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GOSPEL 2000 Most great religions of the world have glorious poetic texts embodying their articles of faith. Hindus have the Upanishads, Vedas, Ramayana and the 200 000-line Mahabharata, while Buddhists have scores of magnificent Sutras, or poems of varying lengths. Judaism has the Psalms, Song of Songs and various prophetical texts, such as those of Jeremiah, all in verse, and the Muslims have the powerful verses of the Quran. Therefore Christianity appears to be the poor relation with its gospels, letters and even some apocalyptic texts, all in prose. Perhaps it is time at the start of the third millennium of Christianity to have at least a verse gospel. This book attempts exactly that. Also in the Age of Aquarius, the new age of knowledge as opposed to the old Age of Pisces or subjugation, it is perhaps time to look beyond the four so-called canonical gospels put together to meet Emperor Constantine’s demand for a definitive text for his new state religion. Thus some so-called apocryphal gospels, including the recently discovered gnostic Gospel of Thomas, were taken into account to try to construct a more comprehensive gospel story, fleshing out especially the earlier years of Christ and acknowledging openly the vast debt owed to ancient Egypt. Furthermore, the great influence of Mary Magdalene is included in the gospel events, with even some suggestions that this wider gospel tradition was not only directly inspired by her but based on the earlier writings of her school. Taking issue with Plato, therefore, in denying that a poetic story is at a third remove from reality, and adhering to the Aristotelean view that poetry transcends mere realistic truth, a serious attempt is made in Gospel 2000 to present the two-thousand-year-old story as new and fresh. In the light of the Jesus Seminar and the New Reformation as well as wildly successful theological bestsellers and films it is perhaps overdue to present the old-old story in a vibrant poetical guise, transcending all fundamental/metaphorical arguments about the real meanings of for example walking on water and turning water into wine by embedding these wondrous things in a poem from which they can shine forth in their true intent. Certainly much more is gained from the greater suggestive power of a poetical religious text than is lost owing to the exigencies imposed by metre and rhyme. Therefore Gospel 2000 is presented as a serious attempt at rerelating the gospel tale for a new century and a new millennium. OTHER VERSE BY JDU GELDENHUYS: A crossing of Gods (Geva, Johannesburg, 1983) Pellucid Paradigm (Gnomic Press, Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1993) Structured Space (Dye Hard Press, Johannesburg, 1994) Sonnette van Shakespeare (Firfield Press, Cape Town, 1995) The Easter Visitor (Gnomic Press, Johannesburg, 1999) Son of the Sun (Gnomic Press, Johannesburg, 2000) Psyspy (Gnomic Press, Johannesburg, 2002); and The Third Way (Gnomic Press, Johannesburg, 2004)