Gospel

by Wilton Barnhardt

Gospel concerns the search for a lost first-century gospel of the Bible, a document that could shake the foundations of Christianity. Wilton Barnhardt's narrative races through three continents, nine countries, and dozens of colorful locales, as two character--shy theological student Lucy Dantan and hard-drinking, disillusioned ex-Jesuit Patrick O'Hanrahan--pursue rumors and clues about the gospel's whereabouts and contents. In the end, what they discover will challenge and forever change the nature of faith.

An intellectual detective story with the erudition of Umberto Eco and the grand swirling entertainment of a nineteenth-century novel, Gospel is exciting, profound, reverent, and terrifically funny.

Genres: Fiction, Religion, Historical Fiction, Historical, Thriller, Novels, Mystery

816 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1993

About the author

Wilton Barnhardt (born 1960) is a former reporter for Sports Illustrated and is the author of Emma Who Saved My Life (1989), Gospel (1993), Show World (1999), and the New York Times bestseller Lookaway, Lookaway (2013). Barnhardt took his B.A. at Michigan State University, and was a graduate student at Brasenose College, University of Oxford, where he read for an M.Phil. in English.

He currently teaches fiction-writing to undergraduate and graduate students at the North Carolina State University in Raleigh, in the Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing.

Source:Wikipedia

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why folks read "The Da Vinci Code" and ignored this I will never understand. This is a real novel and well written. DVC is absolute
rubbish written by a hack. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all-time favorite novels. Imagine a burned-out, cynical theology professor teaming up with a naive, idealistic grad student to follow the path of a lost First Century gospel from England and Italy to the Sudan and Jerusalem. Barnhardt skillfully incorporates the varied settings into the novel without allowing it to degenerate into a travelogue, and his character development is second to none in my opinion.

The narrative alternates between the present story and the text of the "gospel" (in quotes because it was Barnhardt's invention). The "gospel" sections include a number of footnotes regarding various historical and exegetical references, which I personally enjoyed reading but which some might find to be a distraction. If the footnotes are a distraction, ignore them; you can easily follow the narrative thread without them, since none of them are essential to the plot.

This is a funny, poignant, inspiring, and adventurous read. If you enjoyed The DaVinci Code, you'll LOVE Gospel!

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it a thriller? Is it a church history? Is it the story of one man's struggle with his faith and God? Yes...yes...and yes. If any one of the above appeals to you, read this book. Exotic locations (and some not so exotic) and all the things you were told to never discuss at a dinner party - religion, politics and a little sex. The story is tightly crafted with mysterious and intriguing characters.

A word of caution - this is not a light read for the weekend. It's long. And, there's a great deal of history (footnoted). But, it you're looking for an engaging read which will keep your mind working overtime, check this out. Literally.

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

28 Mar 1998

What kind of person am I? The kind who takes a big, fat novel with her on her honeymoon.

Pulling a wedding together in five months was ambitious, and 1993 hit us with personal catastrophes every month. So we were lucky to have a week at Hilton Head to catch our breath. The Spouse watched baseball and played golf, I read books and swam; we even managed to write a few Thank You notes. Restored we moved on to Florida and a week at Disney World. I am so grateful for those weeks in an otherwise grim year.

And this book was also a gift. An enormous world and milennia-spanning adventure. Not at all like Emma Who Saved My Life, except for being so good.

***

And now I embark on a third reading in honor of our 30th anniversary. That first year was tough, but we got through, and despite all the usual losses and setbacks and such there have also been great joys, and two amazing kids, and many excellent spit takes. (Weird how one doesn't feel any more grown up, even as standing becomes a painful process and it is no longer possible to read footnotes without the little glasses. It's not that I've grown up more, it's just that the people who were disappointed by my imaturity are all dead. Oh, no, wait, the Offspring are now the ones who are vexed.)Old, sure, I feel that, but no more mature. Given a choice between another 30 years but alone, or say, 10 more years together, I'd take the shorter and so much happier option. He's still happy he married me, and I know I'm lucky to have married him. Certainly it would be easier to live another 30 years with body systems failing if we got to do it together.

[Louis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book Dan Brown wishes he could write. I cannot believe this never became a bestseller. It has finally be re-released and I hope it gets the acclaim it so richly deserves.

[Fatima Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book 15 years ago, and again this year. Still close to my heart.

[Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a comparative history of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, the historical doumentation of this book is dumbfounding. It provides an introduciotn to the real history of these 'major' religiongs, without casting aspersions on them at all. Built from an Indiana Jones type adventure around the world with some admittedly two-dimensional characters, it is, nevertheless, an intriguing read. The best asides in the book come from an omnipresent narrator who may or may not be God. One note: Protestantism (and fundamentalism in particular) is given particulary short shrift here, something I simply cannot get enough of.

[Walter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel is one of those "special" stories written in obscure and confusing way, but in a way that the author feels is scholarly and enlightening. This novel, "Gospel", is an adventure novel set against the background of the quest for an early Christian writing, the Gospel of St. Matthias.

Barnhardt actually opens up each section of the novel with excerpts from this fictional document, complete with effusive footnotes and explanations. The fictional gospel fits with the 20th century anti-Christian novel motif of the Apostles as ordinary guys who reverted to "six-pack Joes" after the death of Jesus and who, later in life, are appalled at the revisionists who insisted that Jesus rose from the dead and established a Church who was established to extend His mission to the world. This same motif can be seen in the dream sequence in "The Last Temptation of Christ" where is was tired and unbelievable. It is no less so in "Gospel".

Aside from the fictional Gospel, the story in this novel follows the adventures of a University of Chicago Theology professor, an old ex-Jesuit ex-Priest who seeks glory and recognition in a world that is empty after his rejection of his former vocation. He is joined by the stereotypical "Catholic Girl" of Billy Joel's famous song "Only the Good Die Young", who was shielded from the real world by her Catholic school experience and who wants to know what life is really all about. The last main character of this novel is another stereotypical character, the Brooklyn Rabbi who fits better in "Fiddler on the Roof" than in this novel.

Aside from the cookie-cutter stereotypes that Barnhardt gives us as characters, the storyline of this book is a breathtaking voyage from England to Rome to Athens to the Sudan, where the heroes of the book pursue the missing gospel in Indiana Jones style. However, Indiana Jones is much more interesting than Barnhardt's Gospel because at least Indiana Jones has some basic respect for the subject matter that he is pursuing. This is certainly not the case with Barnhardt. As these theologians and theology students live like aristocrats all over Europe and the Middle East, they expound on how stupid they see any notion of religion in either the ancient or the modern worlds. A large part of the narrative of this novel are expositions on religion that can best be described as farce. It was obvious to me that the author really did not understand the subjects about which he was writing despite his love of technical language and allusions to obscure languages. In the end, the reader is confused and perhaps a little upset at the treatment given to all of Western religion by this author.

Barnhardt's novel is a work of polemics, mostly against the Catholic Church which takes the brunt of his invective for the first half of the novel. However, in Barnhardt's defense, he does not limit his poison to Catholicism. During the characters' sojourn in Israel Barnhardt changes his target to Orthodox Jews and the state of Israel. And, in the last few chapters of the novel which are set in Louisiana, the author attacks Fundamentalist Christians and specifically televangelists, which I suppose is de rigeur in Barnhardt's intellectual circles. The attacks are not at all original and frankly are embarrassing as a work of literature. Why can't we just read a good story and not have Barnhardt's cynicism thrown in our face at every turn?

Overall I would would not recommend this book to anyone. I read the thing cover to cover but I would not wish this on anyone else. There are much better works out there.

[Mary Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this is a huge book (over 700 pages), it is worth the effort! It features a hard-living old professor and a young, naive grad student searching for a lost Gospel written by one of the Apostles. Their search takes them and the reader all over the world. This book makes the Davinci Code looks like a kids' book.

I would have given it 5 stars except I was mildly disappointed with the ending. But all in all I loved it!

[Rebekah Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I bought this 4 years ago & finally got around to reading it. Being almost 800 pages it IS a bit intimidating! But now I can confidently say it is worth every single page. With a story that spans multiple continents & touches on a lot of little-known ancient history, this book is both hilarious & profound, both tragic & full of hope. If you are a truly devout (or perhaps I should say fundamentalist) Christian, Jew, or Muslim, this book is probably not for you- for you will probably find it blasphemous far too often. But if you're someone who is interested in religion from a historical &/or cultural perspective, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Despite its length, I think you'll find you are sad when it ends. I know I was.

[Karen Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I re-read this as part of my Year of Re-Reading. I think of it often, list it as a favorite, but I hadn't read it in about ten years; would I still find it as moving as I did back then, given all the reading and study I've undertaken since?

Oh. yeah. And then some. Because, if you can get past the caricatures and the Indiana Jones/Dan Brown similarities, you must might find... Kierkegaard? Yes! Subjective vs objective truth; the
importance of personal, rather than institutional, religion; the idea for which one can live and die; the absurdity of it all, and the faith that embraces that absurdity.

I should say that I have no particular religious creed; those who are convinced of the truth of their creed's dogma may well find parts of this book insulting or offensive. But it includes, in parenthetical asides, the Voice of a God I could understand, and it ends with the kind of faith worth more than all the bible study one could undertake. Too bad it's fiction.

FMI see my blog post at A Just Recompense.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the late 1970s I saw an atrocious mini-series on television called “The Word.” It starred David Janssen and was based on the novel by Irving Wallace (at least, I think that’s what the author’s name was). It is my understanding that Wallace’s novel is pretty bad, as well–Wallace once wrote a novel about writing the novel he was writing, which even in a post-modern concept sounds pretty terrible (I think, to be really original, he called that one “The Novel”). In any case, the whole premise of “The Word” was that an investigator discovers that the gospels were a hoax–an entirely made up account, based somewhat on historical personages, but expanded on in elaborate ways to create an interest and a cult. Woah, I thought. Why couldn’t it have been like this? How do we know that the Gospel was inspired, rather than invented? (No use writing in, I’m familiar with the “you must have faith” verses–I might know them better than you, in fact.) Since then I’ve been fairly skeptical about the word. In some ways, this might explain my fascination with the concept of the unreliable narrator, as ultimately the most unreliable narrator of all is the author him- or herself.

Which is a bit far afield of the novel in question, but puts a little background on why I was interested in this novel about the search for a fifth gospel. While basically an adventure story, with kidnappings and arsons and misunderstandings and close calls, etc., the intellectual basis for this story is solidly researched, as evidenced by the copious footnotes and the index. The danger about mixing such solid research in an extremely James Bond-ish plot (even if none of the characters achieve Bond’s superhuman status) is that the audience is not quite sure what to believe.

Interspersed with the adventure story is the lost gospel itself, which tries to cover some of the myths and popular beliefs about the other gospels and the disciples that wrote them. Fundamentalists will be offended, no doubt, just as they were offended by The Last Temptation of Christ and Live from Golgotha. But Barnhardt’s view has a strong feeling of verisimilitude, even if his made-up gospel doesn’t.

The book is long, but not over-long, and the action is exciting, if straining credulity at times. Overall it provides solid entertainment with just enough thought to make you think twice about those other gospels, and the books surrounding them.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story follows two main characters, Lucy, a theological student at the University of Chicago, and the ex-Jesuit, hard-drinking professor she is sent to find in Oxford. He is on the hunt for a rumoured lost gospel, which could completely shake the foundation of Christianity. They travel in pursuit of clues for the whereabouts of the 1st century gospel, through three continents and nine countries. In between the sections of the coutries travelled, there are snippits of this gospel.

I was lent this nearly-800 page book by a couple who had purchased it five times--after having lent it out and not getting it back and having to re-purchase it. I did them a favour, by getting half-way through and then ordering my own copy, as I knew it was one I wanted for my own. It took me a long time to get through it, the gospel parts were especially daunting, but I could not stop thinking about it. I dragged it on a camping trip and everything. I recommended it to many people all over, and no-one had even heard of it. It is funny, and like a collegial Indiana Jones adventure, it is action-packed and full of historical tidbits and iconography. You never know who will come out of the woodwork to try and hunt down this gospel before our "heroes" find it, including a Rabbi and others. I have kept this book over the years, still recommending it as one of the best books I have read. Even if just for the travel adventure alone!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not realize that 1.) this novel is out of print and 2.) it was 770 pages with several additional pages as an index with 100+ footnotes throughout the book. Loaded with nonfiction trivial facts about Christianity and Catholicism. Fascinating information. Makes Dan Brown's DaVinci's Code seem like a comic book. With a better editor and publishing guidance, this had all the potential to be the bestseller 15 years before Dan Brown's name was known. There is so much information in this novel, that the plot is not really driving. You need to enjoy reading about the history of religion to appreciate the book, and stay with the book. After being invested 400+ pages, I was hoping more plot would happen, but it was just more history to be absorbed. It's like Barnhardt put all his knowledge into this novel, and it was just too much. It's too bad because it had such potential. But there's a reason this one did not sell.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been on my shelf since 2003 but sometimes a story has to be read at the right time when you are ready for it. I may (quite probably) have to re-read it sometime over the next 20yrs as well. This story grew on me from the 1st part when I realised what it was doing. The characters are so fallible, so real and so likeable because of this. I was variously laughing out loud, close to tears, very angry or incredibly upset. Without this review becoming longer than the book I'm going to discuss: the characters, their journeys and the gospel. The voice of God interruptions will also be discussed. Spoilers start here.

The characters: we meet Lucy first. Young, scared of flying, quite put upon by her family and flatmate and drifting through her thesis aimlessly, she is sent to track down a Dr Hanrahan. I liked Lucy. I like her spirit, her need to be of service, her joy at being in amazing places: Oxford, Dublin, Italy, Greece, Jerusalem, Egypt and the Sudan. Her eyes are open to the world and religious fanatics are not well tolerated by her. Her decision at the end was an agonising one - the reader is with her every step of the way, whatever your belief system.

Then we meet Dr Hanrahan, an older, bitter man, self-medicating, drinking too much, grieving horrendously, not suffering fools, egotistical, a great teacher. All this is shown by his inner voice, which is to the author's credit because we now have 2 completely different voices - both very credible. The Dr. is utterly exasperating at times, his self destructive behaviour is really irritating but the author slowly shows us why he is the way he is. Like the rest of us in the real world, he is the sum of his experiences and it's generally the hurtful and painful things that shape us the most. I like the way he comes to terms with himself in the end and I like his moral courage.

The Rabbi is also engaging even though we really only see him from the outside, not his innermost thoughts. The other character who is incredibly important is Matthias, the writer of the Gospel, the heart of the story. A 1st century disciple who is on his own journey through the lands of Judea, Egypt and the Sudan, he is the voice of the immediate world that Jesus left behind. In the mid 60s (CE) he is trying to track down the apostles and disciples - what happened to them, what has happened to the 'church' Jesus left behind. Matthias has lost his faith - his journey is how he recovers it. He comes across a variety of closed communities, one run by Mary of Magda that bans men. Her story of her relationship with Jesus is poignant and interesting. Matthias finds that the teachings of Jesus have started to be subverted only 30 years after Jesus's death. There is also the beginnings of relic worship and selling and a reliance on Paul's teaching which really annoys Matthias as Paul wanted to kill Jesus before he was converted. Matthias muses on how even the ideas in Paul's letters have already begun to be subverted - twisted to suit a patriarchal society.

Matthias's voice is a surprisingly innocent and sometimes, not very bright voice. He does not see what is obvious about the people he meets but it is cleverly written so the reader can see what he is obviously missing. Already in 68CE he is bemoaning that the message of the Nazarine has been changed and corrupted. He is also quite a misogynist but the women in his gospel are strong, determined and clever. The revelation for him at the end of his Gospel directly addresses an idea already important in Jesus's teaching: what is truth? What is faith? Are they compatible or oppositions? While I found his misogyny frustrating, his desire to seek out the truth and journey through incredibly hostile environments to seek that truth was laudable and at times humbling. His journey is almost a forerunner of the Pilgrimage. His Gospel is divided into 7 parts so his journey mirrors Lucy and Dr. Hanrahan's journey while they are searching for the Gospel to translate it.

Over the course of their journey Lucy and Hanrahan learn to respect and care for each other. At first she's an irritant to him then she becomes an ally, a confidant and a trusted friend. Their journey takes them to places that allows the author to show both the corruption and horror of religion in general and the Catholic in particular, as well as showing us those committed people whose only desire to care and nuture others with no strings attached. Along the way Dr. Hanrahan takes great delight in telling Lucy (and us) about the worst excesses and truly weird things that have been done in the name of religion over the centuries. Relics, parts of bodies, the corruption of Popes, crusades (children), martyrdoms and true believers. I really enjoyed reading this stuff and it never once became a didactic device.

All the journeys end in personal revelation. Matthias makes a decision that directly answered his questions about truth and faith. Both Lucy and Hanrahan make decisions about life choices that are in in small part influenced by the 'voice of God.' Perhaps, to the non-religious, our conscience, our inner voice that we often have conversations with. Whatever it is I found the voice's interruptions both poignant and hilarious. The story finishes with the last chapter of the Gospel - very fitting. His last words acknowledge that the power, grace, nuture and love of women is where God resides - Sophia - the Greek idea of wisdom, not god - the word. Interesting. He ends with "we are living in the End Times". Sometimes it feels like we still are. But Lucy's final conversation with her God/Holy Spirit us that maybe, just maybe, we are not alone.

A truly good read.

[Matt Ruff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A naive Catholic grad student, an aging Theology professor, and a Brooklyn rabbi go on a wild chase across three continents in search of a lost Christian gospel. This is the novel that The Da Vinci Code only dreamed of being, and it's a crime that the author is not better known.

[Lew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sort of what 'The Da Vinci Code' might have been if Dan Brown was half the scholar and writer Barnhardt is. Makes you realize what a twisted skein is the history of Christianity. We could have ended up in many different places, for the worse or for the better.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me begin with the obligatory statement (seriously, check the other reviews) that Dan Brown wakes at night and cries into his pillow because nothing he's written has come even close to being as good as Gospel.

The novel takes place in the 80s and concerns an aging, male academic and a young, floundering, female grad student on the search for The Gospel of Matthias; the modern day search is interspersed with chapters of the gospel they're trying to find and translate. I read this for the first time as a grad student (somewhere between 2001-2003), and it blew me away. I was studying to convert to Catholicsm at the time, and I'd been reading a lot of Elaine Pagels (gnostic gospels) and hagiographies of saints and the history of Christianity and medieval mystics, and this book was just fascinating. It's heavily footnoted (and while the narrative is fictional as well as the gospel itself, the footnoted information is factual according to the author as is all the currents events stuff happening in the novel and much of the theological conversation the characters have). This was the first time I heard of the cult of Mithra or of Catherine of Siena wearing Jesus's foreskin as a magical wedding ring (naturally, it was invisible to everyone but Catherine).

On re-read, my love for this book is only slightly diminished. The Gospel of Matthias is both hilarious (unintentionally so because Matthias does not get what's happening around him half the time; he's constantly misinterpreting events) and ultimately moving because it's the quest of a man who'd been a minor disciple, only in the presence of Jesus a few time and mostly chosen because he's rich and can bankroll the ministry, to recover his lost faith.

Most of the book is the characters having theological arguments, telling theological dirty jokes, and cataloging all the bizarre anecdata of the Catholic Church. Those parts are still fun.

I like that the book turns the usual narrative about an aging male academic and his female grad student groupie on its head. Dr. O'Hanrahan is full of man pain; he's a womanizer and a drinker, and he lost his wife and kid in tragic accidents, and he's angry and disappointed that he never wrote that bestseller or made a huge mark on the academy despite all his promise--and the whole point of the book is that all his existential angst and nearly all of his problems are of his own making and he's reaping the consequences of his choices. Also, he and Lucy never have a romantic relationship (although the book seems to be going there a couple times, and I started to get nervous on this re-read because I couldn't remember that trajectory).

God gets a voice in this book; he speaks in parentheticals which are amusing and beautiful and full of mercy for his creation. I really like that authorial choice.

Having grown up in the community, I appreciate the depiction of Evangelical Christianity in all its tacky glory at the end of the novel. Considering the times we currently live in, that depiction seems eerily prescient.

I have some issues with the way that Lucy is presented: concerned about her weight and her virginity and etc. I also have some issues with the way race is handled at times. On the whole, I think this book does a good job of presenting multiple points of view about religion, however.

Definitely recommend this book, but it's a time investment at over 700 pages (with lots of eensy footnotes).

[Stan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this book because the trailer indicated it was like The DaVinci Code. That was definitely an overstatement. Nevertheless, it was entertaining enough to keep me interested, through all 900+ pages.

It's the story of the pursuit of a lost document--a fifth Gospel of the New Testament. I enjoyed the travelogue as the chase went to some interesting locales--Ireland, Rome, Africa. And along the way, we learn some of the interesting history of those places, much of which related to the religious events of import. One complaint I have is that it was not always clear what the protagonists hoped to accomplish in a given city, and in a few cases, they spent 50 pages getting to a destination and in single paragraph they learn that the person can't help them. No intrigue other than the adventure of getting there and the characters they meet.

The character development was really good. (It should be, given the length.) And we get to know the author's characterization of God, as God often interjects His thoughts into the narrative. Kind of fun.

The book is pretty bold in it's exposition of the dark side of organized religion. The primary target is the Catholic church, but Pentacostal, Islam and Judaism all get skewered to some degree. Yet, in spite of this, the book is not, IMO, outright anti-religion--somehow, it still promotes one to have faith. It is quite remarkable how it does this. That's one of the themes of the book: God exists and wants us to be faithful, yet he has to work with us fallible beings to bring about good in the world.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating 3.5 stars

This book was given to me by an acquaintance many years ago. I've been looking at it with a guilty conscience ever since because I think I was meant to return it to her. So, when I read The Book Borrower, I was inspired to give this lengthy tome a try. It was compared to The DaVinci Code in some reviews, but I don't think that is a fair comparison. The Gospel is a more difficult story to read but it is more rewarding in terms of character and plot development. There are a LOT of characters to keep track of, but it all comes together in the end and there is much growth in the main characters, Patrick O'Hanrahan and Lucy Dantan. In the meantime, the author has much to say about organized religion and faith. This was well worth taking the time to read.

[Jim Mcnulty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The research reflected in the footnotes of this book was impressive. The footnotes were informative and interesting. I would have given the book a rating of 2 stars absent the footnotes. The story presented in the book seemed to suffer from the author’s efforts to pack characters and geographic variety into the story. This was probably his attempt to add action to the story. More work on character development would likely have produced a better result. The periodic insertion of chapters from what amounts to the diary of Matthias was an interesting attempt to use a technique that would work better in a screen play. I have read a number of reviews that compare this book very favorably to the Dan Brown books. If this story makes it to the video world maybe the result will deserve comparison with Dan Brown’s work. But if a reader chooses this book because he likes Dan Brown novels I think he will be disappointed.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sadly forgotten gem of a book that was much better than so many other better selling volumes. Twenty five years after reading this book, the scene where the gospel writer, a rather sad, fringe, hanger-on of the other disciples once again meets Mary magdelaine is still vivid. She tells him that Jesus once did read his writing and found his lines:" men waste their lives in useless conflicts like children warring over rocks", worthy of praise. His joy after a lifetime of hard, obscure and doubt-filled effort, is palpable.
The audio book is splendid.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A search for a lost gospel takes 3 (or more) misfits across Europe, Asia Minor, and Africa in this astonishing novel. Witty, erudite, mind-expanding, and ultimately faithful, it gives us unforgettable characters you’ll fall in love with. And vivid commentary on history, theology, and current events (published in 1993, it’s still eerily current). I hated this to end even after 800 packed pages. (Yes, a careful editor might help some laggy parts, but that may just be me.) Masterful!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes referred to as better than The DaVinci Code, this book is fun and thoughtful; alternately quirky and informative. The best part was the voice of God, presented in parentheses, commenting on characters’ speech and thoughts. This book is a slowly-developing semi-thriller with a long lost gospel at its core. Good characters keep a sometimes plodding story interesting.

[Gary Alvstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorites. A tired, dying biblical scholar searches for his holy grail—a gospel written by one of the 12 disciples. All the while, the three Abrahamic religions are looking for it as well, hoping it will support their view of the historical Jesus and fearful that it will contradict their most fundamental beliefs.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wanted to like this book and perhaps learn something of early Christianity. I was prepared for challenges to what churches have made of Jesus and his teachings. And there were some interesting takes on what may have gone on in the first century of the Christian era. However I couldn’t stomach the main characters in this rambling story— a former Jesuit professor primarily interestedin his next drink, revenge and glory and a young grad student mostly needing to get laid. I had to quit less than half way through. What a relief to end the torture.

[Thomas Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book randomly from the store shelf, intrigued by the cover. Then reading the fly-leaf of cover, I was drawn in to want to know more... I am glad to have chanced upon this enjoyable read. I think the book is better than its place in the book listing pile.

[Teresa Buckley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting ideas but was really long and drawn out. Essentially 2 books in one. The story of the characters searching for the “lost gospel” and the “lost gospel” itself inserted in between. Lots of footnotes as well. I felt it was slow moving.

[Jenny Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful plot with intriguing characters. I love that Barnhardt included God as a character in the novel, with a tremendous sense of humor.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

400 pages in, half way through and I cannot take it any more. Weak story, poorly developed characters and way too long. Interesting church history is the only reason it gets any stars