Reviewed by: Virginia Peterson
Ministry Title: Former Rochester, New York church librarian
Introduction
Title: The Jesus Chronicles: Mark’s Story
Author: Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins
Publisher: Berkley Praise, New York
Publication Date: 2007
Format: Print & ebook
Length: 362 pages
OVERVIEW
Best known for their Left Behind series, the authors here present a fictionalized biography of the author of the Gospel of Mark. With Mark widely believed by Bible scholars to be a confidant of the apostle Peter, and the recorder of his experiences with Jesus, the book describes the known and probable interactions between Mark and Peter as the early church grew and spread after Jesus’ death. It also describes the apostle Paul’s interactions with Peter in his role as another prominent member of the early church.
Understandably, the authors wanted to have the characters accurately speak what is recorded in the books of Mark, Acts, and other epistles, but the insertion of whole portions of the NKJV Bible text, only lightly paraphrased at times and without footnotes, was a little jarring. The style differences made me want to skip ahead because of familiarity with the insertions and the non-naturalness of some passages used as spoken speech. Also the book could have benefited from an authors’ introduction or epilogue that would explain which parts of the story are taken from tradition, in addition to the biblical text, and which are purely fictional on their part.
The authors have written similar books for the other three gospel writers.
ASSESSMENT
Rating (1 to 5)
3.5
Suggested Audience
Teen and adult
Christian Impact
Good for filling in some of the historical gaps in the Bible record and in fleshing out some incidents.
The end of the book contains the complete text of the Gospel of Mark, and 1st and 2nd Peter, in the New King James Version.
Interested in reviewing a book, movie, album, or other type of media for our website? We would love to hear from you! Find out more about how to submit media reviews.
No comments yet... Be the first to leave a reply!