What do you think?
Rate this book
The Seeds of Christianity #3
Apostle
Reviewers “The first two installments, Witness and Disciple, set the expectations bar high. Apostle clears it with room to spare.”… “Historical figures blend effortlessly with the fictional.” “The true delight of “The Seeds of Christianity” is not just the great storyline, but the historical setting the author so brilliantly depicts.” In Book Three of the Seeds of Christianity Series follows the lives of Rivkah and Shemu’el as they continue to spread the good news in Antioch and beyond. Tensions surface as the number of non-Jewish converts rises in Antioch. Barnabas brings Paul, but some oppose his new role. Sha’oul, now renamed Paul, leaves on his first missionary journey accompanied by Barnabus and Yohan Markus. This saga of the Early Church takes a troubling turn when their youngest son adopts a pagan lifestyle. Antioch trembles in the grip of a ruthless serial killer. While Pavlos roams the streets looking for him, Shemu’el fears he already knows the killer’s identity. Meanwhile in Rome, the Emperor Claudius tires of the ongoing conflict between the Christians and the Jews. Believing Christianity to be a sect of Judaism, he expels all Jews from Rome. Simon Petros is forced to leave his flock behind as he carries the Gospel to new lands and peoples. When all seems lost, Atticus is promoted to the office of Tribunus Medicus Militum, placing him in command of all of the army’s medical corps. He and his family travel to Rome to fill the gap left by Simon Petros’ departure. The beloved disciple, Yohan, has relocated to Ephesus for Miryam’s protection. He brings Shemu’el Evodius a new convert named Ignatius and asks him to mentor the young man. Though surrounded by chaos, the church in Antioch continues to grow in size and influence under Evodius’ competent leadership.
332 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2011
7 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
E.G. Lewis
14 books21 followersEdward (E. G.) Lewis was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a young man he lived and worked in Kentucky and traveled the back roads of its Appalachian hill country for many years. Memories of this wonderfully wild place and its people became the inspiration of his novel, PROMISES.
A former newspaper editor and publisher, his articles have appeared in many national and regional magazines. He writes both Commercial fiction and Christian/Biblical Fiction. Two — PROMISES, Commercial Women’s Fiction, and WITNESS, Book One of the Seeds of Christianity Series™ — are currently available. Disciple, Book Two of the Seeds of Christianity Series™, is slated for release in Spring of 2010 followed by LOST, a Commercial Novel.
He holds a graduate degree in Economics from Ohio State University and worked in planning and corporate management before deciding to become a fulltime novelist. He's currently working on another in the Seeds of Christianity Series™ along with a love story set in occupied France during WWII. He and his wife, Gail, also a writer, live on the Southern Oregon Coast with more pets than he thinks they need.
A former newspaper editor and publisher, his articles have appeared in many national and regional magazines. He writes both Commercial fiction and Christian/Biblical Fiction. Two — PROMISES, Commercial Women’s Fiction, and WITNESS, Book One of the Seeds of Christianity Series™ — are currently available. Disciple, Book Two of the Seeds of Christianity Series™, is slated for release in Spring of 2010 followed by LOST, a Commercial Novel.
He holds a graduate degree in Economics from Ohio State University and worked in planning and corporate management before deciding to become a fulltime novelist. He's currently working on another in the Seeds of Christianity Series™ along with a love story set in occupied France during WWII. He and his wife, Gail, also a writer, live on the Southern Oregon Coast with more pets than he thinks they need.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 27, 2011
Apostle is the third in E.G. Lewis’s Seeds of Christianity series, set in the times of the early Christian Church. Historical and Biblical events take place for the most part off-stage while Shemu’el cares for his flock as bishop of Antioch and his wife Rivkah continues her ministry among the women and children. Real people face problems as familiar today as they must have been then. Rivkah and Shemu’el’s rebellious son absconds, daughter Hadassah continues to fight her quick temper, Channah struggles to forgive, and the stranger Tryphena leaves her unwanted child like Moses in a basket at the Christian compound’s door. Meanwhile politics, religion and military might jostle for position in a very plausible ancient society, with well-chosen quotes from the Bible and other historical documents to set the scene.
Author E.G. Lewis fills his novel with fascinating research without ever lecturing the reader. The art of firing pots is as convincingly portrayed as that of preparing and prescribing healing herbs. Aqueducts are planned and built with their attendant, and foul-smelling, sewers. Food and drink tempt with their scents and taste. And the teaming streets of the red light district shout with danger.
Characters are beautifully drawn too, from autistic giant to obstinate widow to the more famous Peter and Paul—nobody perfect, but everyone worth saving. Wise lessons are threaded into the tale—the power of forgiveness, the gift of mercy, and the healing of love. The God of these pages is ever-present in the characters’ lives, but never intrusive in the tale or the history. It might well have happened like this, and this telling makes for an enjoyable, uplifting read.
Disclosure: The author gave me an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Author E.G. Lewis fills his novel with fascinating research without ever lecturing the reader. The art of firing pots is as convincingly portrayed as that of preparing and prescribing healing herbs. Aqueducts are planned and built with their attendant, and foul-smelling, sewers. Food and drink tempt with their scents and taste. And the teaming streets of the red light district shout with danger.
Characters are beautifully drawn too, from autistic giant to obstinate widow to the more famous Peter and Paul—nobody perfect, but everyone worth saving. Wise lessons are threaded into the tale—the power of forgiveness, the gift of mercy, and the healing of love. The God of these pages is ever-present in the characters’ lives, but never intrusive in the tale or the history. It might well have happened like this, and this telling makes for an enjoyable, uplifting read.
Disclosure: The author gave me an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
September 17, 2014
I love this series!
After reading the first, book I did something I almost never do. I immediately went to Amazon and downloaded the other three books in the series. I had picked up Witness when it was free, and I have almost 500 free unread books in my Kindle. Yet, I hurried to pay full price (albeit an extremely reasonable price) for three more books and read them right away.
In this book, I felt like I was right there in Antioch with the great leaders and ordinary Christians of the early Church.
Although there were editing errors, especially homonyms, they did not take away from the reading experience.
I highly recommend this entire series to anyone who enjoys a good story well-told and who likes to learn about the early days of Christianity.
After reading the first, book I did something I almost never do. I immediately went to Amazon and downloaded the other three books in the series. I had picked up Witness when it was free, and I have almost 500 free unread books in my Kindle. Yet, I hurried to pay full price (albeit an extremely reasonable price) for three more books and read them right away.
In this book, I felt like I was right there in Antioch with the great leaders and ordinary Christians of the early Church.
Although there were editing errors, especially homonyms, they did not take away from the reading experience.
I highly recommend this entire series to anyone who enjoys a good story well-told and who likes to learn about the early days of Christianity.
August 9, 2011
E.G. Lewis Love the excitement and accurate depiction of First Century Judean life portrayed in Mr. Lewis's novels. He does his research and his stories fascinate. Highly recommend the entire "Seeds of Christianity" Series!
July 8, 2016
The family joins the Way of Yeshua ... amazing, historic rendition that is educational and inspiring. Did you know that the followers of The Way were the early Christians? Or, that they rescued discarded pagan babies and raised them? Why did they draw a fish in the dust to identify themselves? So much information told as entertainment. Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews