At a time when so many insist on countering violence with violence, this exploration of the life of Jesus and the (often misunderstood) teachings of Gandhi puts nonviolent action at the very heart of Christian salvation.

Gandhi is widely revered as one of the great moral prophets of the twentieth century. This book focuses on a less well-known area of his interest: his engagement with Jesus and Christianity. As a faithful Hindu, he was unwilling to accept Christian dogma, but in Jesus he recognized and revered one of history's great prophets of nonviolence.

It was more than I could believe that Jesus was the only incarnate son of God, and that only he who believed in Him would have everlasting life. If God could have sons, all of us were His sons. If Jesus was like God, or God Himself, then all men were like God and could be God Himself. My reason was not ready to believe literally that Jesus by his death and by his blood redeemed the sins of the world.

Gandhi is widely revered as one of the great moral prophets of the twentieth century. This book focuses on a less well-known area of his interest: his engagement with Jesus and Christianity. As a faithful Hindu, he was unwilling to accept Christian dogma, but in Jesus he recognized and revered one of history's great prophets of nonviolence.

Jones recounts his experiences in India, where he arrived as a young and presumptuous missionary who later matured into a veteran who attempted to contextualize Jesus Christ within the Indian culture. He names the mistake many Christians make in trying to impose their culture on the existing culture where they are bringing Christ. Instead he makes the case that Christians learn from other cultures, respect the truth that can be found there, and let Christ and the existing culture do the rest.

Our book will introduce you to a troubled man who came to Jesus by night. His name: Nicodemus. After years of trying, it became evident that he could not render perfect obedience. It was as if he reached out to Jesus saying, “I'm stuck in my ways and traditions. I still harbor sin in my heart. It would be easier for me to re-enter my mother's womb a second time than for me to genuinely change.” The world shares this reality and tries to salve its wounds, too often, in very destructive ways. The Rolling Stones recorded (1997) a song entitled Saint of Me. The heartache in it is palpable. Saint Paul the persecutor Was a cruel and sinful man Jesus hit him with a blinding light Then his life began * * * And could you stand the torture And could you stand the pain Could you put your faith in Jesus When you're burning in the flames And I do believe in miracles And I want to save my soul And I know that I'm a sinner I'm gonna die here in the cold I said yes, I said yeah I said yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah; You'll never make a saint of me. Where does the power to change come from? This question — made plain by Nicodemus and lamented by the Stones — has but one answer and this book provides it. We believe that God will one day abolish the hopelessness and despair these words portray. After accomplishing this, God will prove that He is more than fair to every person. The Gospel, with its message of grace and peace, will finally be seen for what it is: God's ultimate right to restore all mankind. We give you, the reader, solid reasons for believing all of these assertions.

We live in that final time which offers humans the clearest choice in history: the kingdom or the holocaust, Jim Douglass writes. Either end is a lightning east to west: the nuclear holocaust a lightning fire, the kingdom of Reality a lightning spirit. We will choose lightning east to west today as either nuclear fire or the kingdom of God, as either despair and annihilation or transformation through nonviolence. If we look to Jesus and Gandhi, and what they point to, we can hope to choose the lightning fire of nonviolence.

This wide-ranging volume looks at the reception history of the Bible's many texts; Part I surveys the outline, form, and content of twelve key biblical books that have been influential in the history of interpretation. Part II offers a series of in-depth case studies of the interpretation of particular biblical passages or books.

"An anthology of Gandhi's writings that focus on his engagement with Christianity and Jesus, enhanced by thoughtful responses from Christian scholars and students of his teachings, highlighting his contributions to interreligious dialogue"--