This was my Epiphany reading. It is an unearthed, esoteric early Syrian text which retells the story of the Magi. Landau has done a great job at bringing an Ancient text to life.

But I give this a meh rating because I wasn't all that enamored with it. Landau's representation of this ancient story (beyond the historic interest) is to show a different view of Christ's relationship to world religions. In the story, the Magi are led by the 'baby in the star' to Bethlehem. We see Christ as the inspiration of the truths of all religions (and not just Christianity only with other religions being misguided or demonic). Honestly found the story more strange than compelling.

Still an interesting read, I guess. ( )

This is a translation and commentary on an obscure manuscript in the Vatican that tells the Epiphany story from the perspective of the wise men. Dating from perhaps the third century, the manuscript tells of the magi in the East who prayed in silence, and who saw the star, not as a new star in the heavens, but as a vision with the image of the Christ-child as the source of the light. This explains how the star could move about, and how it was evidently not seen by the Jewish astrologers in Herod's court. There are several shockers for me in the book. One was that Mary thoughts that the gifts of gold and perfume may have been a purchase price for Jesus, and that she thought the wise men would take him away. Another was that Christ was a shape changer, and that often he appeared to the wise man as an hideously ugly man, sharing the fate of the despised people in more ways than one. A third was the concept that the wise men changed their ways of faith and thinking, which was meant by the Biblical phrase "they went home by another way."
A good example of how a close examination of the scriptures, with another text, can change the meanings of text, or show another way of thinking about what the gospel writers truly meant. ( )

This definitely an apocryphal text, but interesting nonetheless. Supposedly coming from a second or third century Syriac text, the translator has done his homework. Thoroughly annotated with footnotes as the text is read. My suggestion is to read the entire work all the way through just to get the feel then if you want more information, read through it again delving into the footnotes. ( )

This is a translation and analysis of an ancient manuscript that is purported to be from the magi who traveled to Bethlehem. The author/interpreter does a good job of introducing and offering insight into text and its possible ramifications for Christians. He then offers the only extant English translation of the text. It is an interesting read and offers food for thought, but of course, the real issue is historical reliability. The author explores both pros and cons of its historicity. Still, even if the document is unreliable, there are offerings for reflection here. It is an interesting read for theologians and biblical historians. For the layman it may be a bit dry. The writer does a good job of introducing the ancient text (which is most of this short book) - I cannot comment on the quality of his interpretation, though his credentials suggest it is probably well done. As with many scholarly works there are lots of footnotes and his are in the back. I prefer that they be placed at the bottom of the page, as it is frustrating for me to have to flip back and forth, but this is my own personal observation. Overall, I found the book fascinating and the text that claims to be from the magi is very interesting indeed. ( )