“Jesus’ message is more radical than we can imagine”
Review of The Third Jesus, Deepak Chopra,

by Kara Martin

I am so angry at this book, and it disturbs me. After all, there are so many books that reconstruct Jesus, and any author is entitled to his views. Deepak Chopra has written a book that an amazing array of people have embraced and welcomed, from Bishop Shelby Spong, to a Harvard Professor of Divinity, to Dr Matthew Fox, to Sister Judian Breitenbach of the Catholic Order of the Poor Handmaidens.

He explains that the first Jesus was the Jesus of history, and the second Jesus was the Jesus constructed by the traditions of the church, and Deepak is able to reveal to us the third Jesus, who was not the son of God, who didn’t come from heaven, he was just here to point to how we can increase in God-consciousness.

The riddle that he is trying to resolve is how we can authentically apply the hard sayings of Jesus: love your enemy, build for yourself treasures in heaven not treasures on earth, do not worry about tomorrow, the Kingdom of Heaven is within you? He says the church has failed to apply these, that we do not follow the radical lifestyle of Jesus because it is impossible UNLESS we redefine his message in terms of the god within us all.

What he is really doing is applying the concepts of Buddhism and Hinduism to Jesus; yet Jesus came from a completely different religious tradition. So this is where I begin to understand why I am angry. Chopra is practising extremely poor methods of scholarship.

He makes sweeping statements like “we don’t know much about the Jesus of history”, yet there is an incredible amount of scholarship surrounding Jesus and his times. Ben Witherington and NT Wright are two evangelical scholars who write well on this subject, but there are thousands of scholars who would disagree with Chopra.
He dismisses the Old Testament as being about a different God, a God who is angry and judgmental and the antithesis of Jesus. Yet an understanding of Jesus’ Jewishness, the tradition of the Messiah, the covenant tradition, the prophecies concerning Jesus, is fundamental to understanding what Jesus said.

He dismisses the Gospels as being incomplete biographies written by proselytisers. However there is much external evidence concerning the historical Jesus, and in terms of historical reliability FE Peters says: “On the basis of manuscript tradition alone, the works that make up the New Testament were the most frequently copied and widely circulated books of antiquity.” Even conservative estimates put Mark’s Gospel as written within 20 years of Jesus’ death, which gives great comfort in a culture of oral tradition that Jesus’ words were accurately recorded. Yes, the Gospels were written by people who were “biased” but they were also people prepared to die on the basis of the truth they wrote, at a time when there were enough eye-witnesses still alive to criticise their accounts.

Perhaps the most ironic element of Chopra’s book is that he dismisses the Gospels, and then goes on to do his teaching from them! Futher, he uses the NRSV version because it is easier to understand than the King James Version (what about the Greek as a source?!), but then explains that he has personally changed certain words to make their meaning clearer. What is more, part of his 15-point application of Jesus’ words includes “Be Still and Know I am God”, from Psalm 46.

Where Chopra has some valid points to make is in his criticism of some of the hypocrisy of the church. It is good to be confronted by the radical message of Jesus on love and peace when there is a fundamentalist form of Christianity that is keen to declare war on others and blow up abortion clinics.

Once again it is wise for all of us to go back to the source, Jesus’ words in the Gospel. There we will confront the Jesus who, as CS Lewis said is “Lord, Liar or Lunatic”, and respond to him accordingly. However if he is Lord, then Jesus’ message is an astounding offer of reconciliation with God that is free, we just have to receive it. The exercises required by Chopra to improve our God-consciousness are another example of us feeling like we have to earn our way to God. Jesus’ message is more radical than even Chopra can imagine!

Open House reviewer KARA MARTIN is a lecturer with Macquarie Christian Studies Institute (www.mcsi.edu.au), and an avid reader and book group attendee.