Four Testaments brings together four foundational texts from world religions—the Tao Te Ching, Dhammapada, Analects of Confucius, and Bhagavad Gita—inviting readers to experience them in full, to explore possible points of connection and divergence, and to better understand people who practice these traditions. Following Brian Arthur Brown’s award-winning Three Testaments: Torah, Gospel, Quran, this volume of Four Testaments features essays by esteemed scholars to introduce readers to each tradition and text, as well as commentary on unexpected ways the ancient Zoroastrian tradition might connect Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism, as well as the Abrahamic faiths. Four Testaments aims to foster deeper religious understanding in our interconnected and contentious world.

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword by Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Director of the Harvard Center for Study of World Religions Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue: Four Fingers and a Thumb - Tao Te Ching, Analects, Dhammapada, Gita, and Avesta Book One From the Foundations of the Earth to Our Common Spiritual Ancestors Introduction: East and West Meeting at the Altar of Religion by Cyril Glassé Exordium: What We Once Knew, by Karl Friedrich Geldner Preface: Why the Z Factor Matters Through the Mists of Time: Vedic and Semitic Prehistories Connecting East and WestA Priest Becomes a Prophet: Commissioned at the RiverA Chance Meeting at the Crossroads of History: A Prelude to the Babylonian Interface between Proto Vedic and Proto Semitic ReligionsThe Silk Route: The Axis of the Axial AgeThe Extant Avesta: A Few Pieces of the Jigsaw PuzzleThe Fraternal Twins of World Religion: Monism for MonotheistsBook Two The Taoist Testament Introduction: Magi in China and Intellectual Ferment in Eurasia at the Middle of the First MillenniumBCE by Professor Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese, Philadelphia University Preface: Magic and iMagination Tao Te Ching: translated by Victor H. MairBook Three The Confucian Testament Introduction: Innovation vs.Tradition by Jacqueline Mates-Muchin, Senior Rabbi, Temple Sinai, Oakland Preface: Fireworks East and West The Analects: translated by James LeggeBook Four The Buddhist Testament Introduction: The Indian Origins of Buddhism by Professor Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Oxford Preface: King Akbar’s Perfect Religion Dhammapada: translated by S. RadhakrishnanBook Five The Hindu Testament Introduction: Reciprocal Illumination by Professor Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor in Comparative Religion, McGill University Preface: With Notes from Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi Bhagavad Gita: translated by GandhiBook Six The Z Factor Introduction: Eastern Influence in Western Texts by Dr. David Bruce Preface: New Frontiers in Scriptural Studies Israel in Exile: God as Israel’s Only RedeemerUp from the River Again, With a Promise of Paradise: Jesus as a Zoroastrian Saoshyant, the Redeemer of the WorldChinvat Bridge – The Final Judgement: Zoroastrian Scriptures and “Previous Revelations” Corrected in the QuranBook Seven The Dead Zee Scrolls Introduction: Digging Through Time by Professor Richard Freund Preface: A Model for the Twenty First Century Among the Ruins: Tablets and Cylinders From Aurel Stein to Mary Boyce and Beyond: Controversies in the Twentieth CenturyEpilogue: The Resurrection of Zoroaster: A Prophet for the Twenty First Century Dancing on the Edge of Tombs: More Treasure Than Anyone Imagined Appendix: Images of the Original Eastern Testaments Preface to Images: The Edict of Cyrus and the Chinese Cuneiform Bones by E. K. Eduljee Bibliography Index About the Editor About the Contributors