A Wretched Man, by R W Holmen, has gone live on www.FirstChapters.net
http://www.amazon.com/Wretched-Man-Novel-Paul-Apostle/dp/1935098217
Saint Paul was a sinner. He never met Jesus, but he experienced the famous conversion on the road to Damascus long after the Messiah had been crucified. Paul believed his Damascus experience had healed his guilty soul, but Jesus’ own brother doubted Paul’s tale.
James’ rejection spurred Paul to hike the Roman highways of the Mediterranean world to proclaim the truth of Damascus, over and over again, if not for James’ approval, then for his own. Had he not been healed at Damascus? And then there was the stinging thorn in his flesh that kept the guilty wound on his soul festering.
Journey to the first century world of the Roman empire. Here you will encounter emperors and slaves, Jews and Greeks, and men and women lifted from the pages of the New Testament as they stumble forward following the death of Jesus, unwitting midwives to the birth of Christianity. Follow Paul and James as they contend for the soul of the newborn Jesus movement; their struggle is the story of Christian origins.
RW “Obie” Holmen has deep midwestern roots in Scandinavian Lutheranism. Raised in Upsala, Minnesota, in the heart of Lake Wobegon country, he participated in many activities in his small K-12 school.
In the fall of ’66, he matriculated at Dartmouth College. In ’69-70 he served as an Army Ranger in Vietnam, receiving a pair of bronze stars for valor in combat. After discharge, he returned to Dartmouth and obtained his BA degree in ’72 with distinction as a history major, summa cum laude for his senior year.
Then, it was back to Minnesota and law school. Holmen received a JD degree from the University of Minnesota in ’75, and entered the private practice of law in St. Cloud, Minnesota as a civil trial attorney for the next twenty four years, retiring in ’99 to pursue a business opportunity in Caribbean tourism. In the early 90′s, he spent a couple of years, part-time, as a graduate student with the Benedictines of St John’s School of Theology in nearby Collegeville, Minnesota. It was then that Holmen first considered a novel about Paul, and the idea festered until he finally put pen to paper a few years ago, resulting in the publication of “A Wretched Man” in 2010. More recently, his Vietnam experiences served as grist for the series of short stories that appear in “Prowl.”
Obie has been married to Lynn for over forty years, and they have three adult children and one grandchild. Lynn and Obie are lifelong Lutherans with involvement on the progressive side of ELCA political skirmishes.
