Jesus
A Spiritual Leader or a Political Messiah
A close reading of the Old and New Testaments asks whether the Christ of Christian doctrine matches what the Bible itself actually describes.
Overview
Jesus was baptised, circumcised, and observed the laws of the Old Testament until his crucifixion. He lived and died a Jew. Yet the faith built around him — Christianity as most of the world now practises it — rests on foundations laid largely by Paul, who had never met Jesus and who departed decisively from the very scriptures Jesus followed. How did a Jewish reformer become the Christ of the Gentiles? And does that transformation reflect what the Bible actually says, or what centuries of institutional theology chose to emphasise?
S. Shenbaga Perumal goes back to the primary text. Drawing exclusively on the Old and New Testaments rather than on Church doctrine, he examines the key fault lines: the distinction between Jesus and the Christ, Paul's authority for abandoning the Old Testament, the use of Gnostic thought from the East, and whether the Kingdom of God was ever intended as a universal promise. He also asks a harder question — whether a political leader serving a particular community was elevated into a universal saviour, and by whom.
This is neither an attack on Christianity nor a defence of it. It is a close reading of the Bible on its own terms, and the questions it raises are ones that scholars, believers, and sceptics will find equally difficult to dismiss.
One can argue with external opinions, but never with intrinsic facts. Which is why, S.Shenbaga Perumal's Jesus-A Spiritual Leader or a Political Messiah: What the Bible Says About Him makes you sit up and take notice. This compelling book examines what present-day Christians consider to be the "gospel truth" in light of what's actually narrated in the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible. Are Jesus, the son of Mary, and Christ, the Savior, one and the same? When and how did the concept of Christ get entrenched, and does It conform to Biblical beliefs of the Old Testament? On what authority did Paul, the author of the prime principles in the New Testament, decide to abandon the Old Testament, which was followed by Jesus himself? What were the epochal Biblical events? Who were the influential personages of the Bible and what was their outlook and way of life? Were lies used to take to the Gentiles, the non-Jews? How did Jesus-who was baptized, circumcised, and lived as a Jew following the Laws of the Old Testament until he was crucified-become the Christ of the Gentiles? Was political leader serving his particular caste of people elevated to an overarching status, and why? Are the core tenets of the Bible in line with what's now held as the doctrines of Christianity? Did wisdom from the East reach Gentile Christians through Gnosticism? Is the Kingdom of God only for the followers of the Christ? Are faith and truth on true separate trajectories? Not a critique or promotion of any religious belief, the book scrutinizes what The Bible itself states, making for an irrefutable reality check. A riveting read that will captivate scholars and believers alike...
