The Testament of Theophilus: A Novel of Christ and Caesar

by Leonard Wibberley

The Apostle Luke addressed both his gospel and the book of Acts to an unknown individual named Theophilus. Wibberley imagines that Theophilus is a Roman grain merchant and builds a historical tale around this person that provides fascinating insights into the lives of Christ and his Apostles as well as the Roman Empire in which they lived.

Also published under the title The Seven Hills.

Genres: Historical Fiction

335 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Also wrote under his full name Leonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley and under
Patrick O'Connor as well as pseudonyms Christopher Webb and Leonard Holton

Reviews

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entered with an optimistic/open mind and could not finish it. I'd rate it R for the mature sexual...implications? alone. Not super detailed, but enough references that it is highly disturbing. And in between that, it is basically a book form of the movie Risen, with an almost-Christian-but-really-more-semi-Gnostic vibe. A serious lack of baptismal themes, for instance, and a fairly strong emphasis on mysticism that is trying to compete with the bodily reality of the Resurrection and the faith.

[Tlaloc · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Theophilus, a Greek who sees an apparition of Jesus not long after the Crucifixion. This brings him ever closer to the new faith and its teachings of universal brotherly love and heaven, much to the clash of his very worldly commercial upbringing.

A strange novel where Theophilus never quite gives way to what we would expect him to - nascent Christianity. Reluctant towards the end, but willing to give this new Son of God the benefit of the doubt, it makes Theophilus more than your average two-dimensional character.