What happened to Jesus between the age of twelve, when he appears in the Temple of Jerusalem, and the beginning of his public ministry around eighteen years later? The canonical Gospels offer remarkably little information about this period, leaving centuries of speculation about his early adulthood.

Richard Bock’s 1977 documentary investigates the controversial theory that Jesus travelled eastwards through Persia, India and Tibet, encountering Hindu and Buddhist traditions before returning to Palestine. Central to the investigation is the legend of Saint Issa, popularised by Russian traveller Nicolas Notovitch, who claimed in 1894 to have discovered ancient accounts of Jesus’s travels preserved at a Buddhist monastery in Ladakh.

The film also explores the Shroud of Turin, the Holy Lance and Adolf Hitler’s fascination with religious relics, bringing together religious traditions, historical speculation and alternative interpretations of Christianity’s origins.

These theories remain highly disputed.…