This book argues that a new religion like Christianity did not come from nowhere but has its origins in older religions which preceded it. Those older religions include not only the Judaism found in the Old Testament but also the religions of the Greeks and Romans. Questions are also asked about the possibility that Christianity was influenced by Zoroastrianism and Buddhism and what chances existed for contact with practitioners of those faiths. References are made throughout the book to ancient Chinese history and Chinese legends which relate to the Christian story, especially the birth of Jiang Yuan's son Hou Ji who was fathered by the Heavenly God. The lack of information on the actions and travels of Jesus after the age of twelve up to the beginning of his ministry at age 30 is brought into focus and possibilities are suggested. Jesus, Thomas, Mary and Joseph are shown to have some similarity to characters in Greco-Roman myths and legends. Even the Easter festival has a near equivalent in a Greek cult of Phrygian origin which claims that Attis died and was resurrected three days later. Sunday as a day of worship, as well as the Christmas festival, are largely of Roman origin. The relationship of Jesus with Mary Magdalene and his appearance in the canonical gospels as a celibate man is contrasted with his married status in the apocryphal gospels. The practice of human sacrifice in ancient China, Greece and Mexico and its eventual abandonment is compared to how Isaac escaped human sacrifice. Then the self-sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is examined. The sequence of events leading to the crucifixion and the possibility that Jesus survived are examined in some detail as is the role of Pontius Pilate the Roman governor. The ascension is also questioned and alternative explanations related to Greco-Roman myths and Chinese legends are presented. And the plausibility of Jesus travelling to India with Thomas and his mother Mary or wife Mary Magdalene after surviving the crucifixion is provided with supporting evidence. Aspects of Christianity, derived from both the New and Old Testaments, which support religious and secular warfare and the massacre of civilians are examined in detail. The killing of thousands of Chinese civilians in the Philippines by the Spanish colonial authorities is suggested as a likely consequence while the death of 20 million people in China's Tai Ping Rebellion has obvious Christian connections. The Rise of the Mauryan Empire and India's Relations with the Ancient Greek World. In India the Mauryan Emperor Asoka (304-232 BC) was very powerful and ruled a vast territory from southern India and Assam to Afghanistan and parts of Iran. He adopted and promoted Buddhism and to some extent influenced the ancient Greek world. Not only did he send Buddhist monks and teachers to Asian countries but also to cities in Egypt and the Greek World and there is the possibility that Christianity absorbed some Buddhist ideas. After fleeing to Egypt, the parents of Jesus may have encountered Buddhist teachings and Jesus himself at a later date may have incorporated some Buddhist ideas in the new religion which he founded. These are some of the reasons that make it important to understand how the Mauryan Empire came into being and how it interacted with Alexander of Macedon and his successors in the ancient Greek world. Was Noah a Woman? The Biblical story of Noah and the flood is compared to the Greek story of Deucalion and then the Babylonian, Indian and Chinese flood stories are analysed. Evidence and arguments are presented to show that these flood legends relate to the same cataclysmic event in antiquity. Humans migrating out of Africa are proposed as the transmitters of the legend to different cultures and language groups. Conflict and interbreeding with Neanderthals and evidence from the Black Sea also appear in this analysis. Then the possibility that Noah was a woman is deduced from an ancient Chinese legend.
About the Author: John Oxenham Goodman was born in Australia in 1941. He is of English, German and Welsh ancestry. As a young man he worked in clerical positions in government departments but found these jobs routine and unchallenging. He studied Spanish and German and then travelled extensively in Western Europe crossing into Soviet occupied Berlin and climbing a mountain in Norway to view the midnight sun. These and other travel experiences opened his eyes to the wider world and gave him a broader perspective than that available in the geographical remoteness of Australia. Like many other Australians who have traveled overseas, he no longer felt isolated from the culture of the Western world. On returning to Australia he found employment in the Australian National University Library where he came in contact with many Asian people who frequented the university's Oriental Library. He developed an interest in Asian civilizations and in 1969 enrolled in the Asian Studies Faculty hoping to learn Asian languages and teach them. He first studied Indonesian and Japanese, as Chinese was then rarely taught in Australian schools. Eventually, in early 1973 he undertook an intensive course in spoken Chinese at the University of Canberra and then studied Classical Chinese at the National University where he began to learn the Three Character Classic and read parts of the Analects of Confucius. He finished his Indonesian and Asian Studies majors and studied Javanese and Arabic while completing a reading course in Dutch. After being awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) he went on to complete graduate diplomas in Education and Librarianship and he then majored in Japanese language at the University of New South Wales. He travelled frequently in Asia visiting Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. He worked in the University of Sydney Library in the 1980s and later taught Japanese and Indonesian in Australian secondary schools. He studied the Teaching of English as a Second Language at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney and then taught English to migrants who came mainly from China. He attended art classes at TAFE (Technical and Further Education) College in Sydney thus enhancing his lifelong interest in art and photography. After retiring in 2010 he lived in China visiting museums and temples (Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian) all over the country and this gave him fresh understanding of China's 5000 year old civilization.