But he appears to be
trying something new with his novel Jefferson
Burke and the Secret of the Lost Scroll .
It’s Indiana Jones without the
plausibility. It’s National Treasure without the charm and appeal of Nicolas
Cage. It’s The DaVinci Code without the clever word play and secret
codes.
The “secret scroll” of
the title is nothing less than an ancient document written in Aramaic, purportedly
by St. Joseph himself, that may reveal evidence that Jesus’ birth wasn’t
miraculous and divine. This scroll has
been protected and preserved through the millennia by a secret order known as
the Custodis Joseph Lacuna. In the search for this scroll Ace connects all
of the usual suspects in this sort of adventure story: the Vatican, the KGB,
the FBI, Adolf Hitler, Thomas Jefferson – but he also ropes in a few surprising
characters – Henry VIII, Robert Todd Lincoln, Reverend Charles Tindley and
Carol Lombard. The chase leads from The University of
Illinois to the mountains of Afghanistan, to London, and the deserts outside of
Las Vegas. There are gunfights and fist
fights, daring escapes and a kindling romance. All the usual fare.
None of it is very
convincing, though. Everything happens
but nothing connects. Characters come
into the story for a page or two in order to advance the story and then they’re
gone. It’s all flash and bang but there’s
no substance. But let’s put aside the
novel’s literary deficiencies for a moment and consider its deeper failures.
What if there were such
a scroll? The characters in the novel
are concerned that the publication of this scroll would lead to the immediate
collapse of Christianity, and bring about chaos and cataclysm around the
world. There is absolutely no discussion
in the book about proving the scroll’s authenticity, it’s conveniently assumed
to be real.
But...
1 – A scroll such as
the one described in Ace’s novel would be very suspect because of the lack of
provenance. Any document that changed
hands as often as the scroll in this story would be suspect. The chain of evidence isn’t clear.
2- Even if carbon
dating of the scroll (described as leather) and the ink could be proven to be
from the first century AD, this wouldn’t prove its authenticity. These things can be faked.
3 – The text would need
to be analyzed by scholars – does the writing match other writing samples of
the time period? Does the vocabulary
fit? There would be lengthy and heated debate
over the translation.
4 And even then the
question of its authenticity would not be resolved.
But Ace Collin’s doesn’t
seem to understand or care about any of that.
This is an adventure story, thinking isn’t necessary, as long as there
is lots of running and shooting and explosions…
And again… documents
claiming to cast doubt on the birth and divinity of Jesus are not new or extraordinary.
Celsus, a 2nd century
philosopher, wrote that Jesus' father was a Roman soldier named Panthera. Christianity has been dealing with questions
about Jesus’ humanity and divinity since the beginning. This is nothing new.
I wasn’t terribly
impressed by Ace Collin’s book. Maybe
you could tell.
Instead, might I suggest a similar book by Paul L. Maier – A Skeleton In God’s Closet. It has much of the same adventure flare (chases, daring escapes, a budding romance, etc…) but handles the difficulties and complexities much better – though Skeleton the question is of Jesus’ resurrection rather than his birth.
Instead, might I suggest a similar book by Paul L. Maier – A Skeleton In God’s Closet. It has much of the same adventure flare (chases, daring escapes, a budding romance, etc…) but handles the difficulties and complexities much better – though Skeleton the question is of Jesus’ resurrection rather than his birth.
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