Customer Reviews

The Magi: From Zoroaster to the "Three Wise Men"

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Ken Vincent is a professor of religion and psychology as well as a lay Unitarian Universalist minister. His new book, THE MAGI, is a recent addition to the long history of literature which compares the teachings of Zoroastrianism, the monotheistic religion of ancient Persia, to those of Judaism and Christianity, and which traces the influences of the Persian religion on later monotheistic faiths. I am pleased to say that this new entry is well worth reading and a fine addition to this literary lineage.

This book is written especially for Christians, and that is its focus. It is not overly technical or academic; it is directed toward thoughtful lay people. Vincent gives us a brief overview of Zoroastrianism, which concentrates on the central message and teachings of the religion as revealed in the Gatha hymns of Prophet Zarathushtra (who is also known as "Zoroaster" )which are the original Scriptures of the religion. He then shows how some parts of the Bible and the Zoroastrian Scriptures are similar, suggesting that the ancient Jews, and later, the Christians, learned much wisdom from the Persian Zoroastrians when they encountered them in the ancient Middle East.

Vincent carefully explains the features of the "Three Magi" which show up in Christian legends, such as their portrayal as kings, the frankincense, myrrh, and gold, the Christmas Star, and the Magi's belief that they were searching for a Savior.

Other good things about Ken Vincent's book are a "gallery" of historical artworks about the Three Magi (or Kings), and in the back of the book, a very good modern translation of the Gatha hymns of Prophet Zarathushtra, so you can read for yourself the inspiring words of one of the first monotheists of all time.

My highest compliments to the author... this is a balanced and very informative little book!! In "The Magi" Mr. Vincent does an excellent job of dispelling many of the myths that have grown up over the years concerning the nature of the Magi, replacing often popular misconceptions with a more accurate representation of who the Magi really were. At the same time he also provides a very good (but basic) introduction to Zoroastrianism, the religion of the Magi that appears to have significantly influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

While merely a quick introduction to the subject, this short book contains a reasonable amount of information and it is written in such a way that it can be easily absorbed by the average reader. The book appears to be written from a Christian perspective, but the author reverentially and fairly describes the Zoroastrian faith. And also to his (and the book's) credit, Mr. Vincent does not hesitate to point out how important and significant the contributions made by Zoroastrianism were to the development of the monotheistic faiths that are most predominant today. All in all, nicely done and a book well worth buying!!!

This book is good for the person mildly interested in Zoroastrianism who wants a basic knowledge of the religion and how it relates to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition.

However, some assertions the author made are not accurate.

On page 46, Vincent writes, "Zoroaster taught that God loves us all and that, after evil is finally defeated, all humanity will be saved at the end of time." But in Yasna 46 verse 11, Zoroaster himself says, "The sacrificers and the sorcerer princes... when they come to the Bridge of the Separator, forever to be inmates of the House of the Lie" So it seems Zoroaster believed some reside in hell forever, contrary to what Vincent says. Although later Zoroastrianism taught some are redeemed from hell at the time of the ressurrection and judgement, this notion is never stated in the Gathas. The Gathas are the only texts generally thought to be written by Zoroaster, and this quote is from the Gathas.

On page 23, Vincent writes "the two hundred years of Jewish apocryphal writings (400-200 BCE)contained in the Catholic, Orthodox, and Coptic Bibles." But the Apocrypha was actually written from about 200-50 BCE.

To anyone seriously interested in Zoroastrianism or any other religion, I have found there simply is no substitute for reading the actual texts themselves. Please read the Holy Books of Zoroastrianism, the Gathas, Yasnas, Bundahis, the Kordo Avesta, and Vendidad, before believing what this or that scholar says. This is a good balance to all the authors out there who want to manipulate ancient religions to fit there own beliefs.

Before reading this book, I could not figure out where all this hell stuff came from and why Christianity took the form that it did. This book is the basics on Zoroaster but the author gives some useful insights as to:

1) Why the jews were allowed to build their second temple.
2) The constructs of angels and christian heaven & hell duality
3) Some quotes attributed to Jesus but their ideas first were presented by Zoroaster, including description of Satan as "the father of lies", etc.
4) Why the three wise men appeared in the scriptures at all

Both Judaism and Zoroasterism are pre-messainic religions, and ironically Zoroastrian's 'messiah' is expected come from a virgin (Of course their mythology is a bit different!)Believer or not will learn some important things about their religion. When one studies a religion for personnal truth, you really do need to study at least two!

The rating depends on what you are looking for in this book. It seems more of a feel-good for current Zoroastrians than a historical inquiry.
First I'll review the physical book. Two words, Thin and Tight. The book has only 127 pages but if you subtract out 36 pages for the Hymns of Zoroaster and another 32 pages of so-so black and white images of Magi in Christian art, it seems Mr Vincent didn't have much to say. But despite the book being thin, it wasn't very comfortable to read. The binding was so tight you really couldn't hold it open with one hand, at least not for any length of time. I usually have a cat to stroke or a coffee cup to hold while reading but don't plan on getting comfortable with this book.
Now for the content. I must admit, my motivation for buying this book was to learn more about the Magi in the New Testament Matthew story. After finishing the book I'm not sure I accomplished that. Mr Vincent kept flipping back and forth from current times to pre-Christian, often without identifying where (when) he was. He also used the term "Magi" too loosely (in my opinion), interchanging Zoroastrians with Magi when the Magi were just the priests, not all Zoroastrians. As others have shared, much of his content is intended to show parallels of Zoroaster with the bible, (and less on who the Magi were).
Now for the actual Matthew nativity story, (besides all those parallels we already talked about). Mr Vincent finally brings up the Star on page 35 only to immediately say he won't comment on it! He then defends the claim that the Magi were astrologers not by denying it but by justifying it saying many other religions practiced it... the Magi were not unique (his words).
On the positive side, he does provide a nice list of sources in the Reference section. Maybe I'll find more information in one of those.
Not really recommended.