Hey I wanted to get your guys' thoughts on the following book: Jesus Lived in India: His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion by Holger Kersten This book came up in conversation with a friend. In short, it makes the case that Jesus went to India (and studied Buddhism) as a child and then returned to India after his purported death. I'm aware of some of the positive arguments for the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ such as the minimal facts approach, which I find to be compelling, and relies on the Death of Christ being a historical fact, or at least accepted by the majority of historians (or something along those lines, feel free to correct me if I'm off). A short google search led me to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_years_of_Jesus where it essentially says that mainstream scholarship does not accept many of the theories expressed in this book or books like it. For full transparency, I haven't read the book, only exposed to some of the ideas from talking to my friend. My questions are what, if anything, might you know about these theories, or this book in particular? How would you recommend navigating a future discussion about these theories?

  1. I haven't really studied these theories much, but I have a few thoughts on the front end. First, because the Bible is basically silent about the years between his childhood and the start of his ministry, it creates a blank canvas for anyone to offer any theory. And it's no surprise that there are theories of him showing up in just about every corner of the known world at the time, from England to India to Japan. That seems not unlike myths that emerged about certain relics, like one town having a piece of wood from the cross. These stories seem unlikely to me, although they would be nearly impossible to disprove. As for the stories of him surviving the crucifixion and traveling, I would reject those altogether. I'd love to hear what you discover if you press further though.

  2. I have only minimally looked into these theories. I became a bit frustrated by them hoping for good scholarship only to find speculation and anecdotal evidence at best. That's not to say there is not anything more scholarly out there now, but when I was looking about 15 years ago I struggled to find anything substantive. I have read some works on Jesus' early years that I have enjoyed but they are still mostly piecing together assumptions based on what we can in fact historically account for. Like Sean, I would reject anything denying the crucifixion and death of Jesus without serious evidence that has undergone the many rigorous academic processes (e.g., historical, theological, peer review, etc.). Obviously, this would do great violence to the Christian faith and the gospel we know. Therefore, while I am always open to learn something I do not know, I would come at this with great scrutiny. Please do share if you come across anything worth noting!

  3. Tha is for the responses Sean and Mike! I will certainly let you know if I find out more. I'm in a bit of the same boat as you both that I almost don't even want to read the book because I would reject it and it's pretty much wholesale rejected by scholars.