Recommended series on the Jesus Sutras
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Recommended series on the Jesus Sutras
From 2011, ten worthwhile articles on a (nearly) "forgotten" strand of Eastern Christianity in China
Without much ado from me, I wish only to draw your attention to this excellent exploration of the ancient Chinese Christian (Nestorian) “Jesus Sutras” — certainly a form of the faith I find endlessly fascinating and appealing. It is twelve years old, but it’s been bookmarked on my PC for almost that long. The author, Victoria Emily Jones, writes:
The Jesus Sutras, in a nutshell, are a set of eight Chinese scrolls from the seventh and eighth centuries that combine the teachings of Jesus with the principles of Eastern thought. They are based on the second-century Syriac text Teachings of the Apostles, which Persian missionaries brought to China around 635 AD and translated into Chinese, with the financial support of the emperor. But rather than doing a straight translation, the missionaries incorporated elements of Taoist and Buddhist spirituality, which they had learned from the people they had met along their 3,000-mile Silk Road journey. They wanted to share Jesus with the Chinese, but they wanted to place him in a context that they would understand and appreciate…
Each of the articles can be found by clicking on the following titles:
The Jesus Sutras (Part 1): Introduction
The Jesus Sutras (Part 2): The Religion of Light
The Jesus Sutras (Part 3): The Stone Sutra
The Jesus Sutras (Part 4): Orthodoxy Established
The Jesus Sutras (Part 5): The Five Skandhas
The Jesus Sutras (Part 6): Karma and Rebirth
The Jesus Sutras (Part 7): Mindfulness
The Jesus Sutras (Part 8): The Virgin “Mo Yan”
Recommended series on the Jesus Sutras
This is a great series of posts. As a Christian who subscribes to the understanding of Mary as Theotokos and Chalcedon, discovering these texts years ago has altered my understanding of global Christianity. I still believe in both (Theotokos and Chalcedon), but how can one deny the legitimacy of the Church of the East who preached the Nicene faith in such a different context and had no need for either? I worshipped with them here in Chicago recently (the Church of the East) and just haven’t been the same since. I don’t know where I’d be without the Jesus Sutras. Merton (to my knowledge) had no idea about them. Did he? What gifts we’ve been given.
Thanks for this!
I am encouraged to find that the author "highly recommends" Martin Palmer’s book "The Jesus Sutras" (2001) which I've cherished. I appreciate her reference. Meanwhile, what she gives us here is very helpful!