The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China by P. These two books are the only sources exclusively dealing with the Nestorian Christian sutras found in the Dunhuang caves, dating back to the seventh century. Ray Riegert and Thomas Moore, the authors of The Lost Sutras of Jesus: Unlocking the Ancient Wisdom of the Xian Monks, take the passages from various sutras found in the Dunhuang caves and weave them together intoĪ devotional work for a lay Christian audience. Personal travels to sites connected to Nestorian Christianity in China in his work. Palmer incorporates scholarly research and his Martin Palmer’s translation and commentary on the scrolls, The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity, is the primary source used in this paper. One of the ultimate questions raised through the research of this paper is whether this work influenced or was a part of the growing collection of literature that introduced and assisted in the development of Buddhism in Tibetan regions.Įxisting literature on the topic of the Jesus Sutras is scarce. It is important to note that the Tibetan empire was not under great Buddhist influence until the eighth century-nearly a century after these texts were compiled. Ultimate power, the theory of karma, and general ethics for living one’s life. The most important messages that the Nestorian missionaries wanted to keep in the readers’ cultural context, were the ideas of a vague, omniscient The goal of this paper will be to analyze the particularly Buddhist, Tibetan and Bön elements. This sutra intertwines various topics regarding who God is, how one should live, and elements of Jesus’ life. This particular sutra echoes the message of Christianity while incorporating Buddhist,ĭaoist, and Chinese philosophical ideas as well as cultural references from Tibet and China. The Sutra of Jesus Christ is one of the four “ Jesus Sutras” researched and translated by Martin Palmer and his colleagues. The discovery of these scrolls have led to a greater understanding of the dedication of the Nestorian missionaries in their efforts to convert the Chinese people to Christianity.
The cave and its contents were rediscovered around the end of the nineteenth century, and the documents were spread throughout Europe and Asia via explorers, traders, and thieves. The scrolls and manuscripts found at the Dunhuang caves were part of a collection of texts that were sealed within the caveĪround 1005 CE. In this paper, I will be analyzing the Sutra of Jesus Christ, one of the manuscripts found in the Dunhuang caves, believed to have been written around 645-650 CE. History of Christianity in the Middle East and Asia
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