Ramblings and Stray Thoughts About Acts of Faith Series
Review #1: Ramblings of Emily Rose
By Emily Rose
Guest Reviewer
Emily is a 19-year-old girl from Colorado. She was homeschooled from kindergarten through high school and graduated in the spring of 2010. She loves reading, writing, history, music, movies, and her friends.
This review was originally published on the Ramblings of Emily Rose blog.
The Centurion's Wife
I had seen this book at Barnes and Noble several times, but I just shrugged it off. It really didn't interest me. One of my favorite books, The Robe by Lloyd Douglas, was set around the same events. Why bother reading another book that could in no way match up? Warped thinking, I know. But that's the way I felt.
Then one of my favorite people in the world told me I should read it. That she would bring it to church for me. And that I must hurry with it because other people wanted to borrow it from her. I didn't want to hurt her feelings and say, "Not interested!" So I took the book and started it. And finished it. And wanted more.
I loved the historical information. I loved the characters. I loved everything about the book. So off to the library I went to find the sequel…
The Hidden Flame
When I first started this book I was somewhat afraid that I wouldn't like it. The focus is shifted to new characters. But in the end, I still loved it! In fact, I think that the character shift was a great idea! I "got to know" some of the people better through the change in perspective, but everyone I loved from The Centurion's Wife was still there.
This book also inspired me to begin reading through the book of Acts in my Bible. I wanted to check and see just how much was being made up and how much was really scripture. Characters such as Ananias and Sapphira, Stephen, and Peter, are given time in this book. I wanted to make sure that they didn't get fixed in my mind the wrong way.
After reading The Hidden Flame, I decided that I'd better get on paperback swap and put the whole series on a list of books I want. I went to my library's website and requested the third book…
The Damascus Way
I went to the library soon after finishing The Hidden Flame, so I was able to get The Damascus Way right away. Several days and many many books had passed between The Centurion's Wife and The Hidden Flame, so the former isn't as firm in my mind right now… But I'm pretty sure that The Damascus Way is my favorite of the three books.
The characters were still great. The history was still so much fun. I had expected the series to start to take a down turn as many series tend to do. I'm thrilled to say that there was definitely no down turn. At all. I'd recommend this series to anyone without hesitation, though I would also recommend reading your Bible alongside.
Review #2: Stray Thoughts
By Barbara H.
Guest Reviewer
Barbara is a 50-something stay-at-home mom who loves to write about her family, funny or interesting things she sees, and things God has taught her.
This review was originally published on Barbara's Stray Thoughts blog.
The Damascus Way, is the third installment in biblical fiction series Acts of Faith by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn, yet I think it could easily be read as a stand-alone book if you've not read the previous two in the series.
If you're very familiar with the story of the Apostle Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus in the book of Acts, then the title of this book would suggest to you that it might be about him. It does cover that incident, but until it reaches that point, Paul — known as Saul's pre-conversion — is seen once and referred to many times. He is less a character in the story through most of it than a sort of dark cloud of threatening persecution of the believers.
That increasing persecution drove many of the early believers from Jerusalem in the Bible, having the effect of scattering the gospel with them across the land, and that's the background of the story that is portrayed here. Abigail, the widow of Stephen, reluctantly leaves with her young daughter, Dorcas, and a group of believers heading one way. Jacob, her brother, is a guard for a wealthy merchant's caravan and becomes a courier for the underground network of believers. One of his contacts, to his surprise, is Julia, the beautiful daughter of his employer.
Julia is the only daughter of the merchant, and though well-to-do, she realizes that she and her mother are not welcomed in the community. Discovering why shakes her world to its core, and her turmoil leads to faith in Christ. She and Jacob are the primary characters in this story, though there are strong subplots involving Abigail as well as Linux and Alban, two Roman soldiers who became believers in the previous books.
I enjoyed seeing how believers from various backgrounds and nationalities who would formerly have been enemies became one in Christ.
And one passage that came back to mind many times after reading it involved the testimony of what we call "the woman at the well." I knew that she came out to draw water alone at a time when other women were not there because of her shame and her status. I knew that she was surprised that Christ spoke to her in the first place and that He knew all about her. But one sentence in the story said, "He seemed to know all about her, yet He did not shun her" (p. 265). Though the last few words are not explicitly said in Scripture, they are implied, and though I knew that in one sense, in this reading the contrast between the shunning of "good people" and the kindness and respect shown by the Savior really stood out to me.
For all the possible intrigue of the dangerous activities of the couriers and the secrecy of the believers to avoid persecution, you would think this would have been a real page-turner, but the plot seemed to drag to me in a few places, which I don't remember happening in the previous books. But I may have just been a little "off" somehow while reading it — other reviews of it I have read use words like "sweeping," "intriguing," and "vivid."
Nevertheless, I am glad to have read it and can recommend it. I'm not sure if there will be further books in the series — since it is covering the book of Acts and there are several more chapters after Saul's conversion, I would hope so. If so, I'll be looking forward to them.
Even More Reviews!
Here are three more blog reviews of The Damascus Way:
Quiverfull Family
FLinG (briefly reviewed all three books in the Acts of Faith series)
A Simple Catholic
Quiverfull Family –
FLinG (briefly reviewed all three books in the Acts of Faith series)
http://magenmyshield.blogspot.com/2011/04/book-review-acts-of-faith-3-book-series.html
A Simple Catholic
http://catholictraveller.blogspot.com/2011/04/damascus-way.html
