The Jerusalem Scroll

by Mike Evans, Robert L. Wise

The golden scroll inscribed in five languages brings together an unlikely team for its translation: Musa Salah, a Muslim, the archeologist who found the scroll along with an old medallion in a cave near where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered and immediately recognized its significance; Leah Rosenberg, a nonobservant Jew, an attorney, and an amateur archeologist whose husband is an old friend of the Salah family; and Father Michael Kelly, a Catholic priest whose real devotion is to the intellectual pursuits of language and archeology.
Each of the translators, naturally, brings a particular prejudice to the task the three are to accomplish together. The conflict between them, as well as the events surrounding the scroll's discovery, convince them that they need to work to put their differences aside and commit themselves to the extraordinary object before them. And they find that the scroll itself begins to change them, to challenge them to think in ways they haven't in a long time.
Finally, they realize that the scroll is all they thought it was - and more. But will the world be ready to hear what they have discovered?

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Middle East

342 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Michael D. Evans

Reviews

[Deane · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time reading this author and at first I had a problem sorting out the characters and the groups involved in the troubled land of Israel. The long-fought battle over ownership of Jerusalem was still ongoing with a desire to split the city into a Jewish zone and an Arab Muslim zone with USA looking for the most beneficial to themselves economically. The Arabs and Jews both claim the city as their own completely but neither will cede to the other so a split might be the correct choice...they think.
The discovery of an ancient scroll by the man who found the Dead Sea Scrolls decades earlier caused a lot of worry, greed, selfishness, death to prominent men and destruction of a village shop and many of the villagers.
The three main characters, Musa, a Muslim archeologist; Leah a nonobservant Jewish amateur archeologist, and Father Michael Kelly, a Catholic priest whose interest is language and archeology provide a most interesting read. During this journey, they all have to take a long inward look at their own characters and their own faith. And during this journey and translation of the newly-found scroll, they discover who owns Jerusalem.

[Denise Kettering · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book discusses the interrelations between the three major religious groups living in the city of Jerusalem: Muslim, Christian, and Jew. The book provides an outline of the faith perspectives of each as well as their political motivations in dealing with each other. The book is fairly well-written, but the story includes so many different characters that it is difficult at times to keep all of the players in the story straight. The book does stress the possibility of finding agreement between the different groups in a hope of finding peace. A Muslim, Christian, and Jewish couple find a previously undiscovered Dead Sea Scroll and they have to work together to try to decipher the message as differing political factions attempt to take control of the scroll and the message.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contained a fascinating blend of history, current events, cultures,and psychology
Against a backdrop of modern Israel, the Arab who discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls as a boy, now an old man, reveals to his son that there was a scroll no one else knew about that he has kept hidden for four decades. Although he does not know what it says, he senses that it is of huge significance, written in several ancient languages. His son, an archaeologist, seeks to discover its meaning, but as he is not an expert in every ancient language,he needs helpin the translation. The result is an unlikely team of an Arab, a Jewish couple, and a Roman Catholic priest. Of course, the team has its challenges not only in learning to trust one another but to keep the existence of the scroll from becoming public knowledge, because as they learn early on, this scroll is the ancient deed to Jerusalem and will decide to whom the city ultimately belongs. As the story unfolds and the news is leaked, the stakes become higher - their own lives, and the threat of another war.
This book held my attention from beginning to end, and the surprising conclusion was well worth the journey. - Loved it!

[Chaitanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I could much differentiate between the Facts and the Fiction in this book..but One thing I could say for sure is that it Leaves you thinking...
What Hell Really happened....
Captivating...and Engrossing Read...
I wish the 2 book in the Series Comes out Soon...

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great read centering arounnd the gift of Melchizedek as to who he gave the land of Israel.
Full of action and intrigue as3 people, one Jewish, one arab and one Catholic Priest struggle to translate the golden scroll. There will be a sequel and i plan to read that too.