Contents
Foreword by Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Director of the Harvard Center for Study of World Religions
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Prologue: Four Fingers and a Thumb - Tao Te Ching, Analects, Dhammapada, Gita, and Avesta
Book One
From the Foundations of the Earth to Our Common Spiritual Ancestors
Introduction: East and West Meeting at the Altar of Religion by Cyril Glass
éExordium: What We Once Knew, by Karl Friedrich Geldner
Preface: Why the Z Factor Matters
- Through the Mists of Time: Vedic and Semitic Prehistories Connecting East and West
- A Priest Becomes a Prophet: Commissioned at the River
- A Chance Meeting at the Crossroads of History: A Prelude to the Babylonian Interface between Proto Vedic and Proto Semitic Religions
- The Silk Route: The Axis of the Axial Age
- The Extant Avesta: A Few Pieces of the Jigsaw Puzzle
- The Fraternal Twins of World Religion: Monism for Monotheists
Book Two
The Taoist Testament
Introduction: Magi in China and Intellectual Ferment in Eurasia at the Middle of the First MillenniumBCE by Professor Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese, Philadelphia University
Preface: Magic and iMagination
- Tao Te Ching: translated by Victor H. Mair
Book Three
The Confucian Testament
Introduction: Innovation vs.Tradition by Jacqueline Mates-Muchin, Senior Rabbi, Temple Sinai, Oakland
Preface: Fireworks East and West
- The Analects: translated by James Legge
Book Four
The Buddhist Testament
Introduction: The Indian Origins of Buddhism by Professor Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Oxford
Preface: King Akbar’s Perfect Religion
- Dhammapada: translated by S. Radhakrishnan
Book Five
The Hindu Testament
Introduction: Reciprocal Illumination by Professor Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor in Comparative Religion, McGill University
Preface: With Notes from Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi
- Bhagavad Gita: translated by Gandhi
Book Six
The Z Factor
Introduction: Eastern Influence in Western Texts by Dr. David Bruce
Preface: New Frontiers in Scriptural Studies
- Israel in Exile: God as Israel’s Only Redeemer
- Up from the River Again, With a Promise of Paradise: Jesus as a Zoroastrian Saoshyant, the Redeemer of the World
- Chinvat Bridge – The Final Judgement: Zoroastrian Scriptures and “Previous Revelations” Corrected in the Quran
Book Seven
The Dead Zee Scrolls
Introduction: Digging Through Time by Professor Richard Freund
Preface: A Model for the Twenty First Century
- Among the Ruins: Tablets and Cylinders
- From Aurel Stein to Mary Boyce and Beyond: Controversies in the Twentieth Century
Epilogue: The Resurrection of Zoroaster: A Prophet for the Twenty First Century
Dancing on the Edge of Tombs: More Treasure Than Anyone Imagined
Appendix: Images of the Original Eastern Testaments
Preface to Images: The Edict of Cyrus and the Chinese Cuneiform Bones by E. K. Eduljee
Bibliography
Index
About the Editor
About the Contributors
