Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra
Hardcover 273 Pages Publisher HarperOne Published Nov 2008
$24.95 USD
ISBN-10: 0061448737
ISBN-13: 9780061448737
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The “New York Times” bestselling author of “Buddha” captures the extraordinary life of Jesus in this surprising, soul-stirring, and page-turning novel. Uncovering the transformational “lost years” that are not recounted in the New Testament, Deepak Chopra has imagined Jesus’s path to enlightenment moving from obscurity to revolutionary, from doubt to miracles, and then beyond as the role of the long-awaited Messiah. As a teenager, Jesus has premonitions of his destiny, and by the end, as he arrives to be baptized in the River Jordan, he has accepted his fate, which combines extremes of light and darkness.
With his characteristic ability for imparting profound spiritual insights through the power of storytelling, Deepak Chopra’s “Jesus” portrays the life of Christ as never before, ultimately leading us closer to understanding the nature of God and the soul. As the author shares, “I don’t want the Jesus in this book to be worshiped, much less to push him forward as definitive. The events of the tale are pure fiction. But at a deeper level, the Jesus in this book feels real because we’ve gotten a glimpse into his mind. One flash of insight answers many prayers.”
Customer Reviews:
An engrossing read – Jesus as you’ve never seen him before by G. Brown
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I think the main purpose of Deepak Chopra’s Jesus was to be a teaching novel, if I can use that term. A lot of readers will be happy with that, because Chopra’s reputation is primarily as a spiritual teacher. But a lot of readers don’t turn to fiction for lessons. They want a good story and an engrossing read. I’d like to reassure them that this book is definitely a good read. It might even be that rare thing, a religious page-turner.
I don’t think Chopra would be happy with the tag “religious,” however, since his ambition is to portray Jesus as someone who belongs to the world, not simply to Christianity. for that purpose, he takes the young Jesus to a far-off mountain setting somewhere in the East, where he meets an enlightened master. Here Chopra is tapping into the lore that has Jesus going to the Himalayas, although he never explicitly mentions if this nameless master is Buddhist or Hindu — no religious affiliation is given at all. Orthodox Christians may rebel at that, but there’s a long tradition of sending Jesus to other countries during his missing years. Albert Schweitzer, among others, speculated that Jesus learned from other traditions, and many Biblical scholars (not the fundamentalist stripe, of course) find many links between Jesus’s teachings and the Buddha’s.
If those things intrigue you, then this book will prove fascinating. But even if you come to it fresh, the tale holds lots of surprises. Having young Jesus be friends with Mary Magdalene and Judas, for example, throws a new perspective on how those characters fit into the New Testament. There have been many there attempts to write a prequel to the four gospels, but I think Chopra’s is one of the most successful, thanks to his deep knowledge of consciousness and his growing ability to tell a riveting story.
The inner – rather than institutional – dimensions of Christianity by Kelly M. Lee (las vegas nev)
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When the world was afire with with his message people came to Jesus , just as they did to Buddah , asking what he was. Not who are you with respect to name , origin or ancestry but what are you ? What order of being do you belong to ? What species do you represent ? Are you a god ? “No” Are you an angel? “No” Are you a saint? “No” . His answer was , in essence “I am awake” . Thats what ” The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” means. That’s what ” I am the Son of God ” means .That’s what ” The “Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the Earth- men just do not see it” means. And that is what has been forgotten by institutionalized Chrisitanity.This book tries to cut through to that truth. We need as much help as we can get in that regard right now. So yes . Buy the book.
A very engrossing book- and though fiction, a realistic perspective by Sara (Denver, CO USA)
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I read this book in a matter of hours. I was initially disappointed that it was fiction, and not a book of Chopra’s research. I had the impression that this book would solely be about Jesus (or Issa) in India during the lost years. However, that disappointment quickly faded as I read. I couldn’t put the book down. I’m now purchasing similar books by Chopra, such as “Buddha: the story of Enlightenment.” For me it reignited a passion that had been turned off long ago by religious zealots and dogma.
What it is: A work of fiction, guessing at what happened from Chopra’s perspective. Well-written, engrossing.
What it is not: A Christian book true to the currently accepted Christian Bible, a book of research.
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