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A Week in the Life
A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem
It's AD 70. And amidst smoke, clamor, and terror, Jerusalem is falling to the Romans, its temple being destroyed. As Jews and Christians try to escape the city, we travel with some of them through an imagined week of flight and faith. A scribe makes his way into Galilee in search of records of Jesus' life and teachings. A company of women, responding to a prophecy, travels the route to a new life in Pella. We see friends reunited, join a worship gathering of Jesus followers, and discover treasured manuscripts. In this imaginative and entertaining narrative, New Testament scholar Ben Witherington leads us behind the veil of centuries to see and experience the historical and social realities of this epochal event. Allowing the light of what we do know to conjure possible events, A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem is a fun and informative journey into the wrinkles and folds of a lost story.
192 pages, Paperback
Published August 22, 2017
32 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Ben Witherington III
129 books151 followersBen Witherington III (PhD, University of Durham) is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and is on the doctoral faculty at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is the author or coauthor of more than thirty books, including The Jesus Quest, The Paul Quest, and The New York Times bestseller The Brother of Jesus. He has appeared on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 18, 2019
Making a book partially non-fiction and partially fiction is not a good idea.
You start reading non-fiction part, which gives a lot of details and all of a sudden some fiction throws you off. You cannot take this seriously. It might have been an interesting read, if the whole book was non-fiction.
When I grabbed the book, I thought it was historical-fiction, once I realized that it was ‘something new on the market’ I didn’t even bother finishing reading it.
You start reading non-fiction part, which gives a lot of details and all of a sudden some fiction throws you off. You cannot take this seriously. It might have been an interesting read, if the whole book was non-fiction.
When I grabbed the book, I thought it was historical-fiction, once I realized that it was ‘something new on the market’ I didn’t even bother finishing reading it.
August 7, 2017
Within a generation not one stone would be left on another of Herod's temple according to the prophecies of Jesus.
This short account of the fall of Jerusalem has two different narratives - the first being of what it was like in the last week of three women who were followers of Christ. Joanna, Mary and Martha. The 2nd narrative was more commentary with pictures of the actual sight and the significance. As always, history of what happened gives us a better appreciation of God's redemptive plan and the church that is the vessel of that plan. That being said, I appreciated that part of the text. The novel type account of the followers of Christ was very one dimensional so it was difficult for me to be engaged in that part.
For the informative part, I would recommend this text as it gave new light to the early church and how the prophecies of Christ proved trustworthy.
A Special Thank You to Intervarsity Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
This short account of the fall of Jerusalem has two different narratives - the first being of what it was like in the last week of three women who were followers of Christ. Joanna, Mary and Martha. The 2nd narrative was more commentary with pictures of the actual sight and the significance. As always, history of what happened gives us a better appreciation of God's redemptive plan and the church that is the vessel of that plan. That being said, I appreciated that part of the text. The novel type account of the followers of Christ was very one dimensional so it was difficult for me to be engaged in that part.
For the informative part, I would recommend this text as it gave new light to the early church and how the prophecies of Christ proved trustworthy.
A Special Thank You to Intervarsity Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
August 24, 2017
Ben Witherington III is Jean R. Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. Witherington is a world-class New Testament scholar and the author of over forty books, including Invitation to the New Testament: First Things, Isaiah Old and New: Exegesis, Intertextuality, and Hermeneutics, A Week in the Life of Corinth, and the present volume A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem.
A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem is a rich and thrilling display of historical fiction that blends a clear and faithful understanding of the ancient world with a sensible storyline that eclipses the historical gaps. Witherington knows the ancient world surrounding the fall of Jerusalem well and is able to captivate the attention of the reader to both instruct and entertain simultaneously. The readers acquainted with Witherington’s previous work A Week in the Life of Corinth will be familiar with his ability to execute this format with excellence.
The book itself is brief, but fascinating. Personally, I’m not much of a fan of fiction, even historical fiction. But, what Witherington has accomplished here will be surprising and exciting to many readers. In fact, I think at points readers may even need to remind themselves that the narrative is mostly educated conjecture and not factual accounts. It’s just that captivating. Not only does he provide an imaginative glance into one of the most significant events of the early Christian movement, but he also provides numerous illustrations and excerpts that allow the reader to connect the narrative to reality. Again, those familiar with A Week in the Life of Corinth (or even A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion by Gary M. Burge) will be accustomed to this feature, but I have to say A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem does a much better job of bridging these two worlds.
Providing a blend of entertainment and education, A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem by Ben Witherington III will be an excellent addition to any library. It could function well as an undergraduate-level supplemental textbook for a New Testament course. It allows readers of all backgrounds to venture as deep as they want and offers an up-to-date exploration of first century Jerusalem through the lenses of one of the most catastrophic events to reach the early church. It will give the reader much to ponder. To be honest, you might not think about the background of the New Testament in same again. It comes highly recommended.
A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem is a rich and thrilling display of historical fiction that blends a clear and faithful understanding of the ancient world with a sensible storyline that eclipses the historical gaps. Witherington knows the ancient world surrounding the fall of Jerusalem well and is able to captivate the attention of the reader to both instruct and entertain simultaneously. The readers acquainted with Witherington’s previous work A Week in the Life of Corinth will be familiar with his ability to execute this format with excellence.
The book itself is brief, but fascinating. Personally, I’m not much of a fan of fiction, even historical fiction. But, what Witherington has accomplished here will be surprising and exciting to many readers. In fact, I think at points readers may even need to remind themselves that the narrative is mostly educated conjecture and not factual accounts. It’s just that captivating. Not only does he provide an imaginative glance into one of the most significant events of the early Christian movement, but he also provides numerous illustrations and excerpts that allow the reader to connect the narrative to reality. Again, those familiar with A Week in the Life of Corinth (or even A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion by Gary M. Burge) will be accustomed to this feature, but I have to say A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem does a much better job of bridging these two worlds.
Providing a blend of entertainment and education, A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem by Ben Witherington III will be an excellent addition to any library. It could function well as an undergraduate-level supplemental textbook for a New Testament course. It allows readers of all backgrounds to venture as deep as they want and offers an up-to-date exploration of first century Jerusalem through the lenses of one of the most catastrophic events to reach the early church. It will give the reader much to ponder. To be honest, you might not think about the background of the New Testament in same again. It comes highly recommended.
January 30, 2021
I love this book series! There is something about being put into the story that gives me more insight into the biblical story. I appreciate the historical background interspersed throughout as well.
May 29, 2023
Love the concept but there were so many characters, so many plot lines, and such short and choppy chapters that I had trouble following what was really happening until 2/3 of the way through.
June 21, 2017
FTC fair notice: I received an advanced copy of this book on Kindle via NetGalley. This review is my own honest assessment.
This book is an attempt to interest the reader in important non-fiction elements of first century Palestinian life while weaving in a fictional story with familiar characters from the Gospels. Witherington has four different fictional storylines going while including sidebars to examine particular details that come out in his narrative. From the sidebars you can learn more about specific Greek words, geography, artifacts, see pictures, and more. Key takeaways are how houses were designed in Palestine, how we think house churches ran, how slavery and manumission worked, etc. I learned, for example, that Greeks and Romans bleached their tunics white by using urine. It was not unusual for wealthy households to have laundry people on their property washing linens in urine all day. (This will change your thinking on any "white as snow" passage you read for the rest of your life.)
The greatest bit I gleaned from the book was thinking through how fragile the knowledge and memories of Jesus were in those early days. House churches might have had access to parts of Mark's Gospel, but may also have had other Aramaic stories, or told stories from eyewitness memory. I have a greater appreciation for how difficult it was for the Gospel writers to compile their sources, complete the work, and how amazed I am at the hundreds of thousands of manuscript copies we have available today. The Church in the book also seems smaller and more fragile than one might imagine giving the large numbers of conversion given in Acts and the fact that "all of Asia" had heard the Gospel thanks to Saul/Paul.
I read non-fiction almost exclusively, so I found the fictional parts rather contrived. (The sidebars on the advanced Kindle version I received often intersected with the narrative text, so the sidebar began and ended in the middle of stories, so this was a technical flaw I hope they figure out before releasing the full version.) I recently read The World of Jesus by William H. Marty that also attempts to explain much of first century Palestinian history. I followed Witherington's work with Jerusalem's Traitor by Desmond Seward. All three works rely heavily on Josephus' works, but I find Jerusalem's Traitor does a better job of getting to the character of Josephus and actual events in Palestine than Witherington's fictional account. Perhaps Witherington assumes you have already read Josephus to have the information about armaments, battle tactics, etc. that never show up in the actual battle for Jerusalem.
The reader is also subjected to Witherington's minority positions on certain biblical events and characters without being given an alternative view or an explanation. It is not an established fact that Levi/Matthew wrote his Gospel after 70AD. For example, one argument for an earlier date is the fact that Matthew writes more about Sadducees than other Gospels, and 70AD pretty much eliminated them. Witherington assumes Matthew came after Mark and relied on other Aramaic sources as well, plausible. But most scholars reject the idea that "the beloved disciple" was Lazarus, not John. Witherington's account presents that Joanna wife of Chuza in Luke's Gospel is the same as Junia wife of Andronicus in Romans 16:7, and that she was an apostle. No sidebar is given for this justification or how it's apparently impossible for people in biblical periods to share common names, etc. In Witherington's fictional account, Chuza left her when she followed Jesus and she later met Andronicus and became an apostle. My concern is that the reader would consider this fact rather than a hypothesis.
Josephus' life is one of the storylines, but much of import is left out. For example, Witherington leaves out any personal history Josephus had as a governor in Galilee or once being a commander of troops himself. There is also very little about what happened to actual characters in Jerusalem in the fall. The reader doesn't learn that the Jewish revolt had long before brought much of the countryside into war and chaos, and perhaps this shaped life in places like Capernaum more than infighting among Christians and Pharisees. Where are the Sadducees in the fall of Jerusalem? What happens to the corporate psychology of Palestine when the temple is destroyed? It really wasn't so traumatic in the book, a few refugees and stragglers resettling but life goes on. One of the storylines also doesn't really end, I think the author had a difficult time finding a stopping point. I respect Witherington's scholarship and the prolific nature by which he writes books. I have not read his classic Week in the Life of Corinth but might in the hopes that it provides more actual insights into a week in the life of local culture than this book does.
Pros: I learned some facts from the sidebars that will help me as a Sunday school teacher. I also got a greater appreciation for the early Gospel writers and Christians striving to work hard to tell others the stories of Jesus and make sure it's recorded accurately and quickly. This book is a quick read.
Cons: I felt the fiction detracted from the non-fiction. My previous exposure to Witherington was primarily his Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor. The fiction also presented the author's minority positions on issues without stating them as such.
I recommend Jerusalem's Traitor if you really want a week in the fall of Jerusalem, or William H. Marty's book if you want broader political/historical context quickly. 3 stars out of 5.
This book is an attempt to interest the reader in important non-fiction elements of first century Palestinian life while weaving in a fictional story with familiar characters from the Gospels. Witherington has four different fictional storylines going while including sidebars to examine particular details that come out in his narrative. From the sidebars you can learn more about specific Greek words, geography, artifacts, see pictures, and more. Key takeaways are how houses were designed in Palestine, how we think house churches ran, how slavery and manumission worked, etc. I learned, for example, that Greeks and Romans bleached their tunics white by using urine. It was not unusual for wealthy households to have laundry people on their property washing linens in urine all day. (This will change your thinking on any "white as snow" passage you read for the rest of your life.)
The greatest bit I gleaned from the book was thinking through how fragile the knowledge and memories of Jesus were in those early days. House churches might have had access to parts of Mark's Gospel, but may also have had other Aramaic stories, or told stories from eyewitness memory. I have a greater appreciation for how difficult it was for the Gospel writers to compile their sources, complete the work, and how amazed I am at the hundreds of thousands of manuscript copies we have available today. The Church in the book also seems smaller and more fragile than one might imagine giving the large numbers of conversion given in Acts and the fact that "all of Asia" had heard the Gospel thanks to Saul/Paul.
I read non-fiction almost exclusively, so I found the fictional parts rather contrived. (The sidebars on the advanced Kindle version I received often intersected with the narrative text, so the sidebar began and ended in the middle of stories, so this was a technical flaw I hope they figure out before releasing the full version.) I recently read The World of Jesus by William H. Marty that also attempts to explain much of first century Palestinian history. I followed Witherington's work with Jerusalem's Traitor by Desmond Seward. All three works rely heavily on Josephus' works, but I find Jerusalem's Traitor does a better job of getting to the character of Josephus and actual events in Palestine than Witherington's fictional account. Perhaps Witherington assumes you have already read Josephus to have the information about armaments, battle tactics, etc. that never show up in the actual battle for Jerusalem.
The reader is also subjected to Witherington's minority positions on certain biblical events and characters without being given an alternative view or an explanation. It is not an established fact that Levi/Matthew wrote his Gospel after 70AD. For example, one argument for an earlier date is the fact that Matthew writes more about Sadducees than other Gospels, and 70AD pretty much eliminated them. Witherington assumes Matthew came after Mark and relied on other Aramaic sources as well, plausible. But most scholars reject the idea that "the beloved disciple" was Lazarus, not John. Witherington's account presents that Joanna wife of Chuza in Luke's Gospel is the same as Junia wife of Andronicus in Romans 16:7, and that she was an apostle. No sidebar is given for this justification or how it's apparently impossible for people in biblical periods to share common names, etc. In Witherington's fictional account, Chuza left her when she followed Jesus and she later met Andronicus and became an apostle. My concern is that the reader would consider this fact rather than a hypothesis.
Josephus' life is one of the storylines, but much of import is left out. For example, Witherington leaves out any personal history Josephus had as a governor in Galilee or once being a commander of troops himself. There is also very little about what happened to actual characters in Jerusalem in the fall. The reader doesn't learn that the Jewish revolt had long before brought much of the countryside into war and chaos, and perhaps this shaped life in places like Capernaum more than infighting among Christians and Pharisees. Where are the Sadducees in the fall of Jerusalem? What happens to the corporate psychology of Palestine when the temple is destroyed? It really wasn't so traumatic in the book, a few refugees and stragglers resettling but life goes on. One of the storylines also doesn't really end, I think the author had a difficult time finding a stopping point. I respect Witherington's scholarship and the prolific nature by which he writes books. I have not read his classic Week in the Life of Corinth but might in the hopes that it provides more actual insights into a week in the life of local culture than this book does.
Pros: I learned some facts from the sidebars that will help me as a Sunday school teacher. I also got a greater appreciation for the early Gospel writers and Christians striving to work hard to tell others the stories of Jesus and make sure it's recorded accurately and quickly. This book is a quick read.
Cons: I felt the fiction detracted from the non-fiction. My previous exposure to Witherington was primarily his Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor. The fiction also presented the author's minority positions on issues without stating them as such.
I recommend Jerusalem's Traitor if you really want a week in the fall of Jerusalem, or William H. Marty's book if you want broader political/historical context quickly. 3 stars out of 5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2017
The year 70 CE was pivotal for the Jewish people. Titus, a Roman general and future emperor, conquered the city of Jerusalem, destroying the temple Herod built. For Judaism the focus of attention moved from Temple to Book and synagogue. We know something of the events of the fall of Jerusalem from Josephus, among other writers. We know that not long after the fall of Jerusalem, while some of the remaining zealots gathered on Masada for one last stand, others gathered in Jamnia to finalize a canon of scripture, which would be the foundation of the faith going forward. While the Pharisees seem to have survived the fall of Jerusalem, another group of Jews survived as well -- Christians. One would assume that there were Christians living in Jerusalem and its environs. What might have happened to them?
Ben Witherington is an evangelical New Testament scholar, who has a penchant for exploring biblical concepts and persons by making use of fictional portrayals. This allows him to dive deeper by reading between the lines. Such is the case here with this book. It is part of a series from IVP Academic, which included a similar book titled A Week in the Life of Corinth, which I've not read.
The book begins the day Titus' troops broke through the walls of Jerusalem. We experience this moment through the senses of a woman named Joanna, who had recently returned to Jerusalem after her husband Andronicus died, to care for a sister. As the story moves on we meet up with Miryam of Pella, and other figures, who seem strangely familiar (people whom we meet in the Gospels). We read of their flight from Jerusalem, seeking refuge in other places, deemed safer. Among those whom we encounter is an old man named Levi, who happened to have been a tax collector. He had been hiding in cistern, but now climbs out and finds a way out of the city. These people meet up in different places, including Pella in the Decapolis as well as Bethsaida in Galillee.
Along the way we meet up with Mary and Martha of Bethany, Miryam of Pella (formerly of Migdal), oh and Joanna. She had been at the cross with the other women, but ended up as a companion, along with her husband Andronicus, as a companion and co-worker of Paul. Does that sound familiar?
Oh, and Levi, well, he was once one of the twelve, but now, as an old man, flees to Bethsaida, where he hopes to find materials to use in writing down the story of Jesus. He has a copy of a version of Jesus' story as written by John Mark, the former companion of Peter (now dead). He ends up at the house of Philip (now dead), but whose son has access to materials that can fill in the story.
As you can guess, Witherington is trying to piece together the story of what happens to Jesus' Jewish followers in the years after his death and resurrection. He assumes they had scattered, but with the fall of Jerusalem there are a series of reunions.
The story is told imaginatively, and with both an eye to accuracy and a willingness to speculate. It is not to be taken as "the official account," just a possibility.
Along with the narrative, Witherington offers text boxes throughout, which give explanations of events, people, sites, etc. These are quite helpful, and will be especially helpful for those without extensive background. The way they are put into the text, they don't distract.
If nothing else, this is a fun read that opens up conversation!
Ben Witherington is an evangelical New Testament scholar, who has a penchant for exploring biblical concepts and persons by making use of fictional portrayals. This allows him to dive deeper by reading between the lines. Such is the case here with this book. It is part of a series from IVP Academic, which included a similar book titled A Week in the Life of Corinth, which I've not read.
The book begins the day Titus' troops broke through the walls of Jerusalem. We experience this moment through the senses of a woman named Joanna, who had recently returned to Jerusalem after her husband Andronicus died, to care for a sister. As the story moves on we meet up with Miryam of Pella, and other figures, who seem strangely familiar (people whom we meet in the Gospels). We read of their flight from Jerusalem, seeking refuge in other places, deemed safer. Among those whom we encounter is an old man named Levi, who happened to have been a tax collector. He had been hiding in cistern, but now climbs out and finds a way out of the city. These people meet up in different places, including Pella in the Decapolis as well as Bethsaida in Galillee.
Along the way we meet up with Mary and Martha of Bethany, Miryam of Pella (formerly of Migdal), oh and Joanna. She had been at the cross with the other women, but ended up as a companion, along with her husband Andronicus, as a companion and co-worker of Paul. Does that sound familiar?
Oh, and Levi, well, he was once one of the twelve, but now, as an old man, flees to Bethsaida, where he hopes to find materials to use in writing down the story of Jesus. He has a copy of a version of Jesus' story as written by John Mark, the former companion of Peter (now dead). He ends up at the house of Philip (now dead), but whose son has access to materials that can fill in the story.
As you can guess, Witherington is trying to piece together the story of what happens to Jesus' Jewish followers in the years after his death and resurrection. He assumes they had scattered, but with the fall of Jerusalem there are a series of reunions.
The story is told imaginatively, and with both an eye to accuracy and a willingness to speculate. It is not to be taken as "the official account," just a possibility.
Along with the narrative, Witherington offers text boxes throughout, which give explanations of events, people, sites, etc. These are quite helpful, and will be especially helpful for those without extensive background. The way they are put into the text, they don't distract.
If nothing else, this is a fun read that opens up conversation!
August 24, 2017
Ben Witherington, scholar and prolific author, blazes a new trail in this work that’s quite a departure from what I’m used to by him. In this work, he still teaches as we would expect, but he uses a combination of historic fiction and scholarly sidebars into a wide array of subjects of Jerusalem at the time of its fall in 70 A.D. I would rate it as a success in its imaginative approach to that important background material.
The story begins in the smoke of Jerusalem. Though the story has fictional elements, some of the characters are actual characters from Scripture. They are older, of course, and look back on pleasant memories of the days of Christ that are already 35 years in the past. The story contained elements that I had never thought of, but that would make sense in that environment. Both the fear and the courage of the Jewish people affected are clearly displayed.
As you might imagine, the author must make some judgments on some things that are debated. His telling the story of Matthew wanting to write his gospel is a specific place where some of us might not agree. Still, this book takes material we often approach piecemeal and weaves it together in a story that makes it much more meaningful. The short blurbs, pictures, and maps dispersed throughout the text greatly enhance it.
There’s less of the horrors of Jerusalem’s destruction than I predicted, and the story ends more abruptly than most fiction works, but the book is still very interesting. I imagine it will be secondary reading in some Bible history classes, as well as a help to those doing individual Bible study. I’ve read that this book is one in a series of similar books being designed by IVP. It’s educational, not hard to read, and pleasant. I recommend it.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
The story begins in the smoke of Jerusalem. Though the story has fictional elements, some of the characters are actual characters from Scripture. They are older, of course, and look back on pleasant memories of the days of Christ that are already 35 years in the past. The story contained elements that I had never thought of, but that would make sense in that environment. Both the fear and the courage of the Jewish people affected are clearly displayed.
As you might imagine, the author must make some judgments on some things that are debated. His telling the story of Matthew wanting to write his gospel is a specific place where some of us might not agree. Still, this book takes material we often approach piecemeal and weaves it together in a story that makes it much more meaningful. The short blurbs, pictures, and maps dispersed throughout the text greatly enhance it.
There’s less of the horrors of Jerusalem’s destruction than I predicted, and the story ends more abruptly than most fiction works, but the book is still very interesting. I imagine it will be secondary reading in some Bible history classes, as well as a help to those doing individual Bible study. I’ve read that this book is one in a series of similar books being designed by IVP. It’s educational, not hard to read, and pleasant. I recommend it.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
June 19, 2018
IVP's "A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem" by Ben Witherington III was a very engaging read for me. This book is a historical fiction, so obviously, there are some liberties taken by the author with some of the facts and characters, of which some are familiar Biblical characters that we read about.
The characters are engaging in my opinion, but they aren't very tightly tied to each other through the overall plot of the book. Still, these stories are really vignettes that do actually intersect at a few points in time.
I was in Israel back in March of 2017 and did find the many references to locations and artifacts that are used in this book as a good recollection of that visit. The author uses callouts and separate panels to provide different aspects of historical facts as he weaves them into the story. Some of these callouts are a short paragraph, photo or drawing of some kind, while some others are a full page or even more giving the background of the historical aspect of what you are reading. I really appreciate this aspect, however, I do admit that the placement of these historical facts within the actual story felt just a tad disruptive. For me, this was minor as I overcame this by reading the whole chapter and then going back and reading those callouts. You may want to read them prior to reading the chapter though.
Overall, this was very engaging for me to read and it really was a joy. I did have a hard time putting this book down, to be honest.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for this review from IVP and all opinions are my own.
The characters are engaging in my opinion, but they aren't very tightly tied to each other through the overall plot of the book. Still, these stories are really vignettes that do actually intersect at a few points in time.
I was in Israel back in March of 2017 and did find the many references to locations and artifacts that are used in this book as a good recollection of that visit. The author uses callouts and separate panels to provide different aspects of historical facts as he weaves them into the story. Some of these callouts are a short paragraph, photo or drawing of some kind, while some others are a full page or even more giving the background of the historical aspect of what you are reading. I really appreciate this aspect, however, I do admit that the placement of these historical facts within the actual story felt just a tad disruptive. For me, this was minor as I overcame this by reading the whole chapter and then going back and reading those callouts. You may want to read them prior to reading the chapter though.
Overall, this was very engaging for me to read and it really was a joy. I did have a hard time putting this book down, to be honest.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for this review from IVP and all opinions are my own.
May 24, 2017
"A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem" is a narrative retelling mixing nonfiction about the Fall of Jerusalem with fiction about what happened to various Christ followers. The first two or three days focused on what happened in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 when the Romans finally broke into the city. Then the story shifted focus to the scattering of the Christ followers, their plans for the future, and things that had happened to them between A.D. 30 and A.D. 70.
The fictional parts were largely speculative. For example, as Levi (Matthew) flees Jerusalem, he meets other Christ followers, collects stories from Christ's life, then returns to Galilee to finally give up tax collecting and start work on his gospel. Mary, Martha, and Joanna flee to Pella, where Mary Magdalene has been living. Titus, Josephus, and some other people (some purely fictional) also have brief parts.
As the narrative unfolded, various historical and cultural elements were mentioned. The author provided sidebars that gave further information on these topics--things like slaves, taxes, villas, and coins. The author used modern wording and phrasing, so it's an easy read. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting book, though I liked "A Week in the Life of Corinth" better.
I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
The fictional parts were largely speculative. For example, as Levi (Matthew) flees Jerusalem, he meets other Christ followers, collects stories from Christ's life, then returns to Galilee to finally give up tax collecting and start work on his gospel. Mary, Martha, and Joanna flee to Pella, where Mary Magdalene has been living. Titus, Josephus, and some other people (some purely fictional) also have brief parts.
As the narrative unfolded, various historical and cultural elements were mentioned. The author provided sidebars that gave further information on these topics--things like slaves, taxes, villas, and coins. The author used modern wording and phrasing, so it's an easy read. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting book, though I liked "A Week in the Life of Corinth" better.
I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
April 6, 2018
Meeting up with old friends
This is a gripping collections of vignettes in the lives of Christians and people trying to survive in the week of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. You meet up with old friends from the gospel narratives and what their lives may have been like at this time.
Ben Witherington majored in English as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina, so it’s not surprising that he can put together a poignant poetic gripping piece of fiction. In fact I believe this is his eighth or ninth novel. But his knowledge of the history of the region informs the project all the way through. At times, the historical digressions in between vignettes is a bit jarring, it interrupts the flow of the narratives. You wonder if maybe some of that information might have been concisely inserted within the narratives themselves.But they are very helpful. I recommend the book very highly to Christians who want to see how the Gospel of Matthew might’ve been composed, how Christian scrolls may have survived, and what happened to some of the early followers of Jesus. One may wonder about identifying the Junia of Romans 16:7 with the Joanna of Luke 8:1-3, but the book is a thoroughly engrossing read.
This is a gripping collections of vignettes in the lives of Christians and people trying to survive in the week of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. You meet up with old friends from the gospel narratives and what their lives may have been like at this time.
Ben Witherington majored in English as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina, so it’s not surprising that he can put together a poignant poetic gripping piece of fiction. In fact I believe this is his eighth or ninth novel. But his knowledge of the history of the region informs the project all the way through. At times, the historical digressions in between vignettes is a bit jarring, it interrupts the flow of the narratives. You wonder if maybe some of that information might have been concisely inserted within the narratives themselves.But they are very helpful. I recommend the book very highly to Christians who want to see how the Gospel of Matthew might’ve been composed, how Christian scrolls may have survived, and what happened to some of the early followers of Jesus. One may wonder about identifying the Junia of Romans 16:7 with the Joanna of Luke 8:1-3, but the book is a thoroughly engrossing read.
August 18, 2017
Under the assumption that a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down, Ben Witherington once again gives us a fictionalized package that delivers information about late first-century Palestine. (This is the third book in an ongoing series.) The book begins with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Roman general Titus. The brutal attack is PG-rated and left behind quickly as we follow various escapees including Matthew/Levi, Mary, Martha, Joanna, and others who travel to such locales as Capernaum, Jericho, Pella and Petra. The Jewish historian Josephus makes several appearances as well as a number of fictional Roman and Christian characters.
The book moves quickly, intermixing these several subplots, though there is no main plot as such—only the immediate historical context of Jerusalem’s fall to tie the book together. But the point of the book is not to be a great novel. Rather it is to give us a concrete picture of the life, circumstances, and cultures of Christians a generation after Jesus’s death through the eyes of key individuals. And the book succeeds admirably in doing just that.
The book moves quickly, intermixing these several subplots, though there is no main plot as such—only the immediate historical context of Jerusalem’s fall to tie the book together. But the point of the book is not to be a great novel. Rather it is to give us a concrete picture of the life, circumstances, and cultures of Christians a generation after Jesus’s death through the eyes of key individuals. And the book succeeds admirably in doing just that.
January 22, 2018
Many genres have their own "fan fiction." This is true of history as well. Historical fiction is a fictitious story set in a historical time and place. This type of literature has made its way into Biblical studies as well. This book is a collection of fictitious stories about various individuals (some mentioned in the Bible and some not) and how the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 impacted them.
Such books can be entertaining and informative. While the stories are made up, the author (especially Witherington) usually tries to provide historical background which can help the reader's understanding of the ancient cities, lives, and beliefs.
I have read two others that are very good:
Bruce Longenecker's "The Lost Letters of Pergamum"
David DeSilva's "Day of Atonement"
Such books can be entertaining and informative. While the stories are made up, the author (especially Witherington) usually tries to provide historical background which can help the reader's understanding of the ancient cities, lives, and beliefs.
I have read two others that are very good:
Bruce Longenecker's "The Lost Letters of Pergamum"
David DeSilva's "Day of Atonement"
July 14, 2019
This book was good, but it should be called A Week AFTER the Fall of Jerusalem, because this books recounts the events on the last day of the fall and what happens around the same time. Now don’t get me wrong this is a solid book with lots of good stuff for church history and the beginning of Christianity, it just was not a lot about the actual fall of Jerusalem.
March 5, 2019
LOVE LOVE LOVE Ben’s commentaries and I think he does a better job with those than making historical fiction. I enjoyed this book but honestly would’ve liked reading the commentary more than the story he wove through it.
February 10, 2021
A fun, fictional account that uses a variety of historical facts and assumptions based on historical indications to describe the dynamics in the Christian community during the Destruction of Jerusalem. Highly recommended!
January 19, 2023
A quick read that gives an imaginative yet historical and cultural glimpse into life after the fall of Jerusalem. Very enjoyable.
October 7, 2023
Great read with short stories.
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