in 1907, in a remote region of China, explorers discovered a vast treasure trove of ancient scrolls. Dating from the 5th to 11th centuries AD they recounted a Taoist Christian interpretation of Jesus' life and teachings. In the Jesus Sutras, eminent theologian Martin Palmer provides the first popular history and translation of these extraordinary sacred texts. They offer a gentler, more Eastern, Spiritual Christianity, and provide an important message for us today

This is a good translation of the Dunhuang manuscripts. I think there are some earlier translations but this one is the best. It also gives a good general background of the circumstances under which they were discovered and a general account of the rise and decline of early Chinese Christianity.I don't think that the description of the scrolls as "Taoist" really carries any weight and I don't know where he is getting this. I'd say that the scrolls do not have any particular Chinese ideology, just Chinese terms. God is referred to as "the One Sacred Spirit" or the "World-Honored One," the Holy Spirit as "the pure Wind," Satan becomes the "Great Evil Ghost," angels become "flying immortals," and saints and prophets become "Buddhas." So I see terminology borrowed, but no ideology. If there is an ideological basis, it would be in Buddhism rather than Taoism, because of the strong aversion to killing. A strong case can be made for Ebionite beliefs being the basis of the Sutras. For example, John the Baptist as well as Jesus are vegetarian, corresponding to the view the Ebionites had of John and Jesus, and this would explain the precepts about not killing. ( )

It explores a Christianity that developed in China from the 7th century from missions of the Church of the East that rejected many of the Western doctrines including Augustan doctrine of original sin.

This non-Roman empire church contained many of the Christian voices suppressed in the west. Even in the Roman Empire the strong hold of Christianity was in modern turkey and the Middle East and so its spread eastwards was normal. This branch of the Christian church of which the western catholic and orthodox sections were but twigs declined from the 7th century on wards due in part to the rise of Islam and the destruction brought about by the Mongol hordes.

In reaching China it fused with Buddhist and Taoist doctrines and produced an hybrid Christianity that flourished for several centuries until its decline due to attacks on Buddhism by the Chinese authorities.
It puts the focus on the basic teachings of Jesus, and not the development of theology. For example.
"There are misers who do nothing but accumulate wealth. / They wear themselves out with no end of pain / And they can't take any of it with them. / They are like little clay bottles filled with sea water: / How can you hope to catch the vastness of the sea / In something so tiny?" ( )

This book shows how the first christian missionaries to China on the VI century managed to develop a language adapted to the Chinese Philosophy to spread Christianity. This is very similar to what happened on Western lands, where the Church Fathers used the language of Greek Philosophy and Roman Jurisprudence to better spread the Word of God to those that wouldn't understand it otherwise. Unfortunately the Church of the East was destroyed on the IX-X centuries, eliminating this line of philosophical development and making the Greek-based one the only currently known, but some texts survived, and these are well translated and exposed in this book. However, please note that Mr. Palmer hasn't the profound knowledge of Oriental religions as he believes he has, thus some of his personal interpretations are simply wrong. I suggest you to read religious scholars such as Rene Guenon and Ananda Coomaraswamy before reading this book, becoming thus able to grasp the actual meaning of the sutras, which are far deeper than what Mr. Palmer sees on them. ( )