Dov Ivry

The New Testament Sliced and Diced Dov Ivry

Publisher Marketing: What follows is the introduction to the book. I have no problem with the Rig Veda, the Upanishads, the Anaclets, or the Pali Canon. These are ancient sacred texts in India and China, all done with original material, meant to enlighten and uplift. I do have a problem with the New Testament because it impinges on Israel. This is a book written in Greek. The chief protagonist has a Greek name Iesous. The story could be set anywhere since it is a myth but for reasons unexplained the writers set their fantasy in Israel. If it were relocated in a future version I would have problem with it either. As I say in another book, The Jesus Myth: A Quick Study, it looks like the yarn was spawned in Egypt with the main elements imported by Indians, followers of Buddha or Krishna. The character's name in Hindi is Yeshu, apparently a sobriquet of Krishna. That name was picked up by the Jews. The character is called Yeshu in India and Israel to this day. If there had been a real Jew born and raised in Israel he would have carried a Hebrew name which would have been known from his public appearances as it were among Hebrew speakers. He would never have been given a name in Hindi. He has no known Hebrew name. His book, written by Greeks for Greeks, arrived in Israel nearly a century after the alleged events. That's when we first heard his Greek name Iesous. Meir, the sage, thumbed through the book and gave it the title by which it is called to this day among the Jews, the Aven Gilyon. In English that comes out as Worthless Tripe. What I am going to do is slice and dice the New Testament and red pencil the extraneous parts. What is left I am sure would form the basis for a new version set somewhere else. Ireland would be a perfect setting. They seem so nostalgic about not having a foreigner ruling over them as absolute monarch. Every year at the winter solstice crowds gather everywhere to caterwaul about it. With a few tweaks they could set Iesous in their country instead of our republic, and resolve their neurosis. The same can be said for America. Think of the benefits to tourism by running the mythical events in a town in those countries instead of way out in the Middle East where no one gives a pinch of stercobilin about this myth. Contributor Bio:  Ivry, Dov I am from New Brunswick, Canada, now resident in Israel, a journalist by trade.