The Gospel of Love and Peace (eBook)

Essene Books I - IV

Jörg Berchem (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2016 | 1. Auflage
420 Seiten
Books on Demand (Verlag)
978-3-7412-7881-5 (ISBN)

Infos

These teachings are unique, because they do not refer to a specific culture, they refer to man and his relationship to his co-beings and his relation to God. They do not demand a specific moral life according to exact rules how to live. They just express a spiritual ethics. The Gospel of Peace, unlike other documents or interpretations of biblical texts, explains the expression 'Heavenly Father' in a very deep meaning, also because of the fact that it describes 'the Earthly Mother' as well. It does not mean that it proclaims a female God next to a male God. We are still dealing with a monotheistic religion. But in its divine dualism it does not exclude female character in God, nor the female and maternal principle of nature. Therefore it reconnects Christianity with obvious and deeply experienced world views that can be found as universal in all cultures and religions except the three Thora-based Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions. Let us just assume for a moment a Christianity that is not denying but also worshipping the maternal aspects, not only in some sick romanticisation of virginity and unearthly 'purity', but in its obvious richness, abundance and fertility. A Christianity that regards Earth just as important and divine as it regards Heaven. A Christianity describing the body as a temple for the soul. A Christianity that communicates with Heaven and Earth ... - Well, here it is! For the first time all translations of the Essene scripts in one volume, revised, newly arranged and edited by Dr. Jörg Berchem. With many illustrations by Caspar David Friedrich, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci and Gustav Doré. (including: Book 1 The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book One, Book 2 The Unknown Books of the Essenes, Book 3 Lost Scrolls of the Essene Brotherhood, Book 4 The Teachings of the Elect and Banus The Essene The essene Code of Life)

Textauszug

EDITOR'S PREFACE

The bible can be regarded as a composition of three major parts:

The first being the Old Testament, which is only the narrative of history of the Jewish people and religion. And because Jesus somehow altered or revolutionised this religion, it can be regarded as the pre-history of Christianity.

The New Testament can be divided into two parts, the second being the letters and books describing the beginning of the history of the Christian Church. It explains the adoptions and alteration added to the teachings of Jesus, transforming them into a culture-specific and moralistic religion.

Between these two parts, the first and the last, at the beginning of the New Testament we find the four gospels describing the life of Jesus (historical agenda) and, most important, his teachings.

These teachings are unique, because they do not refer to a specific culture (although being expressed in a specific cultural context), they refer to man and his relationship to his co­beings and his relation to God. They do not demand a specific moral life according to exact rules how to live. They just express a spiritual ethics.

The first Christian communities forming in the Roman empire tried to draw from that a moral codex, and doing so, bereft it of its unique and universal truth and probably some of its ideas that did not fit into their mindset.

The bible as we know it today is a composition of the beginning 17th century. Other texts (so-called “apocrypha”) have been deleted from it, other's never had a chance to be included, other's weren't discovered yet. Those included have been re-composed unknown times by different reproducing writers.

In 1928 Edmond Bordeaux Székely first published his translation of Book One of “The Essene Gospel of Peace”, an ancient manuscript he claims to have found with other scripts in the Secret Archives of the Vatican, the Habsburg Library, and the library of the monastery at Monte Casino, which was destroyed later during the second world war.

His book was first published in French, and in the following decades it was translated in different languages and sold in about one million copies. Books II and III were published in the 1970s and Book IV posthumously in 1981.

Although Edmond Bordeaux Székely gives a detailed description of how and where he found the scriptures, narrated in some of his books, for instance in his autobiography “Search For the Ageless”, a controversial discussion exists, if any of the texts Székely claims to have translated are authentic or if they have never existed. Usually theological scholars, mostly committed to clerical academic views, regard Székely's books as pure fantasy and poetry. On the other hand esoteric and spiritual readers tend to declare that the Vatican is hiding the truth, because the scripts contradict in many respect its teachings of many centuries.

True followers and students of Edmond Bordeaux Székely never even bother about this question of authenticity. To them the timeless truth and deep message is obvious in Székely's publications. Many of them have had their own spiritual experiences when reading the books. Often they describe their experience with Székely's teachings as a personal revelation.

As with other apocrypha and the biblical texts, some scholars may be interested in the history and theological study of such material. Seekers of spiritual truth, personal experience and philosophy of life are more interested in the meaning and the message.

For many years now the books written by Edmond Bordeaux Székely are no longer available. Especially the demand for Books II, III and IV is often expressed by those who were lucky enough to come across a copy of “The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book One”.

Because Székely's intention was more to write books about his findings that may inspire his readers, than to publish scientific material, the complete scripts were not clearly arranged by the author, but it all was published successively and scattered in his books.

Now, for the first time, I have the honour to present all his apocrypha in one single volume.

I dared to re-arrange the texts for the benefit of better reading and contemplation.

This edition is not an experiment to re-write the New Testament or publish a new Bible. It might personally be accepted as an addition to the biblical gospel, or as spiritual poetry; readers may come to their own conclusions and may have their own views.

In the original books sometimes the same headline is used twice in different books for different text passages, so for this complete edition we had to alter some of the chapter names, keeping the originals in brackets. below. When Edmond Bordeaux Székely first published his books about his findings in old scriptures, the scriptures of Qumran had not been discovered yet. In the decades following the first publication of Székely's books, many publications about „the Essenes“ became popular and much discussed. However, these later publications refer to the Essenes of Qumran, quite a dogmatic community, one of many of it's time. Székely's books about the Essenes do not refer to those Essenes living at the shore of the Dead Sea. The term „Essenes“ generally refers to many different spiritual communities that had dedicated their lives to a spiritual way of living and the coming of the Messiah. When speaking about the „Essenes“, Székely is referring to two specific communities, one in Egypt, the „therapeutae“ living in Alexandria near Lake Mareotis, and the other living at Mount Kharmel in the former Kingdom of Israel (not Judah).

The „therapeutae“, the Essenes of Lake Mareotis were known for their healing, and it is said, it was to them, in Egypt, that Mary and Joseph fled with the infant Jesus, as it is told to escape from the murder of the children, but also so that Jesus could receive tuition from them.

The Essenes of Mount Kharmel were Nazarenes. These Essenes belonged to the „School of the Prophets“, calling themselves the Beni-Amen („Sons of God“). They were not living in celibacy, women were seen as equal to men and many of the things that applied to the Essenes of Qumran, did not apply to them. It was amongst them, in the Kingdom of Israel, that Yahuwshua-ha-Masshiach, that is Jesus the Messiah, appeared. This was the main branch of the Essenes in the „Holy Land“, the elders and teachers of whom were living in nature, in tents and caves, near the Cave of Elijah, which is still present within the Mount Kharmel. “The Essenes” did not exist, as hardly anything was known about these groups.

At the time when Székely wrote his books this confusion about the name did not exist. The famous scriptures of Qumran, which are partly exhibited in Israel today had not yet been discovered, let alone translated. Today after the scholarly and esoteric discussion, publication and exhibition of the scriptures of Qumran the term „Essenes“ is mostly referring to the group living at Qumran. Therefore it would seem wise nowadays to avoid this term in books written by Edmond Bordeaux Székely. But how could this be done? Which alternative do we have?

The Greek θεραπευτής [therapeutes], meaning „Worshippers of God“ is probably the best choice. This term has been used by Philo of Alexandria in the first half of the first century in his script “De Vita contemplativa” („about the contemplative life“).

We do not know much about the whereabouts of the original texts the author claims to have translated. So we cannot use the originals as reference to check the meaning in cases of uncertainty. We rely entirely on Székely's work. In his interpretation and description of Essene life, no references to original texts are quoted, so we cannot always be sure what is interpretation, or the author's imagination in relation to the text, or what are historical facts. Other sources are not of much use, because most authors on the Essenes write about different communities and different text sources. The typically quoted Qumran scriptures consist more of gaps than of legible text units.

Does it matter whether we can trace the origins of Székely's transcripts or not? Perhaps for historians these kinds of facts are important and the absence of explicit details about the original scriptures are a meaningful ambiguity to them. To us, who see the spiritual beauty and meaningfulness in Székely's work, such criticism is insignificant, even more so when regarding his life's work and conduct. These scriptures and books can be more than an enrichment to our life, they can be a revelation. They can re-connect us to what we really are. They can fill the gaps of common book-religions, especially in regard to mysticism and affinity with nature.

The most significant differences between the biblical gospels and Székely's Gospel of Peace are the mysticism and the divine dualism. As we know, the New Testament is a very patriarchal composition and the rest of the bible even more so. This reflects the cultural environment in which these texts were written and edited.

We have to read a bit between the lines to see that Jesus obviously did not share the gender separation and degradation of women that was common at that time and place.

In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of God as his “father” or “father in heaven”. It seems that to a...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.9.2016
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Gebete / Lieder / Meditationen
• Schlagworte: Essener • Essenes • Friedensevangelium • Gospel • Qumran
• ISBN-10: 3-7412-7881-5 / 3741278815
• ISBN-13: 978-3-7412-7881-5 / 9783741278815