JESUS: His School Years
by Walter Parks
For millions of Christians, Jesus Christ is the Savior. For millions of non-Christians, Jesus is regarded as a prophet and someone to respect. And yet the bible records his birth and early years---and then jumps in time to when Jesus was about thirty. For those of you who wonder about his life between twelve and thirty, Jesus: His School Years is a must-read.
Scholar and author Walter Parks has searched beyond the bible to learn where Jesus was and what He was doing during this time. Using the scattered, non-biblical facts available, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and texts from ancient writers, Mr. Parks weaves a story of supposition that fills in the blanks and offers the reader an intriguing and emotional understanding of the human we know as Jesus.
We know the Essenes at Qumran accepted boys at age twelve and older into the Essene School at the Qumran Monastery. We also know that Nazareth was a large Essene community. Knowing that, it is logical to assume Jesus was accepted into the school.
We know, from the Dead Sea Scrolls, that Essene education included the teachings of Zoroaster, Brahminism, the Vedas, the Upanishads, Yoga, Buddha and Confucius. Further, the Qumran Monastery was a place of secrecy and seclusion---what better place for Jesus, remembering that Herod tried to find and kill Jesus as a baby.
Jesus: His School Years furnishes an in-depth look at life in the monastery; what they studied, what they discussed, what work they did---but most importantly, how their beliefs developed. Mr. Parks writes, “We learned that the Essenes had collected all of God’s teachings from almost all the great religions of the past and had taken the best of the compilations for their own. In a very similar manner, Jesus then took these great Essene lessons, made His very important changes, and created His eternal teachings.”
Walter Parks has given us a fascinating look at what might have been. Jesus: His School Years, in this reviewer’s opinion, is a revealing, easy-to-read look at the transition of a twelve year old boy to the Messiah!
Senior Editor
Pertinent Info:
304 PP, 6 x 9, Issue Date:August 2004 ISBN 0-9745393-1-7. Cos: $24.95
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