Description
Book SynopsisThis book is a fresh investigation disproving the notion, popular today among certain segments of the world''s religious culture, that the Russian journalist Nicholas Notovitch definitely discovered, at an Indo-Tibetan monastery, a bona fide ancient Buddhist manuscript which allegedly described Jesus'' travels to India and Central Asia before he then launched his well-known public ministry back in Israel. This scholarly study is intended to provide both Christians and non-Christians alike the knowledge necessary to see through the Russian''s literary fraud, first published by him in 1894, and to reject the claims of his many latter-day followers. The present work also attempts to integrate the Notovitch hoax into the current religious milieu and unmasks the lack of honesty, integrity and credible scholarship of those New Age writers and others who today mistakenly support the Issa fabrication as genuine and claim, as did Notovitch, which the Issa text fills in the ''missing years'' of the canonical Gospels.
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Illustrations and Maps Chapter 2 Foreword Chapter 3 Preface Chapter 4 Acknowledgments and Special Thanks Chapter 5 An Important Advisory to the Reader Chapter 6 The Notovitch "Gospel" and Its Persistent Influence Chapter 7 Early "On-Site" Investigators: (a) Shah, Douglas and Filippi; (b) The Notion of "Eastern Diplomacy" Chapter 8 Early and Later Scholarly Inquiry Totally Discredits the Notovitch Claims: I. The Russian's Travel Accounts: Full of Falsehood; II. The Published Issa Text Itself: Proven a Fraud Chapter 9 The Cultural Climate That Gave Rise to the Notovitch Fraud: (a) A Brief Picture of Cultural Europe in the Nineteenth Century; (b) The Jacolliot-Laouenan Influence on the Issa Life; (c) Additional Influences of Nineteenth-Century Europe on the Issa T Chapter 10 The Astonishing Case of Holger Kersten Chapter 11 A Proper Biblical Exegesis Belies the Theory of Jesus' Missing Years: (a) Nicholas Roerich and the Spread of the Issa Legend in Asia; (b) Not Necessary for Jesus to Travel Eastward; (c) Ahmad Shah's Answer to the "Silent Years" Theory Chapter 12 The Genius of the Christian Message Chapter 13 Appendices: Text: The Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men; The Notovitch Brothers: a Brief Portrait; Important Discrepancies between the Issa Text and the Canonical Scriptures; Scripture Passages Chapter 14 Endnotes Chapter 15 Index Chapter 16 A Note on the Author
