Official Review: The Antioch Testament by Donald Joiner
Posted: 04 Nov 2016, 14:02
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Antioch Testament" by Donald Joiner.]
2 out of 4 stars
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Faith is so often forged through perilous times. Author Donald Joiner paints a picture of this in his novel, The Antioch Testament. The story begins in Iraq, where American troops help to rescue a group of Iraqi Christians on the run from a militant attack. A severely wounded priest salvages an old, heavy book from the attack, determined to get the book into the hands of the American army chaplain there. The chaplain then manages to have the book shipped to the United States for private safekeeping.
A small team of scholars in the U.S. begins to translate the book, an ancient testament written in Aramaic. It proves to be an early account of what happened to the apostles of Jesus in the years following Christ’s resurrection. However, keeping the book turns out not to be so safe. Aware of the missing book’s importance, a group of Iraqi insurgents are dead set on tracking the book down. They mean to destroy the testament before its contents can be made public.
This novel opens somewhat like a military thriller. The author introduces several characters in a fairly short time as the dangerous situation in Iraq unfolds. Admittedly, I had some trouble keeping all the initial characters and their backstories straight. When a number of characters are described at the beginning of a novel, it often signifies that those characters will play needed roles later on. Yet, only a relative handful of the characters are involved through most of this book. The other initial characters have, essentially, nothing to do with the rest of the story. Hence, I wasn’t clear on why they’d been introduced with such detail and background information.
Religious and historical facts and accounts are plainly pertinent to the author’s message. However, as most of these facts and accounts come by way of the characters’ conversations, their dialogue doesn’t generally seem natural. On several different occasions, the characters apologize for sharing long explanations with their listeners. Consequently, it seems like the author is giving the reader a series of lengthy essays throughout the book, apologizing to the reader for doing so.
Still, my main concern with the book is that it falls into a predictable pattern from chapter to chapter and ceases to flow like much of a novel. Once the characters delve into the ancient testament, it becomes evident that the apostles and the early Church are the novel’s major focus. While that is not at all a poor focus for the story, the character and plot development is largely neglected in the process of reading the testament. Even the insurgents’ conspiracy falls into the background. Their schemes to steal the testament aren’t played out in action scenes but are mostly summarized in relatively brief phone conversations.
Naturally, the testament itself doesn’t flow like a novel. Its chapters give more of an overview of the apostles’ experiences, highlighting some of their key testimonies. Perhaps The Antioch Testament would’ve worked better as a novel if it had dual, alternating storylines, one for the present day and one for the early Church. Instead of the present day characters only sitting down to read the testament’s overviews verbatim, the apostles could have been characters themselves. Their most pivotal triumphs and trials could have been made into scenes with progressive drama, dialogue, and emotion unfolding in real time. In that way, the novel might have developed more in the style of historical fiction.
Overall, I give The Antioch Testament a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. While the novel may be targeting historical fiction readers, its style could possibly put many fiction readers off. However, readers and scholars with a keen interest in early Church history and Christian tradition may find value in the book’s thorough historical content.
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The Antioch Testament
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2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Faith is so often forged through perilous times. Author Donald Joiner paints a picture of this in his novel, The Antioch Testament. The story begins in Iraq, where American troops help to rescue a group of Iraqi Christians on the run from a militant attack. A severely wounded priest salvages an old, heavy book from the attack, determined to get the book into the hands of the American army chaplain there. The chaplain then manages to have the book shipped to the United States for private safekeeping.
A small team of scholars in the U.S. begins to translate the book, an ancient testament written in Aramaic. It proves to be an early account of what happened to the apostles of Jesus in the years following Christ’s resurrection. However, keeping the book turns out not to be so safe. Aware of the missing book’s importance, a group of Iraqi insurgents are dead set on tracking the book down. They mean to destroy the testament before its contents can be made public.
This novel opens somewhat like a military thriller. The author introduces several characters in a fairly short time as the dangerous situation in Iraq unfolds. Admittedly, I had some trouble keeping all the initial characters and their backstories straight. When a number of characters are described at the beginning of a novel, it often signifies that those characters will play needed roles later on. Yet, only a relative handful of the characters are involved through most of this book. The other initial characters have, essentially, nothing to do with the rest of the story. Hence, I wasn’t clear on why they’d been introduced with such detail and background information.
Religious and historical facts and accounts are plainly pertinent to the author’s message. However, as most of these facts and accounts come by way of the characters’ conversations, their dialogue doesn’t generally seem natural. On several different occasions, the characters apologize for sharing long explanations with their listeners. Consequently, it seems like the author is giving the reader a series of lengthy essays throughout the book, apologizing to the reader for doing so.
Still, my main concern with the book is that it falls into a predictable pattern from chapter to chapter and ceases to flow like much of a novel. Once the characters delve into the ancient testament, it becomes evident that the apostles and the early Church are the novel’s major focus. While that is not at all a poor focus for the story, the character and plot development is largely neglected in the process of reading the testament. Even the insurgents’ conspiracy falls into the background. Their schemes to steal the testament aren’t played out in action scenes but are mostly summarized in relatively brief phone conversations.
Naturally, the testament itself doesn’t flow like a novel. Its chapters give more of an overview of the apostles’ experiences, highlighting some of their key testimonies. Perhaps The Antioch Testament would’ve worked better as a novel if it had dual, alternating storylines, one for the present day and one for the early Church. Instead of the present day characters only sitting down to read the testament’s overviews verbatim, the apostles could have been characters themselves. Their most pivotal triumphs and trials could have been made into scenes with progressive drama, dialogue, and emotion unfolding in real time. In that way, the novel might have developed more in the style of historical fiction.
Overall, I give The Antioch Testament a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. While the novel may be targeting historical fiction readers, its style could possibly put many fiction readers off. However, readers and scholars with a keen interest in early Church history and Christian tradition may find value in the book’s thorough historical content.
******
The Antioch Testament
View: on Bookshelves
Like NadineTimes10's review? Post a comment saying so!
