John Neeleman

As a religious person I was verrry interested in reading this book and kepy trying to get it on goodreads so I could read it! And lucky for me, the kind souls on this site let me read it from here. I thought it was good, I really did. It made sense, it was intriguing and I'm not so set in my ways that I didn't find this interesting (because I did). But parts of this book were soooo long and so drawn out that I found my mind wandering and me losing interest. I would still recommend it to people though because it is an extremely well done book, but for me it's a 3 out of 5 stars.… (lisätietoja)

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

So I have to confess, I'm actually not that much of a fan of historical fiction, which makes it problematic when I'm occasionally called on to review such a book at CCLaP, because I find it difficult to determine the difference between a great one and a mediocre one. Take the recent Logos by John Neeleman for a good example; a fictional account of the start of Christianity, which for those who don't know didn't really become a codified religion until decades after the death of the actual "historical Jesus" (that is, the actual guy who really was a radical Jewish prophet during the height of the Roman Empire, whether or not you believe he was the literal son of God), this is a nicely complicated look at the various "strains" of Judaism that existed in those years, including the poor, philosophical, apocalyptic ones who originally founded Christianity as a "death cult" akin to the contemporary Heaven's Gate, the whole thing written in the style of a modern action tale. But is it actually a good read? That's hard for me to tell, because I nod out of such stories pretty quickly regardless of their quality; so I suppose I will give a middle-of-the-road score today, leaning on the good side since there wasn't anything here that was actively terrible, although with the warning that if you don't naturally find modern three-act novels set in ancient times to be inherently interesting already, this book certainly isn't going to change that.

Out of 10: 8.0… (lisätietoja)

Title: Logos: A Novel of Christianity’s Origin
Author: John Neeleman
Pages: 424
Year: 2015
Publisher: Homebound Publications

John Neeleman’s novel Logos: A Novel of Christianity’s Origin follows the life of a priest of the Pharisee sect of Judaism named Jacob ben Aaron. The story covers several years leading up to the Jewish Wars, including the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70 and beyond. Several historical characters and events are present in the story to help the novel move along; however, it must be clear that this is a work of fiction and should not be considered the truth of what actually occurred except for those events that can be verified by historical evidence.
Although the novel appears to be well researched, the ending would be considered at worst blasphemous to devout Christian believers and at best extremely poor theology. The ending strongly indicates that the Gospel was written by the main character and that it was a mere myth made up in order to unite the early churches into a single body and provide a moral center that transcends humanity and the political world of the first century. In addition, the time period for this Gospel would be wrong as, according to the novel, is written by Jacob in A.D. 85 whereas the earliest Gospel (Mark) probably was written around A.D. 65-70 according to some biblical scholars.
I liked the historical perspective of the Jewish Wars with Rome and the cultural background that was shown. I also thought the characters were realistically written within their historical and cultural context based on what I studied of that period. Nevertheless, there were a few points that were disappointing in addition to the aforementioned heresy that the Gospel was fabricated. From a literary point of view, much of the beginning and several other places within the novel lacked balance between narrative and dialogue. The author had a lot of narrative, but narrative tells without showing what is happening. Narrative is important, but there was too much, at times, which made the reading somewhat cumbersome. It is understandable that the author would write more narrative because of his background as a trial lawyer, and narrative is what lawyers tend to relate in order to make a case go their way. Also, there were sexual scenes that were fairly descriptive. Sex is a part of the human experience, but intimacy should be a private matter and graphic descriptions of this personal act did not advance this story. An allusion to the act, without all the intimate details, would be more than sufficient if it is a vital part of a novel.
Overall, I would not recommend Logos: A Novel of Christianity’s Origin for Christians and those seeking to know the biblical Jesus. My rating is 2.
Guest review by Cleve Johnson
Note: I received a complimentary copy for an honest review of this book. The opinions shared in this review are solely my responsibility. Other reviews can be read at http://seekingwithallyurheart.blogspot.com/ . Also follow me on Twitter@lcjohnson1988, FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/lisa.johnson.75457… (lisätietoja)

Logos by John Neeleman is a historical novel that embeds the reader in the daily lives of people living in Jerusalem, part of the Roman Empire during the first century AD. The focus of the story of the origin of Christianity is on the drive toward power of privileged ruling and intellectual classes of Romans, Jews, and others. The politicians, military, scholars, and religious had exclusive access to and control of information. They were the keepers of this vital resource and were passionate about using it to establish ways of life controlling social, economic, political, and religious behavior. The leaders believed that governance requires a logos, principles and knowledge of human existence that are required for a genuine understanding and acceptance by all members of society.

The ancient Greeks established a logos that represented an understanding of the need for living order based on a system of legends, a mythology. The Jews had established a logos that was developed by ancient Hebrews that described one transcendent God who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses and Hebrew prophets. The logos developed by Jews was self-contained, geographically centered in Jerusalem, and carefully described in sacred scrolls. The tradition of Moses and the Ten Commandments was a starting point for conscious conformity of Jews to a simple and direct logos. The Roman leaders realized that a logos must apply not only to the privileged classes, but must be presented to the masses in a way that justified the leaders’ territorial and societal control. In the Roman Empire, daily living rewards and punishments and the sacrifice of lives and treasure in war should be immediately understandable and justified for all, including the undereducated lower classes.

In this novel, Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was a triumph in secular strength and dominance over the Jewish logos. In order for Christianity to develop, documents were needed describing a logos involving a single god and a single set of rules for people to understand in which all people have personal freedom within limits. Under the rule of the Romans, a Gospel was needed that would allow people to conform to secular rules and maintain a sense of divinely given individual free will. It seemed that in order to maintain a stable logos, a combination of Christian principles and understanding offering a fundamental separation of state and church was required.

The story of the novel involves the thoughts and actions of the wandering Jew, Jacob as he lived and traveled in and around Jerusalem and ultimately Rome. His mother, Helen, was a Jew whose people were scholars, Lawyers, judges, mayors, and philosophers. She was well-educated and spoke Greek and Latin and rarely spoke Hebrew except with her husband. Jacob’s father was a carpenter and a priest who spoke only Hebrew and Aramaic. His people were tradesmen and priests concentrated in Jerusalem who had built and maintained the Holy Temple. Through the influence of his mother, Jacob was given a classical education in Greek, Latin, and Mathematics by Marcus, a Jew with the finest and most extensive library in Jerusalem. Through the influence of his successful father, Jacob learned the building trade through an apprenticeship.
Jacob’s unique education, training, and privileged social status allowed him to associate with the leaders of government, commerce, and religion. He travels throughout the Middle East experiencing and learning from the people living under Roman rule, and the relatively small groups of people who had found a separate peace in remote areas outside of the mainstream of commerce, war, and religion. Jacob was accepted as an intelligent and usually non-threatening observer of many of the government, military, and religious leaders of his time. Was Jacob the one chosen by man and God to write a unifying logos of Christianity? Did many years of study, sacrifice, travel, connections, and interactions with both secular and religious leaders qualify him to write a uniquely Christian Gospel?

Logos is a challenge to read because of the rich detail of the history of the First Century AD. The reader travels with Jacob driven by a search for a unifying philosophy, a logos, that would appeal to a broad range of people from the ruling classes and the undereducated masses. The novel certainly made me consider the importance of a universal unifying logos in our current international state of affairs.… (lisätietoja)