Here is an interesting book I read the other day: “Buddha laughed at theists (and accidentally created Christianity)”. The core idea revolves around the “strange” similarities between the Jesus of the New Testament and many of the (sometimes close to verbatim) parallel sayings of the Buddha.

Even though it plays with the claim that Jesus went to India (which he sure could have – the book includes a nice map of the intricate economic routes that tied the Middle East, the Mediterranean and India together – though I think the evidence is not all too convincing. Actually, the evidence that Jesus existed is not too convincing either come to think of it) it follows a different line of thought.

Using a Buddhist perspective Samuel investigates some core ideas / central early Buddhist concepts that might have found their way into the Middle East and sparked something akin to a revolution in thinking – the end product of which became Christianity (whether just through an editorial process as Christian Lindtner proposes or some missionary work).

Either way, it was quite a fun read (it’s written in the style of a “mystic/historic” short novel, so it’s actually not dry at all) and highly recommended.