Magi - Adrian Gilbert (book review)

Behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East"

Probably one of the most famous lines in the bible, the cause of innumerable nativity play tantrums, the instigator of so many garish Christmas ornamental scenes and probably the most misquoted of all New Testament lines. As we all know there were three wise men or Magi, who followed a star out of the east to arrive at the birth place of Jesus, the baby who would become the Christ, or anointed one. Already there are two interesting points to be made here. Firstly, the wise men only appear in one of the four gospels and secondly nowhere in the Bible does it mention how many wise men actually arrived at the birthplace. If such fundamental facts as the number of Magi are in doubt, then what else have we taken as read regarding these mysterious visitors. Author Adrian Gilbert decided to find out and his researches have resulted in this book.

Gilbert takes the view point that even if there was no actual visit by these Magi at the time of Jesus birth, after all three out of four gospel writers fail to mention it so Matthew may have added it into his account to add importance to the event, then they could very well be based on a real body of people. This book is the hunt for the identity of the body that these people were the representatives of. Rather that starting at the beginning and working forward, Gilbert firstly examines those who have explored these shadowed paths before him. By following the routes taken by two spiritual journeymen, Ouspensky and Gurdjieff, Gilbert manages to make inroads into some of the more secretive religious of the Middle East. Both men claimed to have made contact with and even studied under the living descendants of ancient priesthoods with links back to the Magi priests of the Bible. Along a thread that takes us through the Sufi and the Zoroastrian beliefs and into even more secretive places, Gilbert makes good account for the fact that the wise men of the Bible were part of a secret spiritual path that is still to be found, though not easily, in the world to day.

Although the book is examining the mystery schools and secretive religions of the Middle East, it is as much a history lesson as a religious study. As well as a purely factual account of the history and the events that flavoured the times, it also shows us a side of the European Middle Ages that we may have glossed over. Thanks due to a more religious fundamental tradition and the meeting of occidental and oriental minds thanks to the crusades, we see that there were many religious understandings held in those times that we may have forgotten, beliefs that cut straight to the heart of the subject being explored here.

My main complaint with the book is that it is too fractured in its grasp for ideas. A single major core idea eludes the reader and instead we have to settle for a grab bag of ideas that seem to be shaved off of a myriad of other theories. Whilst the ideas presented here are interesting to say the least, they seem too fractured to hit home. As with most of the books of this nature there is a lot of supposition and more than one intellectual leap of faith expected of the reader. Whilst I did enjoy what I found here it might be that my familiarity with the subject helped me through the book, even though Gilbert's books are aimed squarely at the popular market, this is not the place for those new to the subject matter. Its not that the material is complex, just unfocused.

Magi seems to cover a lot of ground without actually getting very far. There is a lot of information but few conclusions. Often the purpose of a book is not to give all the answers but to provide the catalyst for further research and if you don't mind this approach then you won't be disappointed.