“Neil Douglas-Klotz has distilled his decades of rigorous scholarship, deep practice, and revolutionary insight into a potent elixir for our times.” —Mirabai Starr, translator of Julian of Norwich: The Showings and author of Wild Mercy
This book is an approach to Jesus’s recorded words and teachings through his native language, Aramaic, answering many questions clearly and consistently, even if unexpectedly, no matter which Gospel you have in your hands.
From the Introduction:
“Jesus’s teachings have been used historically to fuel what became modern Western culture, with all its pluses and minuses. At the same time, viewed through his native language, the same teachings provide a solution to our culture’s greatest challenges, pointing the way toward a proper use of our human individuality and will.”
Through expansions of Aramaic’s multiple meanings as well as guided contemplations, Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus provides a guide to transformation through the way of the prophet of Nazareth. It shows how Jesus’s deepest teachings address contemporary challenges, such as our relationships with nature and each other, as well as the purpose of life itself.
Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus is a guide to living an authentic interior life without dogma and a spiritual path that makes you more comfortable in your own, providing a sense of meaning and purpose.
“Religion easily dies when it succumbs to rote. The Aramaic translations of Klotz cut through the rote and bring us to the deeper meanings of Jesus’s teaching that can still touch our hearts, move our souls, and ignite our action.” —Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing
“In this luminous offering, we discover the wisdom teacher this burning world is yearning for: a native Jesus, deeply connected to the earth and her wisdom, a Jesus long-ago silenced by the religion founded in his name, a Jesus who speaks directly to the heart of people of all faiths, and maybe especially to those of us who cannot fit ourselves into the confines of a single tradition. Neil Douglas-Klotz has distilled his decades of rigorous scholarship, deep practice, and revolutionary insight into a potent elixir for our times.” —Mirabai Starr, translator of Julian of Norwich: The Showings and author of Wild Mercy
“For more than 40 years, Neil Douglas-Klotz has been exploring the mysteries of the Syriac and Aramaic languages to better understand what Yeshua wanted and still wants to tell us. This patient work is not in vain, it is necessary to bring us closer to this presence and this teaching, which enlighten us, awaken us, heal us and save us.. Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus takes us step by step towards the promised Beatitude, already everywhere and always there, if we have eyes to see it, ears to hear it, a heart to know it and to love it.” —Prof. Jean-Yves Leloup, author of The Gospel of Thomas: The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus and The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
“Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus returns us to the original Aramaic of Jesus’s words, where the breath, the body, and the soul are part of a living wholeness in which nature and the divine are not separate. Here, language is a part of the creative flow of the seasons and our inner being, awakening us to the Holy Wisdom that is within. Neil Douglas-Klotz’s depth of study gives new life to these great teachings, helping us to be in harmony with our original nature, our own connection to Sacred Unity. An invaluable book.” —Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Prayer of the Heart in Christian and Sufi Mysticism
“Neil Douglas-Klotz is a modern-day mystic, a visionary, and a receiver of revelation. Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus is a wake-up call for our time. This book liberates and restores Yeshua’s original mission and message as an invitation to everyone—devotees of all paths, scholars, nomads, contemplatives, and activists alike—to journey ‘home’ to the source through a subtle and dynamic process of gradual revelation.” —Chloe Goodchild, voice pioneer, founder and author of The Naked Voice
“The words Jesus spoke have become commonplace in translations from languages not his own. Striking insights into his chronicled words are revealed through Dr. Douglas-Klotz’s years of research into the ancient Aramaic texts that recorded them, exceeding the limitations of academia. Included here is the wisdom gleaned from experiences of embodying the sounds and movements evoked by Jesus’s Aramaic words. In this book, one discovers a synthesis and expansion of Neil Douglas-Klotz’s work and considers what has been relinquished by the practice of dismissing the power of the deeper meanings to be discovered. It is a joy to couple further revelations with what we already know and love in the Bible.” —Br. Joseph Kilikevice, OP, Founder and Director, Shem Center for Interfaith Spirituality, Illinois, USA
“Douglas-Klotz is a man at the zenith of his spiritual, intellectual, and heartfelt powers, drawing out from the rich Aramaic meanings and practices to open the heart, offer dazzling insights, and, most of all, set us free of the dogmas and doctrines that prevent us from deepening our relationship with the Beloved. This is a work of profound significance that has fed me and which I will readily share with other seekers. In fearful times, where faith and spiritual exploration are often reduced to rigid beliefs, this book, and indeed Douglas-Klotz's whole body of work, comes as a fearless breath of fresh air—a liberating voice in the wilderness. All might do well to hear it for, whether the reader is a Jesus follower or not, this work feeds the soul. Highly and unconditionally recommended.” —Rev. Prof. Stephen G. Wright, director of the Sacred Space Foundation, England, author of Coming Home and Heartfulness
“The great liberation theologian, Gustavo Gutierrez of Peru, says it's not sufficient just to study theology. He says that to liberate—‘to give life’—involves a hands-on ‘doing’ of theology; an application of its insights in ways that can prepare a waiting world for ‘kingdom,’ or, shall we say, ‘community come.’ By invoking the depth of words that Jesus likely used, Neil Douglas-Klotz reveals how sacred language is a trowel that opens up a hidden archaeology. It reveals a buried treasure of great price. It frees the gift half-understood that serves the soul's unfolding in our times.” —Professor Alastair McIntosh, Scotland, author of Soil and Soul and Poacher's Pilgrimage
About the Author:
Neil Douglas-Klotz is an internationally known scholar in the fields connecting religious studies (comparative Semitic hermeneutics) and psychology as well as a poet and musician. He is the author of Prayers of the Cosmos, Desert Wisdom, The Hidden Gospel, and The Genesis Meditations and coauthor of The Tent of Abraham with Sr. Joan Chittister and Rabbi Arthur Waskow. He is the past chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion and is active in various international colloquia and conferences dedicated to peace and spirituality.
