By Douglas Anele

Chapter 8 reflects the author’s attempt to answer the question, “How did the belief arise that Jesus had died on the cross and had ascended into Heaven?” He declares that Paul (formerly known as Saul), gave a new direction to Christianity by introducing new elements that were not part of what Jesus himself taught his disciples.

For example, Jesus specifically forbade his disciples from preaching to non-Jews, an instruction which Paul flouted with impunity (p. 53). On account of a vision he had on his way to Damascus, Paul laid claim to apostleship, and declared that the Mosaic Law had been abolished by the crucifixion of Jesus. Paul’s approach to the fledgling religion, including his determination to preach to the Gentiles, contrary to the injunction of Jesus, at first aroused opposition from the apostles who resisted the new Pauline theology.

But because St. Paul was successful in preaching his modified version of the teachings of Jesus to non-Israelites, Peter and other disciples eventually acquiesced. Thus, the new faith, now called Christianity, which is a composite of Paul’s active imagination, Roman thought, Greek Philosophy and, of course, Judaism, steadily supplanted the original teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. In Chapter 9, the author identifies “pagan” beliefs which influenced the ideas of St. Paul. It is entitled “Paganism and Paul.”

The fundamental point made in the chapter by the author is that certain core beliefs in Pauline Christianity were adapted from non-Christian religions of the communities where the new faith was preached at the beginning (pp. 60-65).

These include the idea of a god hanged on a tree (for instance Attis, son of Cybele); belief in the death and resurrection of a deity (Tammuz of Antioch); the concept of god who ascends into heaven (Hyacinth, god of Sparta); belief in a god born of a virgin (Attis, the Good Shepherd, conceived by Virgin Nana); the notion that a deity sacrifices himself or herself for the sins of humankind (Adonis, Mithra, Artemis).

The author argued that belief in deities sacrificing themselves (sometimes by committing suicide) to atone for sins committed by humankind was rampant in Mediterranean communities, which implies that its absorption by the version of Christianity preached by Paul whose primary aim was to convert non-Jews into the new faith should not surprising.

To achieve his goal, Paul had to present the concept of a crucified Jesus that was very similar to the religious beliefs the Gentiles had originally. Shams gave a plausible interpretation of the alleged prediction of his own death and resurrection by Jesus himself.

He says that no one can be certain that the prophesy attributed to Jesus and recounted in the Gospels was his actual words. Moreover, contradictions in reports of the prophesy coupled with plausible symbolic interpretation of the swoon Jesus experienced on the cross which made it appear as if he was dead, cast serious doubts on the presumption that Jesus predicted his death and resurrection.

In “Redemption or Atonement”, the title of Chapter 9, Shams tried to differentiate redemption from atonement. He questioned the Christian belief that Jesus offered to die for the remission of sins. The author gives good reasons for rejecting the idea of original sin which Christians routinely invoke for justifying belief in the redemptive character of Jesus’ alleged death on the cross (pp. 68-75).

He then laid down what Islam considers to be true atonement: “when a sinner falls down and puts his forehead on the threshold of the most compassionate god and repents and prays with broken heart and streaming eyes, with determination that he will never commit sin again, then god, who is more compassionate than either mother or father, moved with compassion, comes to his rescue and forgives his sins” (p. 76). A very interesting part of Where Did Jesus Die? is Chapter 11 entitled “Jesus Goes to India”.

The author likened the legends that emerged after Jesus had bid his followers a final goodbye to those that reared up after Moses had died. Having identified the lost tribes of the house of Israel as living in the North, North West, South and South West of India, Shams stated categorically that Jesus went in search of these people (pp. 90-91). He cited sources, both biblical and non-biblical (but mostly the latter), which indicated that Jesus escaped from Palestine and wandered from country to country and, at last, reached India. According to Muslin tradition, Jesus was named “The Chief of the Travellers” or Masih, because he wandered about and did not stay in one place (p. 97).

“The Unknown Life of Jesus”, Chapter 11, consolidates the central theme of the book under review, which is that Jesus did not die on the cross. The chapter explains that resemblances in Buddhism between the life and teachings of Buddha and the life and teachings of Jesus was due to the visit of Jesus to India where Buddhism had already been in existence for centuries before the emergence of Christianity.

Shams quotes the words of the alleged promised messiah, mahdi and founder of Ahmadiyya movement in Islam, Ghulam Ahmad: “let it be considered that these moral teachings and this mode of preaching i.e. speaking in parables (which was the method of Jesus), combined with other circumstances at once suggests that this was imitation of the teaching of Jesus.

When Jesus was in India and preached here and there, then the followers of Buddhism met him, and finding him a holy person and man of blessings, recorded these events in their books – Nay, they declared him to be the Buddha, for it is human nature to try and hold a good thing wherever found; so much so that people try to note and remember any clever remark made by any person before them” (p. 107).
TO BE CONCLUDED.