In this warm, personal story-rich in cultural details--Luke meets Mary, the mother of Jesus, and learns of Jesus' life and ministry through her memories.
Roberta Kells Dorr, born in the roaring twenties, survived the depression on a farm in Minnesota. She earned her Masters at Louisville's Southern Seminary and spent the next seventeen years with her surgeon husband and five children, serving as missionaries in the Gaza Strip & Jibla, Yemen. Here she had opportunity to extensively research and intimately explore the larger-than-life characters of her historical-biblical novels.
This book feels a bit self conscious but the story itself is one I've wondered about - how did Luke learn for the re-telling Mary's story ? what steps and travels led him to the stories he came to know? here's one way it could have happened .
Colm Toibin wrote of an alternative way in his The Testament of Mary that the disciples could have known and molded Mary's story for future generations - maybe both are possible? maybe neither? but Roberta Kells Dorr's Mary has found a peace that Toibin's Mary's grief will not allow.
Another book that I read to Diana. We can't do much anymore after her stroke, so I read to her to spend time together. Diana has always loved to have someone to read to her - and I like to do just that.
Apparently we had read this book before. The story is of Luke interviewing Mary, the mother of Jesus. Per the book, he first met and talked with Mary in Jerusalem, then traveled with her and John to Bethlehem to revisit the birthplace of Jesus and to talk with one of the shepherds that visited Jesus in the stable.
This book touched me deeply as I read. I love this author's ability to help you see biblical characters through the historical background provided. I could visualize and empathize with the emotions of the story. I want to read her other books. Delightful and inspiring!
The book was interesting in that it was from the perspective of Luke, the physician turned gospel-writer. He traveled from Antioch to meet Mary and learn about Jesus. But it was kind of lackluster compared to Three Days by Melody Carlson. Meh.
Lovely book read near Christmas 2011. Written by my friend Roberta Kells Dorr ... who has passed away, a wonderful woman who served on the medical missions field with her husband and five children for 17 years. The story line of this book is about Greek physician Luke who sails with a friend to Jerusalem to meet the mother of Jesus and learn if there is any truth to the stories he's heard about Jesus ... especially 'the strange story that she was a virgin when she conceived.' ... Lovely book of Mary's story ... and the accounts Luke gathers from others ... like Lazarus' story. Having lived in the area, Dorr adds so much authenticity to the story. It makes you feel you've slipped into the past ... and it was an inspirational novel to read at the Christmas season
Another book that I read to Diana. We can't do much anymore after her stroke, so I read to her to spend time together. Diana has always loved to have someone to read to her - and I like to do just that.
The jest of the story was that Luke, a Greek, sailed to Jerusalem to interview Mary, Jesus' mother, to learn if the things that he had heard about Jesus was true. The story was rather abbreviated, it mostly covered Jesus' birth, the coming of the shepherds visit and a bit about Mary, Lazarth's sister. There was much more that could have been included. Maybe there is more that was not included in the Kindle version.
Dorr has captured the story of Jesus' birth from his mother's perspective as she shares her recollections with Luke, the physician. His hunger for knowledge and understanding and his being a Greek (an outsider to Hebrew culture)contribute to the success of this fresh look at the birth narrative.
Often Scripture gives only the skeleton without details. Dorr gives us the imaginary details, adding insight to the familiar stories and bringing characters to life.
The first notable thing about this book is its size. It’s small. Really, it might actually be a short story. There are eighty-six pages in the hard copy I found in my church library.