The first English translation of a 1,700-year-old text ~ Revelation of the Magi ~ contends that Jesus told the Magi he has come to earth many times.
"Christ tells them, 'This is one of many occasions on which I have appeared to the peoples of the world,'" Brent Landau, teacher of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told ABC News. "So this text may even be saying that there are no non-Christian religions because Christ is the revelation behind everything."
Landau ~ author of The Revelations of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men's Journey to Bethlehem ~ hypothesizes that the text is a sort of lost message about them from an early Christian community. "I think the thing that stunned me the most was what it seemed to be suggesting about the scope of Christ's revelation, if you will," he said.
The original text tells of the Magi’s trip to Bethlehem, probably along the Spice Road from China, and finding the infant in a cave. "The cave is filled with light," Landau said, describing the transcribed text. "They're kind of hesitant about this, but eventually the star...its light concentrates and reveals the small luminous human being, a star child, if you will ~ it's Christ."
The original text tells of the Magi’s trip to Bethlehem, probably along the Spice Road from China, and finding the infant in a cave. "The cave is filled with light," Landau said, describing the transcribed text. "They're kind of hesitant about this, but eventually the star...its light concentrates and reveals the small luminous human being, a star child, if you will ~ it's Christ."
Click here for the article that elaborates on the video above.
The discovery is interesting and important but the multiple revelations aspect doesn't seem surprising - it echoes similar sentiments that you can find in Manichaeism (especially with the light emphasis). I'm not saying that this is Manichaeian text, but it comes from the era where those ideas were circulating in the intellectual culture.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite astute, Rand. The timing of this Magi text and Manichaeism's Gnostic influence on Christianity line up pretty well, from my limited knowledge of the former. I wonder if the author of the book discussed here explored the idea you presented.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting, Rand, and sharing your insight!