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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.
List 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
About the author
Edited by Brian Arthur Brown - Foreword by Francis X. Clooney, SJ - Contributions by David Bruce; K. E. Eduljee; Richard Freund; Cyril Glassé; Victor H. Mair; Jacqueline Mates-Muchin and Arvind Sharma
Summary
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.
