The History of the Saint

The traditional calendar of saints includes Saint "Josaphat" or "Iodasaph," son of a fourth-century king of India. A convert to Christianity, Iodasaph abdicated the throne to embrace a life of ascetic piety. As scholars now widely acknowledge, what was once taken to be the biography of a Christian saint is instead the accidental Christianization of a story of Prince Siddhartha from the Jataka Tales. The legend of "Iodasaph," a garbled form of "Bodhisattva," meandered over various Buddhist, Manichean, and Arabic paths on its way to being baptized as a piece of medieval Christian hagiography. In various texts, the name appears as "Budhasaf," "Bodisav," and "Bwdysdf" — all even closer to the original. So there you have it: Gautama Buddha, a Catholic saint! How tempting it is to imagine the hybrid saint as if the historical-critical understanding of the tale were a component of it, as if there really had been a Christian saint named Iodasaph who had Buddhist leanings. What sort of saintly wisdom would he have imparted? Longstanding Christian*New Age Quarterly readers will recall Robert M. Price's "Tales of Saint Iodasaph," a series that ran intermittently from our January-March '91 to October-December '94 issues. Then, a decade later, the Saint reappeared! In these new tales — not quite fiction, more than intellectual ingenuity — Dr. Price weaves together Eastern and Western wisdom using as mouthpiece the curious historical happenstance of a Buddhist legend canonized as a Christian saint.

Interested in "The Tales of Saint Iodasaph?" Enjoy a glimpse!

"Blessed are the Blind" — Winter 2009 (V19, N2) issue

or

"The Serpent's Wisdom" — Summer 2009 (V19, N1) issue

or

"Invisible Light" — June 2008-February 2009 (V18, N4) issue

or

"Revelation of Nothing" — November 2007-May 2008 (V18, N3) issue

or

"The Cross and the Raft" — May-October 2007 (V18, N2) issue

or

"Back in the Womb" — August 2006-April 2007 (V18, N1) issue

or

"Seeking for Signs" — October 2005-July 2006 issue

or

"Gods in the Gutter" — July-September 2005 issue

or

"Temptations Must Come" — April-June 2005 issue

or

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