Jose T Thomas’s new book is a critique of Christianity from an Indic point of view

This book, a futuristic re-visit of human cultural evolution, tries to explore how Jesus turned as the Jewish mythical ‘Christ’. It is a critical approach towards the contemporary universal Christian Church history, very particularly of Kerala. The author being a statistician-cum-journalist used his epistemological as well as empirical knowhow systematically throughout the textual framework. The precision of mathematics and mathematical rationality is well reflected from the first to the last page. Above all, a journalistic spirit of enquiry can be seen in every line of this book.

The core of the text is concluded in three chapters. The rest constitutes valuable appendices which will be a helping hand to those who approach the Bible with a critical approach. The enquiry of the book goes to find a true Jesus who differed from the Christ or the Jewish hope of a messiah with temporal and spiritual faculty. The author substantiate that Judaism is still patiently waiting for a political Christ alias Messiah. But the contemporary Churchyanity missed its Jesus; synonym to love, universal brotherhood and compassion. According to the author, it is a serious lapse by which the contemporary Church lost its human face.

Kurishum Yudhavum Samadhanavum
By Jose T Thomas
Muziris Times
Rs 480

The book is in search of a Jesus who is not Christ, a sign of Judaic political ambition of power. In his search the author was able to find that the present day practicing Christianity or the Churchyanity is the byproduct of political designs. It is the admixture of temporal power and authority masqueraded in the love which reflected on the cross during crucifixion (“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”: Luke 23:34). The present day practicing Churchyanity is the sum total or admixture of economic cum political interests of the Churches (p 38 ff) beginning from the days of the formation of real Papacy. The author traces the Roman and Persian political designs behind the contemporary Churchyanity. It is a historical fact that even in the codification of the New Testament in the fourth century C. E., the Roman political designs were reflected very predominantly. That the selection of gospels and other New Testament texts were in accordance with the interests of the Roman Empire is a well attested fact.

The book questions the rationality of Christian didactics of sin in relation to crucifixion of Jesus. The ecclesiastical ambiguity over the question of persisting evils in humanity even after the crucifixion of Jesus is brought to daylight. The author substantiate that the allegory of Paul based on Roman slave relations is still haunting the practicing Christianity (pp 42 ff). The very foundation of the Churches is to terrorize its laity through the Pauline metaphor. The author very rationally questions the logic of the said metaphor.

This critique of Christianity from an Indic point of view shows that the hardhearted Christian hierarchy is pivoting over the teachings of Eastern Wiseman Jesus by incorporating Judaic ritualism along with ancient Greek philosophy in conjunction with the Egyptian worldview and lavishly using the jargons such as salvation, expiation, redemption, justification, reconciliation and so on without any rational base (pp 50 ff).  However the core of the book is focusing on Jesus, not the Christ.

This is a historical investigation in search of a true, unadorned man with flesh and blood: Jesus. And his true message which is non-dualistic. So, the theme of the book has a universal relevance. Unfortunately, it is written in a language which has only about 0.38 per cent of the space of the dialects of the human race that is Malayalam. It will be worthy enough to translate the book in to other national and international languages.

Prof. (Dr.) C. I. Issac is member, Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi

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