Christian Zen: The Essential Teachings of Jesus Christ [Paperback]

Robert Powell (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2003

Jesus’ remarkable and rather puzzling statements from the Gospel of Thomas, considered “secret sayings,” have suffered centuries of misinterpretation, reinforcing a skewed view of both Christianity and Jesus himself. In Christian Zen, noted scholar Robert Powell deciphers their true meaning and shows how they mirror Zen philosophy. His commentaries explain that the sayings embody the timeless teaching of advaita, the esoteric expression of the inner meaning of all the great religions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

"Some years ago, when the Gospel of Thomas was a brand new discovery, an undergraduate student enthusiastically told me it made Jesus sound like a Zen Master. Now, finally, from the eminent spiritual writer Robert Powell we have a definitive treatment of this theme."
—Robert Ellwood, Emeritus Professor of Religion, University of Southern California

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books; annotated edition edition (November 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556434588
• ISBN-13: 978-1556434587
• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 0.5 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,014,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jesus teaches Zen, September 16, 2006

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Steve Burns (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Christian Zen: The Essential Teachings of Jesus Christ (Paperback)

This very small book lists verses of the gospel of Thomas on each page and then gives the authors comments about what he believes they mean. The authors opinion is that in the gospel of Thomas Jesus is teaching nonduality and how to discover the true Self and over come the illusion of separation and individual ego by living truly in the eternal Now.I agree with the authors opinion completely and believe this book is closer to the true esoteric teachings of Jesus than the Bible. This is a perfect book for beginners that are searching for truth or studing Zen.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A non-dual interpretation of The Gospel of Thomas, February 19, 2009

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Michael Draper (Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Christian Zen: The Essential Teachings of Jesus Christ (Paperback)

In this book, Robert Powell interprets the Gospel of Thomas from a non-dual perspective. What I mean is, he interprets Jesus as an enlightened teacher who is simply pointing to the kingdom of heaven all around you, the oneness of everything. Jesus is saying you are not separate from God, and never were. You need only to drop all religious concepts and see. This is what esoteric Christianity is all about. There are other books about this. 'Inner Christianity' by Richard Smoley is also very good.

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, yet problematic, January 17, 2012

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Zeno (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Christian Zen: The Essential Teachings of Jesus Christ (Paperback)

The translation provided in the text was clear for the most part, but the author does not say whose translation he employs, or whether he translated the text himself. His commentary for each of the logia (sayings) is sometimes superficial and repetitive, while at other times being on-the-mark. He interprets the text according to his personal spiritual views of Advaita (non-dualism) rather than approaching the text on its own terms or in the context of ancient Jewish wisdom literature. Powell also excludes about a dozen of the sayings from the Gospel of Thomas on the grounds that some of the sayings are either too obscure or out of place. However, having read the Gospel in its entirety, I felt that he should have included some of the sayings that he left out, such as the parable of the leaven to describe the Kingdom of God.

The Gospel itself sometimes feels too obscure compared to mystical texts of other traditions such as the Upanishads, Tao Te Ching, or the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. It should be read in conjunction with other such texts in order to be better understood.