Hmmm, have you ever thought about something, had lots of conversations about said topic, then got really excited when someone finally decided to write a book about it?
Yeah, me too.
The aforementioned topic would be all the years of Jesus' life not talked about in the Bible. Let's face it, we get a birth story full of animals and characters. Then we get one snippet of the childhood of Jesus at age 12. Then, WHAM!, it's Jesus taking down demons and loving on the sinners.
For anyone with an imagination, it leaves us wondering what it was like for Jesus, and His family, when He was a child or young adult. Was He always correcting His parents? Did His siblings ever try to get Him in trouble? Did Mary ever lose her patience and use His name in an incorrect manner? If so, was she breaking a commandment?
So I was excited to recieve a copy of The Silent Years by Alan W.C. Green. The story was told from the perspective of an Uncle He may have had, but largely fictional character, named Benaiah. He was a Pharisee who would serve to teach Jesus the Torah as a child.
Alan, for the most part, does a good job of weaving the unwritten parts with the record we have from the four Gospels. He does not seem overly concerned with everything fitting perfectly with the Gospel records. For instance, in Alan's version, there is no mention of any wise men or an escape to Egypt. Later, some of the miracles seem to be performed before Jesus actually starts His ministry. But I think we can allow some freedom here for the sake of imagination.
Yet, if the point was to give us a realistic look at what could have actually been, I was left a little wanting. Aside form the historical license Alan took, my biggest problem became the seemingly cluelessness Jesus had about Who He is. The vigin birth is discussed, but other than saying that Jesus probably had a special mission from God, there is no real mention of what the miraculous birth meant.
Alan does have Jesus referring to Himself as 'the Son of the Human', but even with that he stops short of painting Jesus as someone who had 100% clarity.
The story was entertaining, nonetheless, and would cause great thinking and great discussion. Alan does a great job of weaving familiar characters earlier in the life of Jesus in ways that one might not have considered before. It's worth the read.
I received this book from my friends at SpeakEasy. They give me books and ask that I talk about them. They don't tell me what to say, just a review.
You can find this book for purchase here.
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