The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity [Paperback]

Elmar R. Gruber (Author), Holger Kersten (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Element Books Ltd (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852308354
• ISBN-13: 978-1852308353
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,087,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indeed, the truth shall set you free, March 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity (Paperback)

This is the type of book that, a few centuries back, would have gotten the author a one-way ticket to the stake. Luckily, we can read it in the comfort of our home and ponder the earth-shattering thesis by the authors: that Jesus' message basically is a Buddhist message. Not for the faint of heart, but for the daring.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An adventure in different-think., January 22, 2002

By 

J. Thorne (AUSTIN, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity (Paperback)

Persian and Indian influences in Judaism and Christianity are obvious to those who will familiarize themselves with the ancient religious teachings. ....interesting.

That said, the Buddhist influences in Jesus' teachings are plainly there; behind them are Zarathustrian and Hindu thought.

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good history of Buddhist Missionaries, strained parallels, February 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity (Paperback)

this one is even more heretical than Stephen Mitchell's 'The Gospel According to Jesus'. I could take the fact that Jesus was really the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier and a Jewish woman, rather than an immaculate conception; but to be asked to believe that he studied Buddhism with Theravadan missionaries is a bit much methinks. Granting even that there was contact between Buddhist missionaries from Ashoka's time and Greece of Jesus's time, there is no necessity to 'explain' Jesus's revelation or sayings as borrowings from anothere culture, methinks. Such enlightened beings as Jesus and Buddha have always popped up every now and then, spontaneously, and when they sound a lot alike, why should we be surprised and try to look for hidden connections? The real connection is what they are speaking of, the one beyond space and time. Anyway, a fairly scholarly book here, with lots of interesting history, just a bit too polemical for me to take real seriously. Definitely worth reading for the history.