What I’m Reading – Jefferson Burke and the Secret of the Lost Scroll

 Before reading this book, I’d never heard of the author Ace Collins, who –apparently- has been quite prolific over the years, cranking out more than 60 books .  He’s written several books about the stories behind popular and favorite music (Best Loved Songs of Christmas, America’s Best Loved Patriotic Songs, Elvis’ #1 Hits,ect…) biographies of country music artists, and even a few how-to books (Lasso Roping, Hula Dancing, Balloon Animals, Sidewalk Chalk Art, etc…)

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 2^nd 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.