Customer Reviews

Saving the Savior : Did Christ Survive the Crucifixion?

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

(Note: Rather than use the European name "Jesus", I will use Issa, as he was called in India, and Y'shua, as he was called in Judea).

I was interested in this book because I was already inclined toward the ideas that Issa/Y'shua spent time in India and that he survived the crucifixion. Surprisingly, I seem to be the only reviewer who welcomes the author's evidence of these points, but is displeased with his slant.

Much of this book is about Islam, which was founded 600+ years after the time of Issa/Y'shua, and is therefore not relevant to the history being studied. The author's imposition of Islamic thought clouds the facts being presented.

The author attempts to examine Buddhism, which Issa was said to have studied in India. He aligns Islam with "eastern religions" (without mentioning Hinduism) rather than Christianity. But Buddhists essentially strive for spiritual enlightenment, while Christians and Muslims primarily worship God. Y'shua's closest associates in Judea were the Essene Nazirenes, who were more enlightenment oriented than others in Judea at the time. A philosophic connection between Buddhism and the Nazirenes would have been a more relevant line of research.

There is a quote from "the last survivor of a long line of the hereditary attendants of the tomb", saying that the body in the tomb was that of Issa. Fine, but why is that the only quote from that person? Who were these attendants? Were they descendants of Issa? Were they assigned by Issa to maintain the tomb per his instructions? And why did they leave it? It is mentioned a few times in this book that a mysterious aroma used to emanate from a hole at the tomb. When did it stop? Were the hereditary attendants asked about it? I wonder why this information wasn't included.

In another context, there is mention of a blood line in India, but the theory is that Issa/Y'shua was celibate throughout his youth, and in his old age sired children with a servant. This is hard to believe. If he had taken an Indian wife on his first trip to India, this would add another dimension to our understanding of why he might have returned to India later. Limited accounts of his first trip say he didn't, but it might have been kept secret if she were of a lower caste (thus described as a servant). In this book, the only question asked of a descendant is about written documentation of the marriage. I would like to have known about the beliefs and family lore of the descendants.

Issa's philosophy, teachings, and wishes regarding maintenance of his tomb, are all brushed aside. But opinions of Muslims are discussed at length. It seems the purpose of this book is less to reveal the truth about Issa/Y'shua than to claim his legacy for Islam.

[If Amazon will please allow me, before I review the book: One reviewer here commented on Mr. Salahuddin's writing style. Everyone who I've talked to who has read the book has stated that the strength of the book lies in its easy reading, as well as the abundance of information presented.

[The writer gives a hint on page xxxi of the Preface, stating that one Dr. Deardorff advised him to write the material in a way that was accessible to most people. That he draws from other sources is a strength, not a weakness, in my opinion. I am now aware of things I didn't know before, and without my having to have previously read 900 other books on the subject. Now to the review].

I was fortunate to have viewed Richard Denton's August, 2003 BBC television documentary, "Did Jesus Die?". When I picked up Saving the Savior, I went, "Yea!" It was all there, and had BEEN there a few years before Denton produced the documentary. [Like, PBS, where ARE you?!]

Saving the Savior does it right--slowly. Salahuddin begins with an introduction that summarizes the tenents of Christianity, as well as its source books, both Canonical and non-Canonical, including Gnostic and other works. This is important, because he does not simply assume that most people understand Christianity. This gives the book broad appeal, educates the non-Christian and sets the stage for his presentation of the Jesus-in-India theory.

He then outlines the various debates within, and without, Christianity regarding the historical Jesus. Then, for those of us who ask, "Well...so what?" he places the subject within an historical context, examining both Western and Eastern philosophy and religion--in detail--beginning on page 76 and ending on page 115. Stunning!!

As I read the book, it was clear [well, this is my guess, anyway] that the writer intentionally started slowly, and built up momentum gradually. So that by the time you got through Chapter 9 (also entitled Saving the Savior), you were like, "Whoa!!" Then the subject like, just sticks there--right in your gut, and you can't let it go.

There are numerous photographs, and the Sanskrit, Persian, Tibetan and other documents--presented in their original script, but also the translations--gives authenticity to the book, as those documents actually mention the life of Jesus in India [Why don't we read about that in history classes? Don't answer].

The only drawback of the book is that it's not 400 pages longer! One serious drawback, in my opinion, is the title of the book. It's a turn-off for non-Christians, especially atheists and agnostics. Obviously the author probably enjoyed the play on words: "Saving the Savior." But he should have thought twice, I think. Certainly other titles could have been chosen

Jesus is the "savior" in Christian eyes, not non-Christians. He chose a title that might turn people off. And this is bad, because the book is so good that it would be a shame if non-Christians were turned off by the title, and decided not to read it--big mistake. It certainly is not a Christian book, that's for sure.

Nevertheless, it does the job, BIG time. This is not a book to read--it is a book to study!

The possibility that Jesus could have survived the crucifixion and then traveled to India generally comes as a surprise, if not a complete shock, to most Christians. So too it was for me when I first came across this belief. However, I have been exposed to this possibility for decades. It began not with Jesus, but with the Apostle Thomas for me when I accidentally stumbled across the apostle's tomb in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India in 1971. This was news for me, although the Church has formally acknowledged Thomas' presence in India for centuries. Many years later, I was alerted to Jesus' possible presence in India through Andreas Kaiser Faber's book. This made me think that if it were possible for Thomas to have traveled to India, then why not Jesus?

There have been other books on the subject before and since Faber's book. However, Mr. Salahuddin's book, "Saving the Savior", offers a fresh new perspective on the subject, as well as compelling new evidence to support this theory.

The book challenges many preconceived notions, which many of us have been brought up to believe. Most critics, particularly those brought up with standard Christian beliefs, would say that the theory that Jesus could have survived the crucifixion is blasphemous, and an Islamic invention at best. Further, they would point to the author being a Christian convert to Islam, and would therefore introduce bias into his examination of the subject. Not so. The author has been fair and objective in examining and presenting all known historical and archaeological evidence. He cites evidence from both canonical and non-canonical Christian documentation, Islamic, Buddhist, Chinese and even Hindu documents. He makes no hesitation in using the latest genetic research and other scientific research to back up his theories.

I hope that scholars, religious authorities, and lay people will examine the evidence with an open mind, and contribute even more to this growing body of evidence that Jesus not only survived the crucifixion, but also traveled to India. I recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone who wishes to examine the facts objectively. I also recommend the authors website ... to examine even newer evidence as it comes to light.

Heroic writer or heretic or somewhere in between, everyone who reads this will place the text into their own category.

The primary theme of the book is that Jesus existed as a real person, survived the crucifixion, traveled the East and is buried in Kashmir. This position is supported throughout the book by various references to historical documents and opinions. One of the things that I really appreciated is that it has a great number of historical references and pointers to places and specific books where additional information can be obtained.

Of course, the author's position represents several theological problems for fundamentalists of various religious persuasions. The author discusses some of these problems and discusses some of the implications of his position for various religious positions.

The author notes that many religious positions are the result of years of dogma and not from careful examination of the many writings of the era. The author builds his case no only on Biblical references but also on the many, many other writings from the various cultures of the time. This provides a more complete and balanced picture of the historical Jesus.

While I enjoyed the book and found it fascinating reading at points, it does suffer from some logical fallacies. For example, most of his position is based on writings and commentary of other people's opinions. Is this accurate? Who knows? Just because someone of the time period writes something does not make it factual. Take for example the history of the United States. High School textbooks are written by many professional historians but are generally terribly inaccurate. If some future society were to take what is written in high school history texts as fact they would have a completely erroneous "historical" understanding of what happened in our country. (See "One Night Stands with American History" and "Lies my Teacher Told Me" for examples). For an entire argument to be based on earlier writings and opinions is not really an argument at all if the incidents in the writing cannot be confirmed.

On the other hand, while I said that most of his opinion is based on earlier writings and opinions, it is not entirely so. The arguments that the person who was wrapped in the Shroud of Turin survived are excellent and based on good, sound, logical argument. Other arguments based on semantics are equally convincing. So, some of his points are well argued and compelling.

For those who can read this with open and inquisitive mind the book offers an interesting, provocative, and at times compelling argument that Jesus may have survived the crucifixion and indeed have traveled to the East afterward.

Review in Living Traditions magazine...

Saving the Savior: Did Christ Survive the Crucifixion?

Abubakr Ben Ishmael Salahuddin

Jammu Press 2001

The Life of Jesus has always been a matter of controversy, from the earliest days of Church history when Arius argued Jesus was a man who achieved illumination and was declared a heretic for his trouble. For some years, however, the debate has become somewhat predictable being divided into three distinct camps  conservatives, liberals and radicals. The conservatives are having a very hard time but still argue for the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. While evidence mounts against them they stay lost in fundamentalist rhetoric and become increasingly extreme. It is interesting to note that many Moslems now fall into this camp as well as Christians. The liberals, such as the Jesus seminar, work to re vision the life of Jesus in terms of the Gospel of Thomas, Dead Sea Scrolls and so forth. Their models range from Jewish Prophet to Greek Stoic preacher. The radicals are divided into two types, the atheists and humanists who try and debunk the whole story and the new agers who offer us challenged messages, akashic records of Jesus the Essene and UFO visions (one group particularly is impressive with Jesus speaking from Section 5 of Mars !).

The most singular thing I notice about all of these positions is that they come from an identifiable foundation, the traditional gospel record. Whether they argue for it, against it or try to modify it, they have ignored non Christian sources and hence all work from a remarkably similar foundation. Accordingly while some groups offer interesting insights (such as the Jesus Seminar), they all tend to produce more heat than light and do not take the debate into any new territory.

What is needed is a paradigm change; a new way of looking at the whole question and this is where Saving the Savior comes in. Here the author, Abubakr Ben Ishmael Salahuddin takes a new look at the question of the Life of Jesus by examining the larger picture. Rather than just emphasizing Christian, Jewish or Moslem sources he looks for other documents and makes some amazing discoveries leading to some truly startling conclusions.

What is fascinating is that there is abundant evidence for the life of Jesus but this evidence is ignored, suppressed and attacked by fundamentalist sources as it documents a Jesus very different from the one that is promoted within Christianity and Islam. It is ironic that the Christian church searches for ways to prove Jesus existed in time of great scepticism and yet ignores the most compelling evidence because the Jesus it documents is not the one they want!

"Saving the Savior: Did Christ Survive the Crucifixion?" outlines the explosive theory that Christ survived the crucifixion, travelled across what was then known as Asia, took up residence in Kashmir and lived to the age of 120. It considers the philosophical and religious significance of this theory and discusses the ramifications it will have on Moslem and Christian thought. It includes some thirty illustrations and charts among which are images of original language documents (with English translations) that record the sojourn of Jesus Christ after the crucifixion.

The evidence presented is well researched and documented. The author has gone out of his way to be objective and to provide as much background information as available. His sincerity is impressive, he makes it clear that this work is an overview and that there is a lot more research to be done. There is no PR Hype or sensationalism in Saving the Savior, it is a powerful and compelling piece of work. It not only documents the truth about the life of Jesus, but discusses the five major groups that are engaged in an intense and sometimes violent struggle over his identity and shows why they do not want you to know the truth.

This is one of the most important books on the Life of Jesus in print today. It is powerful, erudite and persuasive !

Dr. Salahuddin eliminates all doubt of what Jesus was all about in this very informative book. He uses modern knowledge of medical science to illustrate the actual truth about the so-called Crucifixion, and eliminates "Christian" thought about "Faith", Resurrection in defining what the Crucifixion was all about. This book has a totally unrelated "cousin" to Rev. George F. Jowett's THE DRAMA OF THE LOST DISCIPLES, as well as the NAG HAMADI LIBRARY, edited by James M. Robinson, the latter being a very well documented alternative to the traditional "Holy Bible" used by so many Christians that is now becoming a perfect example of the mysticism and magic that was put forth by the "disciple" Paul. Dr. Salahuddin gives clear cut examples of the medical science that proves that Jesus did not die on the cross, and this coupled with the non-Roman Catholic/Roman Empire translation of the early scrolls that were not tampered with because they were found outside where the Roman Empire dominated, proves that there were a lot of tampering with the religious scrolls that allegedly made up what is today called the Holy Bible, regardless of its version, i.e. KJV, etc.
My formal education consists of a B.A. in Social Science, an M.A. in Theology, and an A.A.S. in Paralegal Science. I have over 30 years experience in Christian research in Asia, America and Europe and have personally visited many sites that Jesus visited and have seen first hand the evidence that remains of his occupation at those places today.
Once I was told by a Lutheran Bishop when I asked about these matters that he was not aware of what I was talking about, and that it was obvious that I knew more about the subject than he did. I was directed to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary by a theologian once when I asked about what "faith" meant--resultant research revealed that that terminology was akin to "imagination". I was told by several ordained clergy that I had to "pray" about these things, the trouble of that advice was that when I did "pray" about them I was directed to further research that revealed much of what Dr. Salahuddin reveals in this book, as well as that revealed in Rev. Jowett's work about. Another set of excellent resources along this line are Dr. Glenn Kimball's HIDDEN POLITICS OF THE CRUCIFIXION and HIDDEN STORIES OF THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS, both available at AncientManuscripts.com.
This book is probably best described as the forerunner of the termination of the Roman Catholic Church and its Protestant denominations as we know them today. There simply is not enough left to keep them around, if one stops and studies this book and uses common sense to understand it. I gave up a lifetime of trying to adhere to the mysticism that surrounds church worship and giving of my hard-earned money to the Offering Plate because of it, and I've found that the Lord God is awarding me for it in making available just that much more research into what His Son's life on Earth was all about...

I found this book to be well researched. extreemly informative, and easy to understand. It was well written, and therefore kept my attention to the conclusion. I have recomended this book to my friends.

The major religions of the world must re-evaluate and re-investigate the legitimacy of the "Savior" Myth. This book could, literally, change the world. The concepts, premise & information in this book is not-only a compilation of all the information The Church doesn't want you to know, but it is also a very well-written and honest approach to an age-old dilemma.

I began questioning the Validity of the Jesus Myth, at the age of 12. I firmly and Honestly wanted to be "Saved and Baptized" at the age of 9, so I had a long talk on a Saturday afternoon, with our Baptist Preacher. He realized I knew what I was talking about and we had a great conversation. I was Baptized in June of '80. However, by the age of 12, I realized (after much Bible Study and Observation), that the Jesus Myth wasn't all it's cracked-up to be. I should have been in the Adult classes, but I was always told "that isn't how it works, you must wait until you are an Adult." Yet, I knew more than the Adults, so I studied on my own and lost all interest in Church.

I stopped going to church at age 16-unless Forced to attend. I have only gone to churches for Weddings, during the last ten years, yet I have studied and read piles of books, during that time. I knew that most of the Jesus Myth is a collection of PRE-Christian religions and Myths Grafted onto a man who may or may not have lived....

Yet, THIS BOOK made me believe in Jesus.

After 10 years of research, this is the only thing I have read, including the Bible, that made me believe Jesus actually existed and walked the earth. I do not think many people could deny that he lived, after reading this Wonderfully Written book.

However, I must concur with one of the chapter titles:

"The Truth will set you free....but, first, it may p--- you off."

"Saving The Savior" is the only book I have read that presents a substantial case for the existence of the man whose name has been (slandered) used to butcher millions of people. After this book is on the market for a few years, there will be no more Inquisitions ! Fifty years ago, you would not have been allowed to read this book. Buy it now, before the Thought Police pull a 451 on it.

I was first introduced to this subject by Holger Kersten's book, Jesus Lived in India, when I read that work in 1989. After reading Holger's book, I had *thought* that he had written the "last word" on this subject.

But then, a couple of weeks ago, I attended a convention and purchased a copy of Saving the Savior. I expected a re-hash. But, much to my pleasant surprise, this book not only covers the theory of a possible post-crucifixion life of Jesus, but offers even *more* proof, including Persian and other documents that have not appeared in any Jesus-in-India book to date [I've read about all the Jesus-in-India books as a hobby].

But he doesn't stop there. He covers the philosophical aspects of this subject in such fascinating detail that I've promised myself to read this book again--twice more!! I do not think such coverage has ever appeared before in any Jesus-in-India book--something that, in my opinion, was sorely needed.

Well, to satisfy Amazon's requirement: Mr. Salahuddin explores the theory that Jesus Christ physically survived the crucifixion, traveled to India and lived to the age of 120 years. Other new information includes the first 1888 correspondence that *began* Jesus-in-India studies: something one would think would have been documented in previous books. Also new is a fascinating analysis of St. Irenaeus's, Against Hersesies, which contains an apparent statement by St. Irenaeus that Jesus was seen alive during the reign of Emperor Trajan--in 98 A.D.!!

Also new is a rather bold attempt [offered in an appendix] to draw a possible link between the "tomb of Jesus" in Kashmir and the Shroud of Turin. I don't know if i can *handle* that, actually, but it's fascinating to read!

He has other new information, but I'm not going to give away the plot! Just check it out--it's a great read!

Ron, Chicago

The possibility that Jesus could have survived the crucifixion and then traveled to India generally comes as a surprise, if not a complete shock, to most Christians. So too it was for me when I first came across this belief. However, I have been exposed to this possibility for decades. It began not with Jesus, but with the Apostle Thomas for me when I accidentally stumbled across the apostle's tomb in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India in 1971. This was news for me, although the Church has formally acknowledged Thomas' presence in India for centuries. Many years later, I was alerted to Jesus' possible presence in India through Andreas Kaiser Faber's book. This made me think that if it were possible for Thomas to have traveled to India, then why not Jesus?

There have been other books on the subject before and since Faber's book. However, Mr. Salahuddin's book, "Saving the Savior", offers a fresh new perspective on the subject, as well as compelling new evidence to support this theory.

The book challenges many preconceived notions, which many of us have been brought up to believe. Most critics, particularly those brought up with standard Christian beliefs, would say that the theory that Jesus could have survived the crucifixion is blasphemous, and an Islamic invention at best. Further, they would point to the author being a Christian convert to Islam, and would therefore introduce bias into his examination of the subject. Not so. The author has been fair and objective in examining and presenting all known historical and archaeological evidence. He cites evidence from both canonical and non-canonical Christian documentation, Islamic, Buddhist, Chinese and even Hindu documents. He makes no hesitation in using the latest genetic research and other scientific research to back up his theories.

I hope that scholars, religious authorities, and lay people will examine the evidence with an open mind, and contribute even more to this growing body of evidence that Jesus not only survived the crucifixion, but also traveled to India. I recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone who wishes to examine the facts objectively.