more employment at Sepphoris rather than at the small town of Nazareth.[20]

Aside from secular employment some attempts have been made to reconstruct the theological and rabbinical circumstances of the "unknown years", e.g., soon after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls novelist Edmund Wilson (1955) suggested Jesus may have studied with the Essenes,[21] followed by the Unitarian Charles F. Potter (1958) and others.[22] Other writers have taken the view that the predominance of Pharisees in Judea during that period, and Jesus' own later recorded interaction with the Pharisees, makes a Pharisee background more likely, as in the recorded case of another Galilean, Josephus studied with all three groups: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes.[23]

Other sources[edit]

The New Testament apocrypha and early Christian pseudepigrapha preserve various pious legends filling the "gaps" in Christ's youth. Charlesworth (2008) explains this as due to the canonical Gospels having left "a narrative vacuum" that many have attempted to fill.[24]

Claims of young Jesus in Britain[edit]

The story of Jesus visiting Britain as a boy is a late medieval development based on legends connected with Joseph of Arimathea.[5][failed verification] During the late 12th century, Joseph of Arimathea became connected with the Arthurian cycle, appearing in them as the first keeper of the Holy Grail.[5] This idea first appears in Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie, in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Britain. This theme is elaborated upon in Boron's sequels and in subsequent Arthurian works penned by others.[5]

Some Arthurian legends hold that Jesus travelled to Britain as a boy, lived at Priddy in the Mendips, and built the first wattle cabin at Glastonbury.[25] William Blake's early 19th-century poem "And did those feet in ancient time" was inspired by the story of Jesus travelling to Britain. In some versions, Joseph was supposedly a tin merchant and took Jesus under his care when his mother Mary was widowed.[26][27] Gordon Strachan wrote Jesus the Master Builder: Druid Mysteries and the Dawn of Christianity (1998), which was the basis of the documentary titled And Did Those Feet (2009). Strachan believed Jesus may have travelled to Britain to study with the Druids.[28]

Claims of Jesus Christ in India and/or Tibet before crucifixion[edit]

Louis Jacolliot, 1869[edit]

The idea of Indian influences on Jesus (and Christianity) has been suggested in Louis Jacolliot's book La Bible dans l'Inde, Vie de Iezeus Christna (1869)[29] (The Bible in India, or the Life of Jezeus Christna), although Jacolliot does not claim travels by Jesus to India.[30]

Jacolliot compared the accounts of the life of Bhagavan Krishna with that of Jesus Christ in the gospels and concluded that it could not have been a coincidence that the two stories have so many similarities in many of the finer details. He concluded that the account in the gospels is a myth based on the history of ancient India. However, Jacolliot was comparing two different periods of history (or mythology) and did not claim that Jesus was in India. Jacolliot used the spelling "Christna" instead of "Krishna" and claimed that Krishna's disciples gave him the name "Jezeus," a name supposed to mean "pure essence" in Sanskrit.[30] However, according to Max Müller, that is not a Sanskrit term at all and "it was simply invented" by Jacolliot.[31]

Nicolas Notovich, 1887[edit]

Nicolas Notovitch

In 1887, a Russian war correspondent, Nicolas Notovitch, claimed that while at the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh, he had learned of a document called the "Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men" – Isa being the Arabic name of Jesus in Islam.[32][33][34] Notovitch's story, with a translated text of the "Life of Saint Issa", was published in French in 1894 as La vie inconnue de Jesus Christ (Unknown Life of Jesus Christ).[7][34]

According to the scrolls, Jesus abandoned Jerusalem at the age of 13 and set out towards Sind, “intending to improve and perfect himself in the divine understanding and to studying the laws of the great Buddha”. He crossed Punjab and reached Puri Jagannath where he studied the Vedas under Brahmin priests. He spent six years in Puri and Rajgirh, near Nalanda, the ancient seat of Hindu learning. Then he went to the Himalayas, and spent time in Tibetan monasteries, studying Buddhism,[32] and through Persia, returned to Jerusalem at the age of 29.

Notovitch's writings were immediately controversial and Max Müller stated that either the monks at the monastery had deceived Notovitch (or played a joke on him), or he had fabricated the evidence.[32][35][36] Müller then wrote to the monastery at Hemis and the head lama replied that there had been no Western visitor at the monastery in the past fifteen years and there were no documents related to Notovitch's story.[37] J. Archibald Douglas then visited Hemis monastery and interviewed the head lama who stated that Notovitch had never been there.[37] Indologist Leopold von Schroeder called Notovitch's story a "big fat lie".[38] Wilhelm Schneemelcher states that Notovich's accounts were soon exposed as fabrications, and that to date no one has even had a glimpse at the manuscripts Notovitch claims to have had.[7]

Notovich responded to claims to defend himself.[39] But once his story had been re-examined by historians – some even questioning his existence – it is claimed that Notovitch confessed to having fabricated the evidence.[38] Bart D. Ehrman states that "Today there is not a single recognized scholar on the planet who has any doubts about the matter. The entire story was invented by Notovitch, who earned a good deal of money and a substantial amount of notoriety for his hoax".[40] However, others deny that Notovich ever accepted the accusations against him – that his account was a forgery, etc. Although he was not impressed with his story, Sir Francis Younghusband recalls meeting Nicolas Notovitch near Skardu, not long before Notovitch had visited Hemis monastery.[41]

Swami Abhedananda, 1922[edit]

In 1922 Swami Abhedananda, the founder of Vedanta Society of New York 1897 and the author of several books, went to Himalayas on foot and reached Tibet, where he studied Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan Buddhism. He was one of the skeptics who tried to debunk Nicholas Notovitch and disprove the existence of the manuscript about Jesus in India. However, when he reached Hemis monastery he found the manuscript which was a Tibetan translation of the original scrolls written in Pali. The lama said that it was a copy and the original was in a monastery at Marbour near Lhasa. After Abhedananda's death in 1939, one of his disciples inquired about the documents at the Hemis monastery, but was told they disappeared.[42][43]

Levi H. Dowling, 1908[edit]

In 1908, Levi H. Dowling published the Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ which he claimed was channeled to him from the "Akashic Records" as the true story of the life of Jesus, including "the 'lost' eighteen years silent in the New Testament." The narrative follows the young Jesus across India, Tibet, Persia, Assyria, Greece and Egypt.[44] Dowling's work was later used by Holger Kersten who combined it with elements derived from other sources such as the Ahmadiyya beliefs.[12]

Nicholas Roerich, 1925[edit]

In 1925, Nicholas Roerich recorded his travels through Ladak in India. This portion of his journal was published in 1933 as part of Altai Himalaya. He recounts legends of Issa shared with him by the Ladak people and lamas including that Issa (Jesus) traveled from Israel to India with merchants and taught the people. An extended section of this text parallels sections of Notovitch's book and Roerich comments on the remarkable similarity of the accounts of the Ladak to these passages, despite the Ladak's having no knowledge of Notovitch's book. He also recounts that the stories of others on his travel refer to various manuscripts and legends regarding Jesus (Issa) and that he personally visited the "abbot" of Hemis.[45]

Rejection by modern mainstream New Testament scholarship[edit]

Modern mainstream Christian scholarship has generally rejected any travels by Jesus to India, Tibet or surrounding areas as without historical basis:

  • Robert Van Voorst states that modern scholarship has "almost unanimously agreed" that claims of the travels of Jesus to Tibet, Kashmir or rest of India contain "nothing of value".[9]
  • Marcus Borg states that the suggestions that an adult Jesus traveled to Egypt or India and came into contact with Buddhism are "without historical foundation".[10]
  • John Dominic Crossan states that none of the theories presented about the travels of Jesus to fill the gap between his early life and the start of his ministry have been supported by modern scholarship.[8]
  • Leslie Houlden states that although modern parallels between the teachings of Jesus and Buddha have been drawn, these comparisons emerged after missionary contacts in the 19th century and there is no historically reliable evidence of contacts between Buddhism and Jesus.[46]
  • Paula Fredriksen states that no serious scholarly work places Jesus outside the backdrop of 1st century Palestinian Judaism.[47]

Claims of life after surviving crucifixion[edit]

The swoon hypothesis in critical western literature concerns later years of Jesus after the crucifixion, with a range of hypotheses that suggest later death in Kashmir,[32] RomeJapan, or during the Siege of Masada in Roman Judea.[11][12]

The traditional Islamic views on Jesus' death don't propose later years of Jesus, since based on the statements in Quran 4:157-4:158, most Muslims believe Jesus was raised to Heaven without being put on the cross and God transformed another person (at times interpreted as Judas Iscariot or Simon of Cyrene) to appear exactly like Jesus who was crucified instead of Jesus.[48] Some interpretations of Hadith and other traditions have Jesus' life continuing on earth. Ibn Babawayh (d.991 CE) in Ikhmal ad Din recounts that Jesus went to a far country.[citation needed]

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, 1899[edit]

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Movement

According to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the further sayings of Muhammad say that Jesus died in Kashmir at the age of one hundred and twenty years.[32] They identify the holy man Yuz Asaf buried at the Roza Bal shrine in Srinagar, India as Jesus on the basis of an account in the History of Kashmir by the Sufi poet Khwaja Muhammad Azam Didamari (1747) that the holy man Yuz Asaf buried there was a prophet and a foreign prince.[32][49] Paul C. Pappas states that from a historical perspective, the Ahmadi identification of Yuz Asaf with Jesus relies on legends and documents which include clear historical errors[32] (e.g., Gondophares' reign) and that "it is almost impossible to identify Yuz Asaf with Jesus".[50]

In his 1957 book The Wisdom of BalahvarDavid Marshall Lang presented evidence of how confusion in diacritical markings in Arabic texts transformed Budhasaf (Buddha-to-be) into Yudasaf, Iodasaph, and then Yuzasaf, and resulted in the Ahmadiyya assertions;[32] also confusing Kashmir and Kushinara, the place of Buddha's death.[32][51] The Swedish scholar Per Beskow in Jesus in Kashmir: Historien om en legend (1981) also concluded that Ahmad had misidentified traditions about Gautama Buddha in the Bilawhar wa-Yudasaf legend as being about Jesus. Beskow updated his conclusions in English in 2011.[52]

Meher Baba, 1925[edit]

Meher Baba (1894-1969)

According to Indian spiritual master Meher Baba, when Jesus was crucified, he did not die physically. But, he entered the state of Nirvikalp Samadhi (the I-am-God state without bodily consciousness). On the third day, he again became conscious of his body, and he travelled secretly in disguise eastward with some apostles, most importantly with Bartholomew and Thaddeus, to India. This was called Jesus' resurrection. After reaching India, Jesus travelled further east to Rangoon, in Burma, where he remained for some time. He then went north to Kashmir, where he settled. After Jesus's spiritual work was completed, Jesus subsequently dropped his body, and the body was buried by the Two Apostles in Harvan, at Kan Yar, district of Kashmir.[53]

Holger Kersten, 1981[edit]

In 1981, Holger Kersten, a German writer on esoteric subjects popularised the subject in his Christ Lived in India.[32][54] Kersten's ideas were among various expositions of the theory critiqued by Günter Grönbold in Jesus in Indien. Das Ende einer Legende (Munich, 1985).[55] Wilhelm Schneemelcher states that the work of Kersten (which builds on Ahmad and The Aquarian Gospel) is fantasy and has nothing to do with historical research.[12] Schneemelcher and other historians state that Kersten combines elements from various previous authors such as Notovitch, Ahmadiyya sources, and Levi Dowling.[12][32] Gerald O'Collins also states that Kersten's work is simply the repackaging of a legend for consumption by the general public.[13]

Among texts cited by Kersten, following Andreas Faber-Kaiser, is the third khanda of the Pratisarga Parvan in the Bhavishya Mahapurana which contains discussion of "Isa Masih" and Muhammed. However Indologists such as Grönbold note that this section postdates not just the Quran,[56] but also the Mughals. Hiltebeitel (2009) establishes 1739 as the very earliest possible date for the section.[57]

Other theories[edit]

A number of other theories have been proposed, e.g., in 1992, in her book Jesus the Man, Dr. Barbara Thiering suggested that Jesus and Judas Iscariot had been crucified together but Jesus survived, married Mary Magdalene, travelled around the Mediterranean area and then died in Rome.[11][58]

Teacher of Righteousness[edit]

In 1995, Kenneth Hosking also suggested that Jesus survived crucifixion, but stated that Jesus was the Teacher of Righteousness mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls and decades later (73-74 AD) died as the leader of the Jewish forces which unsuccessfully fought the Romans during the Siege of Masada.[11][59]

Japan[edit]

The burial ground to what some claim is Jesus' final resting place

Some people in Japan have believed that Jesus visited them during the lost years and possibly survived the crucifixion to remain in Japan for the rest of his life. The legend exists in a village named Shingō, Aomori.[60]

Claims of visits after the resurrection[edit]

Christ visiting ancient Americans, called Nephites
Christ's visit to the Nephite people

Book of Mormon[edit]

According to the Book of Mormon, Jesus visited an Israelite people (called the Nephites, led to the Americas around 600 BC to avoid the Babylonian conquest[61]) after his resurrection. Evidences of Christ in the Americas are claimed in the Book of Mormon in the book of 3 Nephi, chapters 11-18.[62] According to the account, Jesus taught the ancient Americans similar things that he had taught during his ministry in Jerusalem.[63]

Although not the official beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some individuals compare Christ's visit to legends of Viracocha in South America, and Quetzalcoatl [64] in Central America. While some Latter-day Saint scholars have interpreted Quetzalcoatl legends to represent Jesus, Latter-day Saint author Brant Gardner, after investigating the link between Quetzalcoatl and Jesus, concluded that the association amounts to nothing more than folklore.[65] In a 1986 paper for Sunstone, he noted that during the Spanish Conquest, the Native Americans and the Catholic priests who sympathized with them felt pressure to link Native American beliefs with Christianity, thus making the Native Americans seem more human and less savage in the eyes of the Spanish. Over time, Quetzalcoatl's appearance, clothing, malevolent nature, and status among the gods were reshaped to fit a more Christian framework.[66]

Russian Orthodox Church[edit]

Painting of Christ visiting Russia
"Holy Russia" by Mikhail Nesterov

A 1905 painting by Russian artist Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov[67] depicts a resurrected Christ appearing to the Russian people, along with who is thought to be the apostles PeterJames, and John. It is influenced by a folk tale about Jesus visiting the ancient Russians following his resurrection.[68]

Artistic and literary renditions[edit]

Jesus in the workshop of Joseph the Carpenter, by Georges de La Tour, 1640s.

In 1996, the documentary Mysteries of the Bible presented an overview of the theories related to the travels of Jesus to India and interviewed a number of scholars on the subject.[69]

The boy Jesus represented as the Good Shepherd; image above the North door of the Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)

Edward T. Martin's book King of Travelers: Jesus' Lost Years in India (2008) was used as the basis for Paul Davids' film Jesus in India (2008) shown on the Sundance Channel. The book and film cover Martin's search for Notovitch's claimed "Life of Issa."[70]

The book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore, is a fictional comedy which tells the story of Jesus' adolescence and his travels to India and China from the point of view of Jesus' best friend Biff.[71]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ E.g., see Emil Bock The Childhood of Jesus: The Unknown YearsISBN 0863156193
  2. Jump up to:a b c James H. Charlesworth The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide 2008 ISBN 0687021677 "From twelve to thirty then are "Jesus' silent years," which does not denote he was silent. It means the Evangelists remain silent about what Jesus did." ... "Only Luke reports that Jesus was in the Temple when he was twelve, apparently for his bar mitzvah (2:42), and that he began his public ministry when he was "about thirty years of age" (3:23). What did Jesus do from age twelve to thirty?".
  3. ^ E.g., see Lost Years of Jesus Revealed by Charles F. Potter ISBN 0449130398
  4. Jump up to:a b c d e f All the People in the Bible by Richard R. Losch (May 1, 2008) Eerdsmans Press ISBN 0802824544 209: "Nothing is known of the life of Jesus during the seventeen years from the time of the incident in the temple until his baptism by John the Baptist when he was about thirty. Countless theories have been proposed, among them that he studied in Alexandria in the Jewish centers there and that he lived among the Essenes in the Judean desert...there is no evidence to substantiate any of these claims and we have to accept that we simply don't know.... The most likely thing is that he continued to live in Nazareth and ply his trade there..."
  5. Jump up to:a b c d The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend by Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter (10 Sep 2009) ISBN 0521677882page 50
  6. ^ "The Passion - Articles - Judas"BBC. 15 September 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  7. Jump up to:a b c New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1: Gospels and Related Writings by Wilhelm Schneemelcher and R. Mcl. Wilson (Dec 1, 1990) ISBN 066422721X page 84 "a particular book by Nicolas Notovich (Di Lucke im Leben Jesus 1894) ... shortly after the publication of the book, the reports of travel experiences were already unmasked as lies. The fantasies about Jesus in India were also soon recognized as invention... down to today, nobody has had a glimpse of the manuscripts with the alleged narratives about Jesus"
  8. Jump up to:a b c Crossan, John Dominic; Richard G. Watts (1999). Who is Jesus? : answers to your questions about the historical Jesus. Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 28–29ISBN 0664258425.
  9. Jump up to:a b Voorst, Robert E. Van (2000). Jesus Outside the New Testament : an introduction to the ancient evidence. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans. p. 17ISBN 0-8028-4368-9... Jesus' putative travels to India and Tibet, his grave in Srinagar, Kashmir, and so forth. Scholarship has almost unanimously agreed that these references to Jesus are so late and tendentious as to contain virtually nothing of value for understanding the Historical Jesus.
  10. Jump up to:a b Borg, Marcus J. (2005). "The Spirit-Filled Experience of Jesus". In Dunn, James D. G. (ed.). The Historical Jesus in Recent Research. Winona Lake, [IN]: Eisenbrauns. p. 303. ISBN 1-57506-100-7.
  11. Jump up to:a b c d e Voorst, Robert E. Van (2000). Jesus Outside the New Testament : an introduction to the ancient evidence. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-8028-4368-9.
  12. Jump up to:a b c d e New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1: Gospels and Related Writings by Wilhelm Schneemelcher and R. Mcl. Wilson (Dec 1, 1990) ISBN 066422721X page 84. Schneemelcher states that Kersten's work is based on "fantasy, untruth and ignorance (above all in the linguistic area)" Schneemelcher states that ""Kersten for example attempted to work up Notovitch and Ahmadiyya legends with many other alleged witnesses into a complete picture. Thus Levi's Aquarian Gospel is pressed into service, along with the Turin shroud and the Qumran texts."
  13. Jump up to:a b Focus on Jesus by Gerald O'Collins and Daniel Kendall (Sep 1, 1998) ISBN 0852443609 Mercer Univ Press pages 169-171
  14. ^ Maier, Paul L.Yamauchi, Edwin M. (1989). "The Date of the Nativity and Chronology of Jesus". In Vardaman, Jerry (ed.). Chronos, kairos, Christos : nativity and chronological studies presented to Jack Finegan. Winona Lake, [IN]: Eisenbrauns. pp. 113–129. ISBN 0-931464-50-1.
  15. ^ Lloyd Kenyon Jones The Eighteen Absent Years of Jesus Christ "as a skilled and dutiful artisan and as a loving son and neighbor, Jesus was using those qualities which were to flame forth...was the work which He was to do that He did not leave that home and that preparation until the mature age of thirty."
  16. ^ :Reiner, Edwin W. (1971). The Atonement. Nashville: Southern Pub. Association. ISBN 0812700511OCLC 134392. Page 140 ""And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph." Luke 3:23. But Christ, of course, did not belong to the Levitical priesthood. He had descended neither from Aaron nor from the tribe of Levi."
  17. Jump up to:a b The Gospel According to Mark: Meaning and Message by George Martin (Sep 2005) ISBN 0829419705 Loyola Univ Press pages 128-129
  18. ^ The Gospel of Matthew (Sacra Pagina Series, Vol 1) by Daniel J. Harrington, Donald P. Senior (Sep 1, 1991) ISBN 0814658032Liturgical Press page 211
  19. ^ The Gospel of Matthew by R.T. France (Jul 27, 2007) ISBN 080282501X page 549
  20. ^ W. D. Davies, Dale Allison, Jr. Matthew 8-18 2004 ISBN 0567083659T&T Clarke Page 456 "For the suggestion that Jesus worked not only in a wood-worker's shop in Nazareth but perhaps also in Sepphoris, helping to construct Herod's capital, see R. A. Batey, 'Is not this the Carpenter?', NTS 30 (1984), pp. 249-58. Batey also calls ..."
  21. ^ Menahem Mansoor The Dead Sea Scrolls: A College Textbook and a Study Guide Brill Publishers; 1964, Page 156 "Edmund Wilson suggests that the unknown years in the life of Jesus (ages 12-29) might have been spent with the sect, but there is no reference to this in the texts."
  22. ^ Charles F. Potter The Lost Years of Jesus Revealed Random House 1958 "For centuries Christian students of the Bible have wondered where Jesus was and what he did during the so-called "eighteen silent years" between the ages of twelve and thirty. The amazing and dramatic scrolls of the great Essene library found in cave after cave near the Dead Sea have given us the answer at last. That during those "lost years" Jesus was a student at this Essene school is becoming increasingly apparent. .."
  23. ^ Brennan Hill Jesus, the Christ: contemporary perspectives 1991 ISBN 1585953032 Page 6 "than about the people with whom Jesus lived. Josephus (d. 100 C.E.) was born just after the time of Jesus. He claims to have studied with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes as a young man"
  24. ^ James H. Charlesworth The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide2008 ISBN 0687021677 The New Testament apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha preserve many legends concocted to explain Jesus' youth. Tales have him ... The Evangelists have left "a narrative vacuum," and many have attempted to fill it. Only Luke reports that Jesus ...
  25. ^ Camelot and the vision of Albion by Geoffrey Ashe 1971 ISBN 0434034010 Page 157 "Blake may be referring to one of the odder offshoots of the Arthur-Grail imbroglio, the belief that Jesus visited Britain as a boy, lived at Priddy in the Mendips, and built the first wattle cabin at Glastonbury. This tale seems to have arisen quite ..."
  26. ^ Milton, A Poem (The Illuminated Books of William Blake, Volume 5)by William Blake, Robert N. Essick and Joseph Viscomi (Sep 4, 1998) ISBN 0691001480 Princeton Univ Press Page 214 "The notion that Jesus visited Britain may have been reinforced for Blake by the name 'Lambeth' (house of the lamb - see 4:14-15 note). Compare Isaiah 52.7 ('How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that ..."
  27. ^ Jesus: A Life by A. N. Wilson 1993 ISBN 0393326330 page 87 "One such legend, which haunted the imagination of William Blake and, through Blake's lyric 'Jerusalem', has passed into British national legend, is the story that Jesus visited Britain as a boy. Though written sources for this folk-tale are ..."
  28. ^ "Jesus 'may have visited England', says Scottish academic"(Film review) "And Did Those Feet". BBC News. 26 November 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2013St Augustine wrote to the Pope to say he'd discovered a church in Glastonbury built by followers of Jesus. But St Gildas (a 6th-Century British cleric) said it was built by Jesus himself. It's a very very ancient church which went back perhaps to AD37
  29. ^ L. Jacolliot (1869) La Bible dans l'Inde, Librairie Internationale, Paris (digitized by Google Books)
  30. Jump up to:a b Louis Jacolliot (1870) The Bible in India, Carleton, New York (digitized by Google Books)
  31. ^ Max Müller (1888), Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute Volume 21, page 179
  32. Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k Korbel, Jonathan; Preckel, Claudia (2016). "Ghulām Aḥmad al-Qādiyānī: The Messiah of the Christians—Peace upon Him—in India (India, 1908)". In Bentlage, Björn; Eggert, Marion; Krämer, Hans-Martin; Reichmuth, Stefan (eds.). Religious Dynamics under the Impact of Imperialism and Colonialism. Numen Book Series. 154LeidenBrill Publishers. pp. 426–442. doi:10.1163/9789004329003_034ISBN 978-90-04-32511-1. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  33. ^ The Unknown Life Of Jesus Christ: By The Discoverer Of The Manuscript by Nicolas Notovitch (Oct 15, 2007) ISBN 1434812839
  34. Jump up to:a b Forged: Writing in the Name of God--Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are by Bart D. Ehrman (Mar 6, 2012) ISBN 0062012622 page 252 "one of the most widely disseminated modern forgeries is called The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ"
  35. ^ Simon J. Joseph, "Jesus in India?" Journal of the American Academy of Religion Volume 80, Issue 1 pp. 161-199 "Max Müller suggested that either the Hemis monks had deceived Notovitch or that Notovitch himself was the author of these passages"
  36. ^ Last Essays by Friedrich M. Mueller 1901 (republished in Jun 1973) ISBN 0404114393 page 181: "it is pleasanter to believe that Buddhist monks can at times be wags, than that M. Notovitch is a rogue."
  37. Jump up to:a b Bradley Malkovsky, "Some Recent Developments in Hindu Understandings of Jesus" in the Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies(2010) Vol. 23, Article 5.:"Müller then wrote to the chief lama st Hemis and received the reply that no Westerner had visited there in the past fifteen years nor was the monastery in possession of any documents having to do with the story Notovitch had made public in his famous book" ... "J. Archibald Douglas took it upon himself to make the journey to the Hemis monistry to conduct a personal interview with the same head monk with whom Müller had corresponded. What Douglas learned there completely concurred with what Müller had learned: Notovitch had never been there."
  38. Jump up to:a b Indology, Indomania, and Orientalism by Douglas T. McGetchin(Jan 1, 2010) Fairleigh Dickinson University Press ISBN 083864208Xpage 133 "Faced with this cross-examination, Notovich confessed to fabricating his evidence."
  39. ^ D.L. Snellgrove and T. Skorupski (1977) The Cultural Heritage of Ladakh, p. 127, Prajna Press ISBN 0-87773-700-2
  40. ^ Ehrman, Bart D. (February 2011). "8. Forgeries, Lies, Deceptions, and the Writings of the New Testament. Modern Forgeries, Lies, and Deceptions". Forged: Writing in the Name of God—Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are (First Edition. EPub ed.). New York: HarperCollins e-books. pp. 282–283. ISBN 978-0-06-207863-6.
  41. ^ The Heart of a Continent, a Narrative of Travels in Manchuria, Across the Gobi Desert, Through the Himalayas, the Pamirs, and Hunza (1884-1894), 1904, pp. 180-181.
  42. ^ Chaitanya, Brahmachari Bhairab; Swami Abhedananda's Journey into Kashmir and Tibet; Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Calcutta, 1987 (first published in Bengali in 1929) pp.119-121, 164-166; ISBN 0874816432
  43. ^ Richard, Hooper; Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and Lao Tzu; 2012 p. 176 ISBN 1571746803
  44. ^ The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi H. Dowling by Levi H. Dowling (original publication 1908) ISBN 1602062242 pages 12 and 65
  45. ^ "Altai-Himalaya by Nicholas Roerich"www.roerich.org. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  46. ^ Jesus: The Complete Guide 2006 by Leslie Houlden ISBN 082648011X page 140
  47. ^ Fredriksen, Paula. From Jesus to ChristISBN 0300084579 Yale University Press, 2000, p. xxvi.
  48. ^ What You Need to Know about Islam and Muslims, by George Braswell 2000 ISBN 978-0-8054-1829-3 B & H Publishing page 127
  49. ^ Günter Grönbold Jesus In Indien – Das Ende einer Legende. Kösel, München, 1985
  50. ^ Jesus' Tomb in India: The Debate on His Death and Resurrection by Paul C. Pappas 1991 ISBN 0895819465 ; page 155: "Al-Haj Nazir Ahmad's work Jesus in Heaven on Earth, which constitutes the Ahmadi's best historical defense of Jesus' presence in Kashmir as Yuz Asaf, appears to be full of flaws, especially concerning Gondophares' reign", page 100: "The Ahmadi thesis can rest only on eastern legends recorded in oriental works, which for the most part are not reliable, not only because they were written long after the facts, but also because their stories of Yuz Asaf are different and in contradiction", page 115: "It is almost impossible to identify Yuz Asaf with Jesus"
  51. ^ In The Journal of Ecclesiastical History Volume 18, Issue 02, October 1967, pp 247-248, John Rippon summarizes the work of David Marshall Lang on the subject as follows: "In The Wisdom of Balahvar Professor Lang assembled the evidence for the Buddhist origins of the legends of the Christian saints Barlaam and Josephat. He suggested the importance of Arabic intermediaries, showing that confusion of diacritical markings turned Budhasaf (Bodhisattva, the Buddha-to-be) into Yudasaf, Iodasaph, Yuzasaf and Josaphat. By a curious roundabout journey this error reappears in once-Buddhist Kashmir where the modern Ahmadiyya Muslims, well known for their Woking mosque, claim that a tomb of Yus Asad was the tomb of Jesus who died in Kashmir, after having been taken down live from the cross; though the Bombay Arabic edition of the book Balahvar makes its hero die in Kashmir, by confusion with Kushinara the traditional place of the Buddha's death."
  52. ^ Per Beskow in The Blackwell Companion to Jesus ed. Delbert Burkett 2011 ISBN 140519362X "During the transmission of the legend, this name underwent several changes: to Budhasaf, Yudasaf, and finally Yuzasaf. In Greek, his name is Ioasaph; in Latin, Josaphat, ..."
  53. ^ Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba, Bhau Kalchuri, Manifestation, Inc. 1986, p. 752
  54. ^ Jesus Lived in India: His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion by Holger Kersten 1981 ISBN 0143028294 Penguin India
  55. ^ Gregorianum Page 258 Pontificia università gregoriana (Rome) "The whole story of how this legend was simply created (without a shred of evidence in its support), spread widely among a gullible public and still finds such latter-day exponents as Holger Kersten is splendidly told by Günt[h]er Grönbold."
  56. ^ Die Jesus-in-Indien-Legende - Eine alternative Jesus-Erzählung? by Mark Bothe 2011 ISBN 3640439791 Page 29 "... schließlich in Srinagar niedergelassen habe, liest Faber-Kaiser Mahapurana.85 Aus seinem Gespräch mit Professor Fida Hassnain entwickelt er zudem die ... aus einem Werk namens Tarikh-i-Kashmir und dem Bhavishya
  57. ^ Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics by Alf Hiltebeitel 2009 ISBN 0226340511 Univ Chicago Press Page 276 "Thus 1739 could mark a terminus a quo for the text's history of the Mughals. If so, the same terminus would apply to its Genesis-Exodus sequence in its first khanda, its Jesus-Muhammad diptych in its third (the Krsnam&acaritd) , and the history ..."
  58. ^ Jesus the Man by Barbara Thiering ISBN 0552154075
  59. ^ Yeshua, the Nazorean, the Teacher of Righteousness by Kenneth V. Hosking 1995 ISBN 1857561775 Janus Publishing
  60. ^ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-little-known-legend-of-jesus-in-japan-165354242/
  61. ^ "The Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 1". The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  62. ^ "The Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11". The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  63. ^ "The Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 12". The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  64. ^ Diane E. Wirth (1993-07-08). "Quetzalcoatl, the Maya Maize God, and Jesus Christ - Diane E. Wirth - Journal of Book of Mormon Studies - Volume 11 - Issue 1". Maxwellinstitute.byu.edu. Retrieved 2012-11-16.
  65. ^ Blair 2008
  66. ^ Gardner, Brant (1986). "The Christianization of Quetzalcoatl"(PDF)Sunstone10 (11).
  67. ^ "Holy Russia".
  68. ^ Mark J Stoddard. "Did Jesus Visit Russia After His Resurrection?".
  69. ^ National Geographic Channel (25 May 1996) Mysteries of the Bible, "The Lost Years of Jesus".
  70. ^ W. Barnes Tatum Jesus: A Brief History 2009 Page 237 "On the site, there appears the title in English with eye-catching flourishes: Jesus in India.50 Instead of a narrative retelling of the Jesus story, Jesus in India follows the American adventurer Edward T. Martin, from Lampasas, Texas, as he ..."
  71. ^ Maass, Donald (Mar 14, 2011). The Breakout Novelist: Craft and Strategies for Career Fiction Writers. p. 222. ISBN 978-1582979908.

Further reading[edit]

  • Fida HassnainSearch For The Historical Jesus. Down-to-Earth Books, 2006. ISBN 1-878115-17-0
  • Tricia McCannon. Jesus: The Explosive Story of the 30 Lost Years and the Ancient Mystery Religions. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 2010. ISBN 978-1-57174-607-8.
  • Charles Potter. Lost Years of Jesus Revealed., Fawcett, 1985. ISBN 0-449-13039-8
  • Elizabeth Clare ProphetThe Lost Years of Jesus' Life: Documentary Evidence of Jesus's 17-Year Journey to the East. Gardiner, Mont.: Summit University Press, 1987. ISBN 978-0-916766-87-0.
  • Paramahansa Yogananda. "The Unknown Years of Jesus—Sojourn in India." Discourse 5 in The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You: A Revelatory Commentary on the Original Teachings of Jesus. 2 vol. Los Angeles, CA: Self-Realization Fellowship, 2004. ISBN 0-87612-555-0