This week's book was found on the bookshelf in my office. I think it was a gift for Drew this past Christmas. I doubt he will read it anytime soon, but I was in an odd mood when I picked it up, so...
Let me preface this review with this statement: I am not interested in Christian fiction (for the most part). I am not sure if that has anything to do with this book, because I am not sure if it was intended to be purely Christian fiction. The book was published in 1994 and is called A Skeleton in God's Closet. It is written by Paul L. Maier (who makes another appearance on our bookshelf in the form of editor for Josephus's works), a professor at Western Michigan University.
The story is Maier's answer to the question, "What would happen if the bones of Jesus Himself were discovered?" While I do not agree with some of his conclusions regarding the fallout of this "authentic" discovery, I did find the discovery the best part of the novel. This must be because I wanted to be an archeologist when I was going through my "A" phase, for about 10 minutes. Much of this part of the book comes in the first quarter, so the rest lags. After the discovery of "Jesus's bones," I am assuming Maier wanted to become a political thriller writer. He did not succeed. This is mostly due to the fact that his dialogue was lacking. He alternates between professor-like teaching dialogue to attempts at love-story dialogue. Both made me want to throw the book against a wall.
I must admit, however that the "how is he going to prove those aren't Jesus's bones" story was what kept me reading. I guess it is just the faith in me that never let me think they were actually his, no matter what Maier wanted me to believe. Sorry to spoil the ending: it is a hoax, but you already knew that didn't you?
Rating: 1
-L
No comments:
Post a Comment