Author | Levi H. Dowling |
---|---|
Language | English |
Published | 1 December 1908 |
The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ (full title: The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ: The Philosophic and Practical Basis of the Religion of the Aquarian Age of the World and of the Church Universal) is a book by Levi H. Dowling. It was first published on 1 December 1908. Dowling said he had transcribed the text of the book from the akashic records, a purported compendium of mystical knowledge supposedly encoded in a non-physical plane of existence. In the later 20th century, it was adopted by New Age spiritual groups.
The title is derived from the practice in astrology of naming time periods in terms of constellations and their dominant positions in the sky, according to the earth's axial precession. In that system, the Age of Aquarius is approaching. [1]
The Aquarian Gospel makes the following claims, among others:
This age will comprehend but little of the works of Purity and Love; but not a word is lost, for in the Book of God's Remembrance a registry is made of every thought and word and deed.
And When The world is ready to receive, lo, God will send a messenger to open up the book and copy from its sacred pages all the messages of Purity and Love.
— Aquarian Gospel 7:25–26
In his 1931 book Strange New Gospels, the biblical scholar Edgar J. Goodspeed noted:
"Augustus Caesar reigned and Herod Antipas was ruler in Jerusalem." This opening sentence of the new gospel does not encourage any very high hopes as to its historical value. It is generally accepted that Antipas never rules in Jerusalem but in Galilee. Of course Dowling means Herod the Great. [2]
Goodspeed also noted that Dowling borrowed a number of details from the apocryphal Gospel of James, a work that may not be older than the fifth century, such as details about the childhood of Mary and her marriage to Joseph, the birth of Jesus in a cave, and the account of the death of Zacharias which differs from the account given by Origen and other early Fathers. Goodspeed notes that the many ancient religions and philosophies taught, in many different countries, to young Jesus in the book seem "colored by Christian Science."
Eric Pement has pointed out difficulties in Dowling's text:
Supporters of Dowling argue that within theosophical thought, figures such as Meng-Tse, Matheno, Miriam, Moses, Elijah, and Vidyapati exist in an ascended state. As such, they communicated with Jesus after they had passed on from earthly existence. [4]
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The Aquarian Christine Church Universal, Inc. (ACCU) is a denomination based on the Aquarian Gospel. Members are commonly called Aquarians, but the proper term would be Aquarian Christines. The name Christine is used in the Aquarian Gospel instead of Christian, emphasizing that the church is the Bride of Christ. The church was incorporated in 2006, but had existed for numerous[ quantify ] years previous to incorporation. There are no paid professional clergy.
The teachings of the Aquarian Church are based primarily on the Aquarian Gospel, but also on other writings by Levi Dowling, and share many teachings with the I Am Activity (I Am Movement) and Ascended Master Teachings. Some of the teachings include a Triune God composed of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Mother Holy Spirit, release from the cycle of rebirth through the Ascension Process, the equality of the races and sexes and the transformation (transmuting) of the individual and the world through the study and practice of the teachings. [4] [ third-party source needed ]
The Moorish Science Temple of America, a religion predominantly adhered to by African-Americans, founded five years after the publication of the Aquarian Gospel, takes much of its "Holy Koran" from the Aquarian Gospel. [5]
The Standard Works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are the four books that currently constitute its open scriptural canon. The four books of the standard works are:
The Gospel of Luke tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts, accounting for 27.5% of the New Testament. The combined work divides the history of first-century Christianity into three stages, with the gospel making up the first two of these – the life of Jesus the Messiah from his birth to the beginning of his mission in the meeting with John the Baptist, followed by his ministry with events such as the Sermon on the Plain and its Beatitudes, and his Passion, death, and resurrection.
Irenaeus was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by combating heterodox or Gnostic interpretations of Scripture as heresy and defining proto-orthodoxy. Originating from Smyrna, he had seen and heard the preaching of Polycarp, who in turn was said to have heard John the Evangelist, and thus was the last-known living connection with the Apostles.
The Second Coming is the Christian belief that Jesus will return to Earth after his ascension to heaven. The idea is based on messianic prophecies and is part of most Christian eschatologies. Other faiths have various interpretations of it.
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings spoken by Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is the first of five discourses in the Gospel and has been one of the most widely quoted sections of the Gospels.
A Bible conspiracy theory is any conspiracy theory that posits that much of what is believed about the Bible is a deception created to suppress a secret or ancient truth. Some such theories claim that Jesus really had a wife and children, or that a group such as the Priory of Sion has secret information about the true descendants of Jesus; some claim that there was a secret movement to censor books that truly belonged in the Bible, etc.
In Christianity, Jesus is believed to be the Son of God as written in the Bible's New Testament, and in mainstream Christian denominations he is God the Son, part of the Trinity of God.
Ascended masters in the Ascended Master Teachings of a number of movements in the theosophical tradition are held to be spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans, but who have undergone a series of spiritual transformations originally called initiations.
Kerygma is a Greek word used in the New Testament for "proclamation". It is related to the Greek verb κηρύσσω (kērússō), literally meaning "to cry or proclaim as a herald" and being used in the sense of "to proclaim, announce, preach". Amongst biblical scholars, the term has come to mean the core of the early church's teaching about Jesus.
Henry Burton Sharman (1865–1953) was a Canadian Christian theologian.
Levi H. Dowling was an American preacher who authored The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ (1908).
The unknown years of Jesus generally refers to the period of Jesus's life between his childhood and the beginning of his ministry, a period not described in the New Testament.
This is a glossary of terms used in Christianity.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Christianity:
Jesuism or Jesusism is a belief system considering itself to be the true representation of the teachings of Jesus and contrasts itself from the teachings of mainstream Christianity. In particular, the term is often contrasted with Pauline Christianity and the mainstream church dogma of Nicene Christianity.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Wikipedia articles on the life and influence of Jesus.
"The Esoteric Character of the Gospels" is an article published in three parts: in November-December 1887, and in February 1888, in the theosophical magazine Lucifer; it was written by Helena Blavatsky. It was included in the 8th volume of the author's Collected Writings. In 1888, for this work, the author was awarded Subba Row medal.