Four Testaments brings together four foundational texts from world religions--the Tao Te Ching, Dhammapada, Analects of Confucius, and Bhagavad Gita--inviting readers to experience them in full, to explore possible points of connection and divergence, and to better understand people who practice these traditions.
Brian Arthur Brown is an independent scholar and a United Church of Canada minister. He is the author or editor of several books, including the award-winning Three Testaments: Torah, Gospel, Quran and Noah's Other Son.
Table of Contents
Contents Foreword by Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Director of the Harvard Center for Study of World Religions Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue: Four Fingers and a Thumb - Tao Te Ching, Analects, Dhammapada, Gita, and Avesta Book One From the Foundations of the Earth to Our Common Spiritual Ancestors Introduction: East and West Meeting at the Altar of Religion by Cyril Glassé Exordium: What We Once Knew, by Karl Friedrich Geldner Preface: Why the Z Factor Matters 1.Through the Mists of Time: Vedic and Semitic Prehistories Connecting East and West 2.A Priest Becomes a Prophet: Commissioned at the River 3.A Chance Meeting at the Crossroads of History: A Prelude to the Babylonian Interface between Proto Vedic and Proto Semitic Religions 4.The Silk Route: The Axis of the Axial Age 5.The Extant Avesta: A Few Pieces of the Jigsaw Puzzle 6.The Fraternal Twins of World Religion: Monism for Monotheists Book Two The Taoist Testament Introduction: Magi in China and Intellectual Ferment in Eurasia at the Middle of the First Millennium BCE by Professor Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese, Philadelphia University Preface: Magic and iMagination 7. Tao Te Ching: translated by Victor H. Mair Book Three The Confucian Testament Introduction: Innovation vs. Tradition by Jacqueline Mates-Muchin, Senior Rabbi, Temple Sinai, Oakland Preface: Fireworks East and West 8.The Analects: translated by James Legge Book Four The Buddhist Testament Introduction: The Indian Origins of Buddhism by Professor Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Oxford Preface: King Akbar’s Perfect Religion 9.Dhammapada: translated by S. Radhakrishnan Book Five The Hindu Testament Introduction: Reciprocal Illumination by Professor Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor in Comparative Religion, McGill University Preface: With Notes from Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi 10.Bhagavad Gita: translated by Gandhi Book Six The Z Factor Introduction: Eastern Influence in Western Texts by Dr. David Bruce Preface: New Frontiers in Scriptural Studies 11.Israel in Exile: God as Israel’s Only Redeemer 12.Up from the River Again, With a Promise of Paradise: Jesus as a Zoroastrian Saoshyant, the Redeemer of the World 13.Chinvat Bridge – The Final Judgement: Zoroastrian Scriptures and “Previous Revelations” Corrected in the Quran Book Seven The Dead Zee Scrolls Introduction: Digging Through Time by Professor Richard Freund Preface: A Model for the Twenty First Century 14.Among the Ruins: Tablets and Cylinders 15.From Aurel Stein to Mary Boyce and Beyond: Controversies in the Twentieth Century Epilogue: The Resurrection of Zoroaster: A Prophet for the Twenty First Century Dancing on the Edge of Tombs: More Treasure Than Anyone Imagined Appendix: Images of the Original Eastern Testaments Preface to Images: The Edict of Cyrus and the Chinese Cuneiform Bones by E. K. Eduljee Bibliography Index About the Editor About the Contributors
