A fascinating analysis that blends world history, Western religion, and Eastern mysticism, Quest for the Kingdom by Dr. John M. Newman examines the "kingdom of God" as the historical Jesus describes it. The book's premise holds that Jesus' teachings include specific instructions for the quest to find and live in God's kingdom before death. This powerful work favors fact, and readers can revel in Jesus' authentic teachings that describe the quest both as internal spiritual cultivation and the way to live in the world. It is rare for a book on Christian theology to break new ground, but Newman does this on two fronts: the striking parallel of Jesus' teachings with the ancient mysticism of yoga and the equally fascinating parallel between Jesus' healing techniques and the practices of modern psychotherapists like Freud. Newman is meticulous in drawing these original and unique parallels and they lift this work's premise to a non-generic level that speaks to several audiences, an accomplishment that sets the work apart from the pack. In twenty accessible and engaging chapters like "The Kingdom of God," "The War of the Houses," "The Kingdom Is Like a Woman," "Spiritual Cultivation," and "The Exorcisms and Healings of Jesus," the reader watches Jesus at work, healing and offering his parables at a communal meal. In addition to elucidating the path to the kingdom that Jesus shared with his followers, Newman explains and illustrates the voice print of Jesus-his sage rhetorical strategies and distinctive discourse. Newman brings Jesus' parables to life with a penetrating analysis that enables the reader to experience Jesus' mastery of metaphor and management of the unconscious trajectory of thought in the minds of his listeners. A commanding new breakthrough in the understanding of the teachings and works of Jesus, this book is a must-read for academics and laypersons alike.
About the Author: John Michael Newman, Jr., was born on December 20, 1950, in Dayton Ohio. He earned a BA in Chinese Studies (George Washington University, 1973), MA in East Asian Studies (George Washington University, 1976), and PhD in Modern Far Eastern History (George Washington University, 1992). He served in US Army Intelligence, 1974-1994, became the Assistant to the Director, National Security Agency (1988-1990), and was a US Army Attaché in China (1989-1991). He has been teaching for the University of Maryland Honors Program since 1992. Currently, he teaches courses on Counterterrorism, America in the 60s, and The Historical Jesus. He is the author of JFK and Vietnam (Warner 1992), and Oswald and the CIA (Carroll and Graff 1995, Skyhorse 2009). In his 21 years of service for the US Army and the National Security Agency, John Newman worked principally as an intelligence analyst. He received many awards and commendations for solving difficult intelligence problems with only minimal evidence to work with. Today, he is known around the world for his expertise in textual records interpretation and in documents forensics. His skills have been widely sought by US and foreign media organizations, including PBS (WGBH Boston), the History Channel, CSPAN, NBC, and other news organizations. His expertise with documents and experience in intelligence analysis led to his testimony before the US House of Representatives, Government Operations Committee, on CIA compliance with documents release legislation, and to his presentation before the US House of Representatives, 911 Hearings, on the 911 Commission's final report. Dr. Newman's first book, JFK and Vietnam (Warner), was published in 1992, and reviewed favorably by Arthur Schlesinger for the New York Times Book Review. Newman gathered and analyzed thousands of declassified national security documents to develop the definitive work on Kennedy's Vietnam policy. For his current book, Dr. Newman turned his analytic skills towards much more ancient documents and traditions. Dr. Newman began practicing yoga in 2004, and became a teacher of yoga and student of ancient yogic texts soon thereafter. In 2006 he came to the conclusion that the teachings of the historical Jesus were strikingly similar to the spiritual path laid out in the Bhagavad Gita and Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras. He then began an extensive comparative analysis which led to the conclusions presented Quest for the Kingdom.