A speculative novel of what might have happened with Jesus in the years before his ministry. Send Jesus to meet an unidentified mystic on a mountain somewhere, where he learns more about his Godliness. He tells of his life when he met Judas and Mary Magdalene and his first miracles. ( )

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Chopra-Jesus--Histoire-dune-illumination/1315287
> marie-jo (Amazon) : https://www.amazon.fr/gp/customer-reviews/R3MASNXDYL6VR3/

> JÉSUS, Histoire d'une illumination, de Deepak Chopra (Guy Trédaniel Editeur - 2008 - 2010 pour la traduction française 250 pages 19,90 €. — Né en octobre 1946 à New Delhi, Deepak Chopra est médecin, professeur de philosophie orientale, conférencier et auteur de nombreux ouvrages parmi lesquels « Bien dormir avec l'aryurveda » dont le compte rendu paraîtra prochainement dans Infos-Yoga.
Le présent livre diffère des précédents en cela qu'il s'agit d'un roman mettant en scène le jeune Jésus (Ancien Testament) progressant, les années passant, dans la conscience de son rôle infini de témoin dans un monde fini, celui de la forme.
Il s'agit donc d'un roman initiatique qui nous entraîne sur la voie d'une quête au cours de laquelle Jésus prend progressivement conscience de la réalité et de sa transcendance, accomplie dans le dépassement de la pensée duelle. Il découvre l'identité de nature existante entre Dieu et l'Homme, entre Dieu et les espèces vivantes. Son baptême dans le Jourdain est le symbole et le moment décisif de l'acceptation de sa destinée ; il est le Messie.
Conteur et spiritualiste, Deeprak Chopra nous conduit à travers le cheminement de Jésus, à comprendre nombre de notions partagées par la plupart des traditions spirituelles. Sans Judas point de christianisme, indique-t-il en épilogue, mettant l'accent sur une constante tout au long de l'histoire de Jésus ; la coexistence du bien et du mal et son dépassement.
Enfin, l'auteur nous invite à le suivre dans la réflexion qu'il ouvre à la suite de ce roman, interrogeant la voie que le Christ a ouverte au regard de la manière dont les catholiques l'ont appréhendée (voir le Nouveau Testament). Et de reprendre le sermon sur la montagne (voir l'Evangile de Mathieu) point par point, interrogeant le fait que (je cite) « l'on n'assiste pas à la transformation à grande échelle de la nature humaine des chrétiens ». Il conclut à une clé manquante : « Les enseignements [de Jésus] n'ont pas été compris à la lumière de la conscience supérieure », et de développer en cinq points la clé d'une intelligence correcte de la voie, à commencer par un changement radical de perception.
Deepak Chopra termine son livre en nous invitant à un retour aux sources qui permette, non de croire, mais de trouver Dieu dans la transcendance. (Gilbert GIESELER)
—Infos Yoga, (80), (Janv.-Févr. 2011), pp. 41-42

Didn't really like it because I couldn't imagine the part of Judas it just seemed to far fetched. ( )

Chopra takes his own non-historical sense of who Jesus was and places him in a geniusly re-created first century Palestine. It’s an odd experience to read historical fiction where so much time and care is taken to get the history right—setting detailed accurately, culture described vividly, and characters so believably first-century—yet the central character isn’t given the same attention. To care so deeply about historical sources, but to disregard the best historical sources in determining who the central character is a huge disconnect. The Jesus portrayed is a convincing character—especially in the world of first century Palestine read by 21st century Westerners—but he’s entirely fictional.

As I thought about other historical fiction, I found myself reflecting on Seth-Green’s ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.’ I think one learns more about the historical Abraham Lincoln by reading Seth-Green’s well-researched book than one can learn about Jesus from reading Chopra’s well-researched book. In Seth-Green’s work, the integrity of the central character is maintained—in fact, it’s amplified by the fictionalized vampire hunting. Chopra doesn’t make any gross paranormal additions to his Jesus, but by changing little things—e.g., making him feel guilty, refuse to speak with authority, or to lie—the character’s life pivots and becomes irreconcilable to the historical Jesus that has been sought after by the church for the past 2,000 years.

To be fair, the book is fiction. Had I not read Anne Rice’s ‘Road to Cana,’ I may not have even realized a more comprehensively faithful fictionalization was possible. But now that I have read that novelization of Jesus’ ministry I can see that either Chopra wasn’t trying to be historical or he tried and failed miserably. He seems too gifted of a writer for the second option to be viable.

This is a book with an agenda—every book about Jesus is. Chopra’s agenda isn’t to portray the real Jesus, a Jesus whose rooted in historical reality. Rather, Chopra’s taking his sense of who Jesus is and proving his feasibility by demonstrating to the reader that Chopra’s Jesus could convincingly live in Roman Palestine.

Thankfully, Chopra is more or less honest about this. He subtitled the book: A Story of Enlightenment, which should tip off Christian readers that this is not the same Jesus portrayed in the first century accounts of his life. One could characterize Jesus’ story as a story of a prophet, a story or a servant leader, or a story of a redeemer, but to call it a story of enlightenment is to move the focus of Jesus’ life from the people he served to Jesus’ own personal sojourn—it is to say that Jesus came first to serve his own spiritual needs and secondarily to serve others—a service that primarily helps Jesus get what he wants, i.e., enlightenment.

That is not to say the book is without merit. It’s refreshing to live in a Jerusalem described so well. To see the motives of the first century Jews as they struggle with Roman oppression and their own sense of distance from their God. Chopra nails these things. He has a knack for empathy, and this allows him to create viable characters who probably are much like the one who actually inhabited the hills of Galilee and the courtyards of the great temple.

The book, however, is still dangerous. Its portrayal is so compelling the reader can often forget that an experienced truth—even a most compelling one—when separated from historical reality is no truth at all. Faith doesn’t need to have all the facts, but it needs a footing in reality. Soaring and meaningful experiences without some footing a shared reality is simply madness.

The pantheism the book's Jesus endorses at the end is attractive because it breaks through our Western individualism, but it replaces individualism for a worldview where the individual is assimilated into a broad spirituality and anything that made that individual unique or special is lost.

The Jewish notion of a fallen world wanting to be redeemed is lost. The radical prophetic focus on the suffering poor is replaced with an escapist desired your soul. The hard work of redemption through forgiveness is supplanted with the ascetic ideal of piety. To have a conversation between Jesus and Eastern mystics is an admirable and fruitful dialog, but to collapse Jesus into a guru's disciple is silly--and offensive. Silly, because there's no reason to think there was any cultural interchange between Indian and Palestinian spiritualists. Offensive because the only reason people would need to propose such a thing is that they haven't taken the time to go deep enough into Judaism. For one who has taken the time to dive into Judaism's depth there is no need for a Jew in Jesus' position to get ideas from someone or something outside the Jewish tradition to become the person he became (or was).

Part of the reason I suspect is that Chopra equates Jesus' mercy and forgiveness for the Eastern idea of tolerance. In Chopra's world (as it's outlined in the novel), evil is not undone or a force to be pushed back against, but merely a way of approaching the world that should be fully embraced--exalted as though evil is merely an unpleasant lens through which we see the world. To Chopra's credit, Jesus would have to go outside Judaism to make that move--a move that would exchange the mission of social justice (i.e., undoing evil's power and replacing it with love) for social tolerance (i.e., an attempt to see acts of hate or indifference as no better or worse than acts of charity, courage, or wisdom).

The book is recommendable to some. It’s a great work for those who are trying to understand popular perceptions of Jesus or looking to gain a more vibrant sense of the world Jesus lived in. To seekers looking for fiction that helps search for Truth (with a capital T), I suggest trying Anne Rice's 'Road to Cana.' ( )

Says Chopra, “This book isn’t about the Jesus found in the New Testament, but the Jesus who was left out.” This is a novel, about Jesus’ own period of enlightenment before he began his ministry, and how he found God. Or, rather, how he found himself, the Son of God.

Jesus turns down the opportunity to join the Zealots, studies with the Essenes (whom he disappoints), and eventually begins a long and dangerous trek to find a mysterious guru, where he discovers his true soul. By the end of the book, Jesus is ready to take on the Devil, in that famed three-part temptation.

Chopra’s Eastern/Buddhist background shines where it shouldn’t. Interesting and well-written, but certainly not scriptural! And not really my thing. ( )