The Gospel of Jesus: In Search of His Original Teachings

Rating:
Summary: The Untold Story
Review: A book for persons who love biblical wisdom but who can't quite make the stories mesh. This book will help you understand your frustration. Well-researched with pointers to many, many original works that almost got squeezed out of history. A tip: Do not give this book as a gift to a fundamentalist whose faith depends on every word of the New Testament being literally true. This book is for those who want to know the parts of the story that aren't in The Book.

Rating:
Summary: The Lost Words of Jesus
Review: I found this book to be an amazing collection of the words of Jesus. It helped me to hear these words again. It validates my own mystical experiences. Ever since I was a small child, I had this feeling that something was missing in my religious teaching. When I read books like this, I have this feeling that I've known this before. The only problem I had with this book was the second to the last chapter in which the author tried to make a case for vegetarianism by insisting that Jesus was a vegetarian. I had a hard time swallowing the "evidence" for this. My question is, what difference does it make? John Davidson spends 900 pages showing us how the "kingdom is not of this world," and reveals a mystical and spiritual message. Then in the last hundred pages, he tells us that mystics shouldn't eat meat. Well, how spiritual is that? If reality is spiritual, then it shouldn't make a whole lot of difference whether we eat meat or not. If this book is ever revised for re-publication, I would strongly suggest that the chapter on vegetarianism be removed. It is not only out of place, but it detracts from the whole spiritual message. There might be a place for a discussion about vegetarianism in the Old and New Testaments. I know I wouldn't buy it, because I'm interested in the mystical and spiritual, not people's diet preferences. I think that readers of this book would also find *A Course in Miracles* inspiring and mind-changing.

Rating:
Summary: The Lost Words of Jesus
Review: I found this book to be an amazing collection of the words of Jesus. It helped me to hear these words again. It validates my own mystical experiences. Ever since I was a small child, I had this feeling that something was missing in my religious teaching. When I read books like this, I have this feeling that I've known this before. The only problem I had with this book was the second to the last chapter in which the author tried to make a case for vegetarianism by insisting that Jesus was a vegetarian. I had a hard time swallowing the "evidence" for this. My question is, what difference does it make? John Davidson spends 900 pages showing us how the "kingdom is not of this world," and reveals a mystical and spiritual message. Then in the last hundred pages, he tells us that mystics shouldn't eat meat. Well, how spiritual is that? If reality is spiritual, then it shouldn't make a whole lot of difference whether we eat meat or not. If this book is ever revised for re-publication, I would strongly suggest that the chapter on vegetarianism be removed. It is not only out of place, but it detracts from the whole spiritual message. There might be a place for a discussion about vegetarianism in the Old and New Testaments. I know I wouldn't buy it, because I'm interested in the mystical and spiritual, not people's diet preferences. I think that readers of this book would also find *A Course in Miracles* inspiring and mind-changing.

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable Scholarship and Insight
Review: In this book a professional scientist writes about religion, specifically, about Jesus. It is a spectacular accomplishment, totally honest in its outlook and impressively comprehensive in its scholarship.

I must admit that I am only halfway through its thousand pages. I am not reading it rapidly, but am annotating the margins of each page, in ink! It may take me the rest of my life to finish it (I am 77 and I read it only on Sundays for an hour or two), but already I know that I will never find a more scholarly and insightful work which honestly seeks to discern the true character of Jesus.

Perhaps because I share the same scientific temperament as the author, we have a common bond that unconsciously brings us together. Davidson has studied and written exactly as I would like to, provided I could commit myself to devoting the immense amount of time and energy to meticulous scholarship, as he had done.

In this book the character of Jesus is incomparably broadened and sharpened by bringing in many sources that were ignored by the political and administrative forces that finally determined the content of the New Testament. There are hundreds of lengthy quotations about Jesus from over three hundred sources that were written in the first five centuries after his death. Furthermore, each quotation is rephrased by the author for further clarification.

Here is an example: "Jesus said, 'If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty.'" This is quoted by Davidson from the Gospel of Thomas which is rejected by fathers of the Christian Church, for it suggests that the soul may have derived and evolved from its life in the body, rather than vice versa. I find that "twist" fascinating!

Frankly, I find it difficult to believe that the historical Jesus actually spoke this thought, but somehow it does not matter. The Bible is a collection of many noble, and some not so noble, thoughts of human beings, but it has been edited for "proper" content by many biased editors with tunnel vision.

In this book many insights are given that point toward the existence and the character of the divine in human life. And I find them inspiring! Nowhere else have I found any writing on religion that approaches the dedication and illumination of this book. Page after page I am enthralled by my introduction to many obscure and unknown writers who, in their admiration for Jesus, have put their inspired words into his mouth in much the same way as the New Testament writers have done.

It is clear that I cannot praise this book enough. However, it is written for the seeker, not for the believer.

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable Scholarship and Insight
Review: In this book a professional scientist writes about religion, specifically, about Jesus. It is a spectacular accomplishment, totally honest in its outlook and impressively comprehensive in its scholarship.

I must admit that I am only halfway through its thousand pages. I am not reading it rapidly, but am annotating the margins of each page, in ink! It may take me the rest of my life to finish it (I am 77 and I read it only on Sundays for an hour or two), but already I know that I will never find a more scholarly and insightful work which honestly seeks to discern the true character of Jesus.

Perhaps because I share the same scientific temperament as the author, we have a common bond that unconsciously brings us together. Davidson has studied and written exactly as I would like to, provided I could commit myself to devoting the immense amount of time and energy to meticulous scholarship, as he had done.

In this book the character of Jesus is incomparably broadened and sharpened by bringing in many sources that were ignored by the political and administrative forces that finally determined the content of the New Testament. There are hundreds of lengthy quotations about Jesus from over three hundred sources that were written in the first five centuries after his death. Furthermore, each quotation is rephrased by the author for further clarification.

Here is an example: "Jesus said, 'If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty.'" This is quoted by Davidson from the Gospel of Thomas which is rejected by fathers of the Christian Church, for it suggests that the soul may have derived and evolved from its life in the body, rather than vice versa. I find that "twist" fascinating!

Frankly, I find it difficult to believe that the historical Jesus actually spoke this thought, but somehow it does not matter. The Bible is a collection of many noble, and some not so noble, thoughts of human beings, but it has been edited for "proper" content by many biased editors with tunnel vision.

In this book many insights are given that point toward the existence and the character of the divine in human life. And I find them inspiring! Nowhere else have I found any writing on religion that approaches the dedication and illumination of this book. Page after page I am enthralled by my introduction to many obscure and unknown writers who, in their admiration for Jesus, have put their inspired words into his mouth in much the same way as the New Testament writers have done.

It is clear that I cannot praise this book enough. However, it is written for the seeker, not for the believer.

Rating:
Summary: Jesus True Teachings Revealed by a Mystic
Review: John Davidson has written a masterpiece on the esoteric meanings and mystical teachings of Jesus in the Gospels of the New Testament. Only a fellow soul on the spiritual path could reveal and convey the real meaning of the Gospel of Jesus as it was truly intended. Mr. Davidson illuminates not only the New Testament but other important spiritual and mystical writings and mystic teachers throughout the ages (Mandatory reading for everyone, not just Christians, scholars/historians of the Bible, and mystics). ...
When the inner esoteric meaning of the Gospel of Jesus is revealed to the reader by Mr Davidson (a mystic), profound revelation will be the result. Most books on the Gospels/Jesus are written by scholars with little spiritual awakening and acumen, and hence scholarly and sectarian dogma results with little understanding of true spirituality.
The only two caveats of Mr. Davidson when reading this book are, that he is an avid vegetarian and proponent of Gurus/teachers to help guide us (no doubt from eastern teachers influences on him). Further study of true mysticism without sectarianism for readers on the spiritual path is the Rosicrucian organisation AMORC, which is whole-heartedly recommended.