Laughing Jesus

Zusatztext “A daring and thought-provoking book: Nothing you thought about the great monotheistic religions will ever look quite the same again.” —Graham Hancock! author of Fingerprints of the Gods “ The Laughing Jesus is a manifesto for Gnostic mysticism. Freke and Gandy’s exposition of Gnostic enlightenment is lucid and accessible; their critique of Literalist religion is damningly severe.” —Robert M. Price! professor of scriptural studies! Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary! and editor of The Journal of Higher Criticism “ The Laughing Jesus should be considered not merely a good read! although it is! but also a matter of burning urgency! for this is one of the most important books that has emerged in this infant millennium.” —Larry Dossey! M.D.! author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things Informationen zum Autor Timothy Freke (left) has an honors degree in philosophy and is the author of more than twenty books on world spirituality. He lectures and runs experiential seminars throughout the world exploring gnosis. For information, see timothyfreke.com. Peter Gandy (right) has an M.A. in classical civilization and is an internationally respected authority on the ancient Pagan Mysteries and early Christianity. Both Freke and Gandy live in England and are the authors of five previous books, including The Jesus Mysteries and Jesus and the Lost Goddess . Klappentext An Incendiary Wake-Up Call to the World What if the Old Testament is a work of fiction! Jesus never existed! and Muhammad was a mobster? What if the Bible and the Qur'an are works of political propaganda created by Taliban-like fundamentalists to justify the sort of religious violence we are witnessing in the world today? What if there is a big idea that could free us from the us-versus-them world created by religion and make it possible for us to truly love our neighbors--and even our enemies? What if it is possible to awaken to a profound state of oneness and love! which the Gnostic Christians symbolized by the enigmatic figure of the laughing Jesus? Discover for Yourself Why the Gnostic Jesus Laughs Chapter 1: GNOSTIC SPIRITUALITY AND LITERALIST RELIGION The letter kills but the spirit brings to life. —Paul, Letter to the Ephesians Wake up! Rouse yourself from the collective coma you mistake for ‘real life’. See through the illusion of separateness and recognize that we are all essentially one. Although we appear to be isolated individuals, in reality there is one awareness dreaming itself to be everyone and everything. This is our shared essential nature. The simple secret to enjoying this dream we call ‘life’ is to wake up to oneness. Because, knowing you are one with all, you will find yourself in love with all. You will fall in love with living. This is the message of the original Christians, who symbolised this awakened state with the enigmatic figure of ‘the laughing Jesus’. Have you ever seen a picture of Jesus laughing? Probably not, because we have inherited a distorted form of Christianity created by the Roman Church in the fourth century, which focuses exclusively on Jesus the ‘man of sorrows’. The image that has dominated our culture is that of a man being tortured to death on a cross. But the original Christians didn’t see Jesus as an historical man who ‘suffered for our sins’. They viewed Jesus as the mythical hero of a symbolic teaching story, which represents the spiritual journey leading to the experience of awakening they called ‘gnosis’, or ‘knowing’. The original Christians were inspired men and women who saw how good life could be if we would just wake up and live in love. They imagined a new world that would no longer be divided into slaves or citizens, men or women, Gentiles or Jews. But inadvertently, this band of non-con...

Product details

• Authors: Timothy Freke, Peter Gandy
• Publisher: Harmony
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.06.2006
• EAN: 9781400082797
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-8279-7
• No. of pages: 272
• Dimensions: 158 mm x 235 mm x 16 mm
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Other religions