"Jesus Sutras"

• GENERAL:
  • P. Yoshiro Saeki: The Nestorian Relics and Documents in China, (1937). Tokyo: Maruzen, 1951. Includes full Chinese texts of all the "Jesus Sutras" and related documents, as well as a translation into (unfortunately rather poor) English and an extensive scholarly commentary. Out of print and hard to find even in libraries -- especially the second (1951) edition, which includes additional material discovered during the Japanese occupation of China in World War II.
  • Martin Palmer: The Jesus Sutras -- Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity, (2001). New York: Ballantine, 2001. Aimed at a popular mass audience, and in particular at the "New Age" market, this book did not strike me (NHR) altogether positively. It does, however, include new and much more readable (if perhaps at times theologically slanted) English translations by Eva Wong, Zhao Xiao Min, and Palmer himself.
  • Ian Gillman and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit: The Chinese Nestorian Texts of the T'ang Period, (1999). From their Christians in Asia before 1500 (University of Michigan, 1999): 275. Short summary and discussion of the major Jesus Sutras; almost entirely dependent on Saeki.

• SPECIFIC TEXTS: References are to the English translations; Chinese in Saeki only.
  • Sutras attributed by Saeki to Alopen: The attribution is very doubtful.
    • Jesus Messiah Sutra: Saeki 125; Palmer 159. Purchased from a Chinese merchant in 1922 by Dr. J. Takakusu. Uses the word "Buddha" for God, but also the word "Yahweh". An opening section seemingly aimed at Buddhist readers includes a rather extreme defence of the divine right of emperors, and seems to imply that emperors are "incarnate gods" whose "opulence and happiness all have been assigned by the Lord of Heaven" [because of their] "previous state of existence"! This apparently syncretistic beginning is followed by more conventional Christian material: the Ten Commandments (as the "Ten Vows") and a synopsis of the Gospels. Saeki points out that portions of the text closely parallel the Didache; Eva Wong sees Tibetan influences.
    • The Treatises on Monotheism. Three documents obtained in 1916 by a Mr. Tameoka, presumably from Beijing antique dealers after the flurry of illegal excavations in Central Asia early in the XX Century. Prof. Haneda of the Kyoto Institute of Oriental Culture published a collotype edition in 1931.
      • All Things Manifest the One God: Saeki 161; Palmer 147. Straightforward apologetic tract, using some Taoist terminology in places. Saeki translates the opening sentences pantheistically, but I suspect this is an error, as Palmer's translation (which might be expected to favour such a reading) does not, and the rest of the text seems orthodox enough.
      • Shastras on the One Deva: Saeki 174; Palmer 139. Philosophical tract on the nature of the soul, the problem of faith and works, and the origin of evil. It takes many ideas from both Buddhist and Taoist philosophy and attempts to reinterpret them in a Christian way; unfortunately, not reading Chinese, I cannot tell from the English version with how much success. Saeki notes a Platonising emphasis on the separateness of soul and matter, and suggests that this is perhaps among the more theologically Nestorian of the "Nestorian" documents in China.
      • The Discourse of the Lord of the Universe on Almsgiving: Saeki 206; Palmer 60. Dated "641 years after the manifestation of the Messiah". Begins with the Sermon on the Mount and continues with a retelling of the Gospel emphasising the Passion and Resurrection. Unfortunately, the theology (which is not at all syncretistic) seems to be essentially Arian. Certainly the following is a true Nestorian passage: "The Messiah therefore is not the Lord of the Universe Himself, but he made the Lord of the Universe known to all mankind ... What he did shows that he is not the seed of man. On the contrary, what he did shows that he is the seed of the Lord of the Universe." But how, then, to reconcile this with the discourse's title (which is found in the original manuscript)?
  • Sutras attributed to Jingjing: There seems no reason to doubt that Jingjing wrote the Xian Inscription, as the text itself asserts. The other documents, all anonymous, were discovered at Dunhuang in 1908 or 1909 and are either in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris) or in a private Japanese collection established by Yashushi Kojima, who purchased several of them from the collector Li Shengduo soon after their discovery. They are attributed to Jingjing on the basis of date and style.
    • The "Nestorian Inscription" at Xian:
    • "Mêngdo" in Praise of the Holy Trinity: Saeki 266; Palmer 202. Discovered at Dunhuang ca. 1908 and sold to Yashushi Kojima by the collector Li Shengduo. Saeki interprets mêngdo as a transliteration of Syriac motwa or kathisma. Does not seem to be particularly "Nestorian" in content.
    • Honour Sutra in Praise of the Dharma Kings: Saeki 273; Palmer 183. Discovered at Dunhuang by Paul Pelliot in 1908; now in the Bibliothèque Nationale. As the title suggest, Christian terms have been rendered with Buddhist equivalents, but the text is quite conventional. It begins with a seemingly Orthodox invocation of the Trinity (although both of the translations are also amenable to heretical readings, they differ so much that no conclusion can be drawn about the original.) This is followed by a longish list of saints ("Dharma-King Matthew, Dharma-King Mark, Dharma-King Luke..."), none uniquely Nestorian, although the scribe's closing note shows this was definitely a Church of the East liturgical document. Finally, there is a rather jumbled list of "Christian" books, including, with no obvious internal distinctions, books of the Bible, some seemingly patristic or hagiographic works, liturgical texts, various "sutras" including at least two of those now classed among the Jesus Sutras, and (to the alarm of Saeki) some Manichee writings.
    • Sutra of Mysterious Rest and Joy: Saeki 281; Palmer 189. Called "Sutra of Returning to Your Original Nature" by Palmer. Discovered at Dunhuang ca. 1908 and sold to Yashushi Kojima by the collector Li Shengduo. A discourse addressed by Jesus to Simon Peter; it seems to me reminiscent of both the Apocryphal Gospels and the Tao Te Ching. I do not trust the translations enough to make any theological comments; there do seem to be some fine poetic images and parables.
    • Da Qin Sutra on the Origin of Origins: The irritatingly inadequate textual apparatus of both Saeki and Palmer make it difficult to discuss this sutra; there are perhaps three with the same title. One (Saeki 310) is an introductory fragment, seemingly modeled on the genre of Buddhist texts in which Shakyamuni or a bodhisattva gives a discourse surrounded by a multitude of beings; in this case, the setting is "Nazareth in the country of Da Qin" and the speaker is identified as "Dharma-King Qingtung". The language is Buddhistic; the text breaks off before much has been said. A second text with the same title (Saeki 313) is dated 717 October 2 and signed by a scribe named Zhang Gu; it is the end of a sutra, apparently an ascetical or moral work of some kind. The original is in Kojima's collection. A third (Palmer 137) is described as being in a "private collection in Japan", having been found in an antique shop in China in the 1920s. Although the language sounds Taoist in Palmer, the use of "Bethlehem" and "Persia" as routine geographical references in a philosophical passage (the Holy Spirit is everywhere, here, in Persia, in Bethlehem, and everywhere in between) suggests to me a translation from Syriac or Greek rather than an original Chinese work.
  • Other Jesus Sutras:
    • Da Qin Sutra of Taking Refuge in the Holy Trinity: Saeki 313; Palmer 180. A liturgical fragment; Saeki connects it with the feast of the Transfiguration. Dated 720 May 2 and signed by a "monk of the Da Qin monastery at Shachou". From Dunhuang.