The Secret Sayings of Ye Su

The Secret Sayings of Ye Su
Author: Jay Williams
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2004-12
Genre: Buddha (The concept)
ISBN: 0595336841

The Secret Sayings of Ye Su: A Silk Road Gospel provides a translation of, introduction to, and commentary upon an extraordinary, previously unknown manuscript. This Christian gospel, though written in koine Greek, was obviously influenced by both Buddhist and Daoist ideas and probably derives from Tang dynasty China (8th or 9th century). The account of how the manuscript emerged in 1994 and how it came to be translated by Dr. Jay G. Williams is, in itself, quite fascinating. The author also describes the nature of the text and why he thinks it should be placed in the Tang dynasty period. He provides a concise introduction not only to the history of Buddhism and the indigenous religions of China during this period but also to the "Religion of Light," a form of Christianity that entered China in 638 A. D. The work ends with a line-by-line commentary on each of the seventy-two verses of this gospel. Although undoubtedly ancient, the work seems amazingly contemporary in its ideas, offering a unique and quite radical vision of Ye Su (Jesus) and his teachings. Neither orthodox nor gnostic, The Secret Sayings comments about such topics as the place of women and gays within the community, the nature of the kingdom, and the source of Christian hope in the "Source." Although faith is emphasized, doctrines and dogmas are not. A place is found for both the Heavenly Father and the Earthly Mother but alone neither is regarded as "ultimate." The fellowship of believers is emphasized, but value of the Church as an institution is seriously questioned.

The Lost Sayings of Jesus

The Lost Sayings of Jesus
Author:
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2011-06-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1594733600

Jesus’s words of wisdom can become a companion on your own spiritual journey. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are not the only record we have of the words spoken by Jesus. Designed to challenge, enlighten and inspire, they are also quoted in a wide variety of other ancient sources—including the Qur’an, writings by early Christian church fathers, and fragments of lost gospels only recently discovered. Some of these sayings are familiar; many are surprising; all expand our conventional understanding of the scope and essence of Jesus’s original teachings. More than a “Christian” compilation, this collection of more than three hundred sayings reveals a Jesus whose words encapsulate spiritual truths that resonate across religious boundaries. From the encouraging “I am hope for the hopeless,” to the wise and practical “Love those who hate you and you will not have an enemy,” to the candid “Give no opportunity to the evil one,” these pointed sayings not only reveal how Jesus was understood and portrayed across a wide variety of cultures long ago—they will also penetrate to your heart, challenge your assumptions, and energize your own spiritual quest. Now you can experience the wisdom and power of Jesus’s sayings even if you have no previous knowledge of these little-known texts.

Unum

Unum
Author: William Sutherland
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2012-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1466915730

"Unum" is about bridging religious differences. It illustrates God's "agape" love and shows that even when religions appear to diverge greatly, they have a lot in common. It promotes unity through diversity, resonates with hope for all, and even unveils the loving relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

A Dictionary of Gnosticism

A Dictionary of Gnosticism
Author: Andrew Phillip Smith
Publisher: Quest Books
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2014-03-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0835630978

A Dictionary of Gnosticism is a scholarly yet accessible guide that covers the people, mythology, movements, scripture, and technical terms related to this pre-Christian Western religion. It contains nearly 1700 entries, from Aachiaram, an angel in the 'Secret Book of John to Zostrianos', a third-century Gnostic text, and is a reliable reference for the Nag Hammadi library and other Gnostic texts. An introduction explains who the Gnostics were and provides a whirlwind tour through the history of this captivating movement.

Jesus in Asia

Jesus in Asia
Author: R. S. Sugirtharajah
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2018-02-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0674919637

Reconstructions of Jesus occurred in Asia long before the Western search for the historical Jesus began in earnest. This enterprise sprang up in seventh-century China and seventeenth-century India, encouraged by the patronage and openness of the Chinese and Indian imperial courts. While the Western quest was largely a Protestant preoccupation, in Asia the search was marked by its diversity: participants included Hindus, Jains, Muslims, Catholics, and members of the Church of the East. During the age of European colonialism, Jesus was first seen by many Asians as a tribal god of the farangis, or white Europeans. But as his story circulated, Asians remade Jesus, at times appreciatively and at other times critically. R. S. Sugirtharajah demonstrates how Buddhist and Taoist thought, combined with Christian insights, led to the creation of the Chinese Jesus Sutras of late antiquity, and explains the importance of a biography of Jesus composed in the sixteenth-century court of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He also brings to the fore the reconstructions of Jesus during the Chinese Taiping revolution, the Korean Minjung uprising, and the Indian and Sri Lankan anti-colonial movements. In Jesus in Asia, Sugirtharajah situates the historical Jesus beyond the narrow confines of the West and offers an eye-opening new chapter in the story of global Christianity.

The Treasury of Good Sayings

The Treasury of Good Sayings
Author: Bkra-śis-rgyal-mtshan (Śar-rdza)
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2005
Genre: Bon (Tibetan religion)
ISBN: 9788120829435

The Legs bshad mdzod, which is here edited and translated into English for the first time, is a history of Tibetan religion known as Bon. It gives a full account of this ancient religion, its origins and development, its struggles against the later imported Buddhism, and its fight for survival in spite of persecution and even abolition on two occasions. the reassembly of the scriptures dispersed at these times is major object of attention. In his introduction the editor makes an assessment of the historical value of the work and considers the extent of its reliability and factual accuracy. He has also, here and in the footnotes to the translation, indicated its sources which are extremely numerous and varied. The transliteration of the Tibetan text is followed by two indices of names and a short glossary of rare terms.

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die
Author: Sarah J. Robinson
Publisher: WaterBrook
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2021-05-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0593193539

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

A Philosophical Commentary on These Words of the Gospel, Luke 14.23

A Philosophical Commentary on These Words of the Gospel, Luke 14.23
Author: Pierre Bayle
Publisher: Natural Law and Enlightenment
Total Pages: 720
Release: 2005
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

"The topics of church and state, religious toleration, the legal enforcement of religious practices, and religiously motivated violence on the part of individuals, have once again become burning issues. Pierre Bayle's Philosophical Commentary was a major attempt to deal with very similar problems three centuries ago. His argument is that if the orthodox have the right and duty to persecute, then every sect will persecute since every sect considers itself orthodox. The result will be mutual slaughter, something God cannot have intended." "Bayle has often been seen as a skeptic who blazed a philosophical path that Denis Diderot, David Hume, and other Enlightenment thinkers would follow. But his was a philosophical skepticism that did not exclude the possibility of religious faith, and Bayle himself was a Calvinist Christian." "Bayle's book was translated into English in 1708. The Liberty Fund edition reprints that translation, carefully checked against the French and corrected, with an introduction and annotations designed to make Bayle's arguments accessible to the twenty-first-century reader." --Book Jacket.