As Is The Feeling,
So Is The Result.
This booklet, here in PDF format made from original typescript as preserved in photocopy of the day, dates from 1984. It bears the title Jesus Of Nazareth And God.
Arguably this booklet is my favorite writing. I had fun making it and now fun again making PDF files from its typescript for posting to Catechesis For The Sai Era and Theological Geography.
Upon completing this booklet I wrote Bob Handy (then-Professor of Modern Church History, The Union Theological Seminary, New York City), who had been good to me as my professor and mentor, saying I had earned a Th.D — an earned, not honorary, degree — on my own and desired The Union Faculty to award me the same, with scarlet robe bearing three black bars on its sleeves, in recognition of that achievement.
Ever patient with me, Bob said I would need to undergo the ordinary process in order to be awarded that degree. I was disappointed and understanding at once. However, there was justice in my request.
I had just demonstrated in writing the essential comity of religions in the essential unity of God. A decades-long but so-far fruitless desire (and here) to that effect nested among Union Faculty and Students, and I did it, I did it ducky, I made the connections in this perfectly orthodox little Christian theological booklet titled Jesus Of Nazareth And God.
- On 13 October 2007, Moslems convoked by King Abdullah of Jordan presented a statement, calling it A Common Word Between Us And You, which purported to find the essential comity of religions in the essential unity of God.
It was a deceit, arguing merely, as Moslems always do, that commonality depends on everyone’s converting to Islam. And its deceitful purport of commonality addressed only Moslems and Christians, not adherents of the other three major religions, as estimated by numbers of adherents: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism/Baha’i.
I also, by bringing forth this booklet, completed the Life And Thought of Albert Schweitzer, his Quest For The Historical Jesus, and, effectively, the entire biblical studies professoriate going back at least three centuries.
With Swami’s help I did it.
Some copies of Jesus Of Nazareth And God were made in the day, but not many. I know of only one persisting, the one in my possession — itself having an heart-ful, dramatic, and peripatetic history — from which these PDFs are made.
The literary style is a bit cute. Playful (think leela) might serve as a sympathetic descriptor. Idiotic (think bevakooph) as an unsympathetic one. A certain shall we say off-broadway sense of humor would not speed amiss whilst traversing this volume. I predict that qualities of this work will attract or repulse a reader, and either way with considerable force. Forewarned is Forearmed.
Six Suspicions
Two Insights
Two Results
A Brisque Or Brusque Biography
Of Jesus Of Nazareth And God
Prière À La Monde De La
Grand Orgue De Ste. Sulpice
A Concluding Postscript, Cover
Once there was an emperor who asked the sages who visited his palace – “Who is the best among men? Which moment of time is most blessed? Which act is most beneficial?” He could not get a satisfactory answer for long. At last, his realm was invaded and he had to flee into the jungle. There he fell into the clutches of a primitive tribe who selected him as a victim to their goddess. While in this precarious condition, he was seen by an ascetic, who rescued him and took him to his quiet hermitage where he and his students tended him lovingly back to health and happiness. Then he discovered the answers to his questions. The best among men is he who has compassion; the most blessed time is the ‘present’, this very second, and the best act is to relieve pain and grief. You decide to start Namasmarana (remembrance of the Divine name) ‘next Thursday,’ as if death has assured you in writing that he will not call on you till that date. Do not postpone what you can do today, now, this very moment.
- Sathya Sai Baba – Divine Discourse, September 7, 1966 / Daily Email, Sai Inspires: Subscription
Βασιλεία του Θεού