Books on metaphysical topics can be deadly dull, so I opened this volume with some trepidation. But Professor Needleman is a skillful author and by writing in the first person he quickly engages the reader in his search to find the “lost essence” of Christianity.
Seeking to rediscover something he feels is missing from the current practice and interpretation of Christ’s teaching, he travels the world interviewing leaders of different Christian denominations. You join him on his quest and his very personal writing style elevates it into an Indiana Jones adventure.
After years of study at Harvard, Yale and in Germany and teaching college courses in Christianity, Prof. Needleman knows the doctrine inside out. Yet, with the incursion of and growing interest in Eastern religions and practices, he senses that a key component of Christian dogma has been left behind over the ages. Why are so many churches, Judaism included, he asks, experimenting with meditation or some kind of “turning within,” as a way to connect with Christ, Spirit, or God?
Although at this point (the book was first published in 1980) Prof. Needleman had already edited a volume entitled The Sword of Gnosis, he doesn’t bring the tenets of Gnosticism into his dialogue. I find this odd as meditation and “secret knowledge” were fundamental to Gnosticism and the early Christian church prior to the Council of Nicea. It would seem that he should know the answers to his question lie in this area.
He is aware that the nexus of his inquiry lies at the intersection of Eastern and Western religion and he does include the writings of Buddhist masters in his research. Personally, I feel he would have been rewarded had he looked further into Hinduism and the point where it overlaps with early Christian teachings.
I can recommend Lost Christianity for the inherently exciting journey of inquiry on which Prof. Needleman invites us. Seekers who have the same questions -- What is missing from my practice of Christian faith? How can I personally commune with God?
-- will do well to also read Paramahansa Yogananda’s eye-opening final work, The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, published in 2004 by the Self-Realization Fellowship. They offer a boxed, two-volume set of 1642 pages and a 160-page paperback condensation, The Yoga of Jesus, which includes Christ’s “lost years” in India.
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