The Ephesus Fragment

by Gary E. Parker

The discovery of a parchment fragment in Turkey purporting to be a message from Mary throws the world into turmoil as archaeologists and others try to gain possession of it, convinced that it re-writes the history of Jesus. Original.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Suspense, Fiction

Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

The only current Southern Baptist pastor to have written 11 novels, 4 novellas and 4 non-fiction books in the last twelve years, prolific best-selling author Gary E. Parker has combined his love of history and the Civil War era to pen his latest historical novel, Secret Tides.

The first novel from Southern Tides (Parker’s latest trilogy of sweeping family sagas), Secret Tides paints a true and compelling portrait of love and forgiveness in a stunningly authentic historical setting.

Selected as a Crossing Book Club featured fiction writer and named a Christy Award finalist for his previous historical series writing, Parker has seen his novels soar up the best-seller charts.

As a boy, long before he became a Christian, Parker read The Robe. That book became an early whisper of the Spirit in his life, driving his interest in spiritual things along with a love for writing. Within a couple of weeks after conversion at 18 years old, Parker felt called to Christian ministry, receiving his Master of Divinity and later his Ph.D. in historical theology from Baylor University.

Referring to his fictional writing as “faith-informed fiction,” Parker feels that his writing makes him a better preacher, and preaching a sermon regularly makes him a better writer. His goal is to tell a quality story and let the message come through the story and character development naturally, rather than trying to make some theological point.

Parker and his wife, Melody reside in Decatur, Georgia with their two teenage daughters. He is Sr. pastor of the First Baptist Church of Decatur, and a frequent conference speaker at seminaries, university campuses, national conventions and convocations. He’s a regular contributor to national Christian publications, and is currently writing Fateful Journey, the second book in the Southern Tides trilogy, along with four new novellas. In his spare time, he enjoys distance biking, golfing, and reading.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a book I would read again. The plot is pretty good, but the writing is odd. I've never seen such strange collection of similes and descriptions in one place. "The sky was the color of bad chalk." What in the world is bad chalk? In an effort to be descriptive, the writer throws in statements that are just distracting. Over explanation of character's thoughts and motives leave no room for inference. Often character statements caused me to stop and think about how unlikely it seemed that person would use those words. Again, the plot is interesting, and the ending is clever. This is why I kept reading.

[Chantal · Rating 5 out of 5]

along the lines of a "da vinci code" read. Interesting.