Author's Original Notes to the 1978 Edition

               
5th Gospel--Told by Jesus' Beloved Apostle

               
A Novel by Richard Jewell
                       

No author of an historical novel works in a vacuum. The sources for this book varied greatly. Besides the usual interesting books and reference guides available to student of the Bible, legends, scholarly materials, and histories also were used, from three years of graduate seminary education and many other sources, as well.

Beyond these, a few especially interesting sources appear. Among them are two books dealing with trance readings of America’s most acclaimed and accurate psychic in this century [the twentieth century], Edgar Cayce: Edgar Cayce’s Story of Jesus by Jeffrey Furst and Edgar Cayce on Jesus and His Church by Anne Read. Another book is The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi, a modern-day psychic account of Jesus’ life that accords in most ways with the Cayce material. A working knowledge of some Hindu, Kabbalistic, Magical, Zoroastrian, and Gnostic methods of practicing religion also helped.

There is always the Bible. It remains our single most accurate written history of Jesus’ life. Two special translations were particularly helpful. The Amplified Bible, published by Zondervan, was especially good for assisting in variant translations and meanings of Jesus’ original Aramaic words. A little-known version of the Gospel of John, called The Gospel of Peace and translated by Edmond Szekely and Purcell Weaver, offered special insights into Jesus’ views about the Mother God. I used these and other translations such as the New International Version, the New American Standard, and the Revised Standard Version for assistance in making my own translations [i.e., interpretations] of Old and New Testament words as necessary.

With or without these works, any good translation of the Bible can open us to Jesus’ heart. In fact, we don’t even have to use a Bible for that. The printed word can never beat the living word inside us right now.

Some special ideas worth noting are as follows.

The timetable of the events for the most part follows that given in The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, though some events are rearranged.

The flash of heat that Jesus experienced during the resurrection of his body is mentioned by scientists who have studied the Shroud of Turin. The Shroud, the burial cloth that apparently was used on Jesus and still exists today, has on it what some scientists say can only be scorch marks. Several books on this subject are available.

The word disciple, in its original tongue, also meant “messenger” or “envoy.”

The most accurate translation of “Our Father” as Jesus used it is “Our Dad” or “Our Poppa.”

The idea of a Mother God is ancient and universal. One of its most eloquent uses appears in the name of God, Elohim, in the Old Testament. It is Elohim who creates the world in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Elohim means, more accurately, “the He-She gods.”

Calling God the I-AM is already part of some popular translations of the Bible such as the Amplified and the New International Version.

Kalinga, the nation of India to which Jesus traveled, was a very powerful kingdom in ancient times. The teachings of Buddha as presented are quite accurate, including his words. The art of meditation, or yoga, which Jesus learned was well-known in India hundreds and even thousands of years before his time. It is even more popular today. Yoga means “union with God”–and not as some of us are led to believe, mere postures and practices. The latter only celebrate the real union with God that already exists for the true yogi.

As for reincarnation–Cayce says the words “resurrection” and “reincarnation” meant the same thing to Jesus and his contemporaries. Hints abound in ancient documents that large numbers of early Christians believed in reincarnation until the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., when church leaders made a ruling that discouraged such belief.

Modern civilization is learning more every decade about Jesus’ times and beliefs. Studies of such material as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Shroud of Turin, improved translations of early manuscripts, and many other items are making us aware that Jesus’ world was much more vital and diversified than we have previously realized. As Dr. Michael E. Stone of Hebrew University in Jerusalem said in the January 1973 issue of Scientific American (“Judaism at the time of Christ”):

This Hellenistic age was one of unusual religious variety, of high theosophies and magic, of philosophies and mysteries.... Judaism showed a fecundity of expression typical of other Hellenistic religions.... As patterns of similarity and variation appear, our picture of Judaism in the Hellenistic and early Roman period must be modified.

Dr. Stone points out that, among other things, some of Israel’s most important Doctors of the Laws were practicing mysticism. We know that Jesus was, too, for we have the record of it in the Bible. Other records are beginning to show us much more. When the real Jesus is finally discovered, we may all be in for some surprises.

But maybe by then, we’ll all be using his methods anyway.

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Most recent revision of text: 1 Oct. 2020.