The Veil Is Torn: AD 30 to 70 Pentecost to the Destruction of Jerusalem

by Ted Byfield

The Christians is the history of Christianity, told chronologically, epoch by epoch, century by century, beginning at Pentecost and concluding with Christians as we find ourselves in the twenty-first century. Book is 8&1/2 X 12"- no dust cover on this edition.

Genres: History, Christian, Religion, Nonfiction, Church History, Christian History

287 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Ted Byfield (10 July 1928 – 23 December 2021) was a Canadian conservative journalist, publisher, and author. He founded three Anglican boys boarding schools, three news magazines (Alberta Report, BC Report and Western Report) and published at least 30 books, including the 12-volume history series "Alberta in the 20th Century" and the 12-volume history series "The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years.

Reviews

[de Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting approach to the story of Jesus in the first chapter, given from the point of view of the Jewish rulers. I found this quite a helpful perspective. The sidebars on the River Jordan and what happened to Pontius Pilate are fascinating. Another one tackles the issue of who is to blame (the Jews or the Romans), and I was quite surprised to discover that Plato essentially predicted Jesus' death hundreds of years before He was born. (I've found this book to be filled with such interesting tidbits of info.) The final first-chapter segment, which went into quite a lot of detail on how crucifixions were carried out in ancient times, was definitely uncomfortable to read but demonstrated very effectively how and why it would deliberately delay death for as long as agonizingly possible. (In spite of instinctively wincing several times while reading this part, I believe learning more on such a brutal form of punishment was ultimately good for me. I have a far better understanding of just how much suffering Jesus experienced on my behalf.)

Chapter Two provides a pretty good recap to the events surrounding Pentecost, focusing on the apostle Peter in particular. One small sidebar deals with why Peter became the leader of this rag-tag, semi-literate band of brothers setting out to change the world (which they did!) The chapter then delves into Stephen, an amazing devotee whose actions (a.k.a. miracles and healings) land him also in court to then become Christianity's first martyr (after Jesus, of course). An end segment to the chapter then lends credence to the stories from India about Thomas by describing the possible route he would have taken via a Roman port on India's west coast. (I had no idea Rome had reached that far!) The comparisons of doubting Thomas to the C.S. Lewis character Puddleglum from his Narnia series were not expected but quite enjoyable. Overall, pretty fascinating stuff!

The story of Peter continues in Chapter Three by first dwelling on Saul's ferocious persecution of fledgling Christian congregations: both what he did and why he did it. I learned quite a lot about the Jewish 'diaspora.' (I had no idea that the Romans had 'licensed' Judaism and how it had spread so much outside of Israel!) The book explains why these vast religious communities would be predisposed to so fully embrace Christianity. During this explanation I discovered the Septuagint and its fascinating creation. One sidebar helps to explain how anti-Semitism far predates Christianity and another the extent of enmity between Jews and Samaritans. The chapter spends much time on the work of Philip and the critical significance of dinner between Roman centurion Cornelius and Peter, his subsequent imprisonment and amazing escape from 16 of King Herod Agrippa's guardsmen! All told, another pretty incredible chapter.

The amazing transformation of terrible Saul from the previous chapter into history's most impactful Christian begins with Chapter Four. First, we are presented with a credible (but fictitious) account of what went down that fateful day on the road to Damascus (the text later admits to this and gives reasons for the speculation). Several pages are then dedicated to background us on the man who would play such a pivotal role in bringing salvation to the Gentiles (a.k.a. 99% of the world at that time). As we learn about his early years following conversion (including his adventures and escape from the King of Nabatea) a sidebar helps paint a picture of all the hazards facing land travelers in his day (wild dogs, bears and bandits to name just a few) and a little on the amazing Roman road system that still exists two thousand years later. The chapter then embarks with Paul and his new travel companions from Jerusalem, Barnabas and John Mark, from Antioch to the Island of Cyprus where they evangelize Paul's most prestigious convert yet: Roman Governor Sergius Paulus. From there Paul and Barnabas head for modern-day Turkey and the semi-savage lands of Galatia where they found at least four new Christian congregations. The chapter ends with Paul's return to Antioch to discover a schism in the works over whether or not non-Jewish Christians should be circumcised. (The final sidebar of the chapter goes into much more detail of why circumcision is so important to Jewish and some other Asian and African cultures.) I often wish I had been alive at the time of Christ to see Him for myself, but when comparing my comfortable life now to the hardships back then I am not so sure...

The fifth chapter of this book covers much of Paul's evangelism in cities leading to and surrounding the Aegean Sea (Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth to name just a few). We experience not only his better-known successes but also the struggles (any one of which would most certainly have demoralized me) and missions that he himself considered failures (e.g. Athens). In the process we get to know the character of several new travel companions, including Luke and Timothy (of Gospel and Epistle fame respectively) in addition to key personalities within each of the major cities who would go on to play major roles in their development of their respective Christian congregations. The chapter is long (almost double all the others in the book), but there is a quite a lot to detail (Paul was definitely not one to dilly-dally). Many, if not all of the Pauline letters from the New Testament are referenced within this chapter in a manner that fills out the context and environment for why Paul felt called upon to write them. Many fascinating sidebars throughout the chapter also serve to give a feel for what life was like then, including two non-Pauline missives (James and Hebrews), what the amazing architecture that still survives at the site of the great city of Ephesus (home to one of antiquity's seven great wonders of the world) reveals of Roman life, how people actually managed without city street maps back then, and finally two that detail the pivotal Christian traditions of singing hymns during worship and honoring the Lord's Supper. Overall, what I enjoyed most about this chapter is how it takes the scripture passages I have come to know so well in church, stitches them together and paints in so much color, context and emotion that I am able to imagine actually walking right alongside Paul during these crucial days of the early Christian church and to better understand the enormous challenges that both he and his followers were up against.

Chapter Six charts the beginning of the end for Paul. The Agabus incident sets in motion his last period of continuous confinement and the inevitable voyage to Rome itself for final judgement here on earth. Jerusalem greets Paul's return with two deeply divided sentiments: one a hero, the another a vile 'defiler' of the most holy place, the Temple itself. As I am reading this I see many similarities with our Lord's tragic arrival at the very same city. The description of Paul's attempts to first placate then evangelize his adversaries are written as if a typical news reporter were covering a spirited protest today. I felt I was there. The first sidebar for this chapter backgrounds us on the physician-turned-historian Luke, followed by another on the perils of sea travel in Paul's day. The latter is most fitting as we travel with our beloved missionary on his own harrowing sea journey (and ship wreck) via present-day Turkey, Crete, Malta, Sicily, and Rome. The last two sidebars cover Paul's pastoral epistles and a photo spread of the many cities and churches, both large and small, that exist today throughout the world and honor his name. I must confess to a sense of incompleteness not knowing Paul's final fate at Rome. This further argues, in my view, for the authenticity of the New Testament, since no sensible novelist would dare leave his readers hanging so. (With God's grace I may someday get to ask him about such things one-on-one.)

I find the seventh takes on a very different style of writing than all the chapters thus far. Until now I felt as if I was reading a story, often imagining being right there as these famous personalities persevere for our faith. But not so with this chapter, which is tasked with covering the three Synoptic Gospels (so named for the similarity of stories within). The back of the book credits this chapter to a different writer and it shows. There is much jumping back and forth as it tries to detail how each gospel differed slightly for a given parable or event. Unlike the earlier chapters, which described events in a manner which evokes my imagination, the writing here is prone to brief synopses of well-known events followed by some sort of assertion telling me how to feel. I get a distinct feeling I'm reading a book report. This is disappointing, since I suspect there is as much a story in the creation of these Gospels as there is with John and Luke's description of the Acts of the Apostles. For a slow reader like me reading this chapter was a definite challenge. All that said, the strength of prior writing gives me hope, so I soldier on to Chapter Eight...

[Marty Solomon · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best resources on first-century history I've had the privilege to enjoy.

First, the book is ascetically gorgeous, the size of a coffee table book, the read is visually stunning and I love it. Second, it is wonderfully easy to read; although, the chapters are long, they read very well. Third, all of the footnotes and side articles (even the captions to the photos!) are a "cannot miss" opportunity.

All of this should certainly not suggest that the book is shallow or "light" in its content. It had an unbelievably dense amount of academic and scholarly material and the bibliography is fantastic. I was shocked at how it was able to present such a thorough look at the history.

I cannot wait to read the next couple volumes!

[Steve Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This opening volume of The Christians series delivers a very readable recounting of the first forty years of Christian history. The contributors to this volume are generally journalists, which makes for a more accessible, less academic style. It reads more like a newspaper or magazine report than a textbook. The book seems to be well researched and lists several eminent consultants from a wide range of theological perspectives. There is a substantial bibliography at the end. This book is also lavishly illustrated, which makes it a wonderful keepsake.

[Eldon Siemens · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute pleasure to read!

[Mike Knox · Rating 4 out of 5]

My knowledge of church history (and all history, for that matter), is embarrassingly sketchy, so I’ve been devoting my Sunday afternoons to remedying the situation. The Veil is Torn is the first volume of the Christian History Project’s series, The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years. Series editor Ted Byfield introduces the series in his Foreword, in which, following Chesterton, he writes that “the most dangerous people…are those who have been cut off from their cultural roots” (vii). Byfield believes that the whole western world is in that dangerous situation. In our world Christianity is unfashionable, and yet “our founding educational institutions, our medical system, our commitment to the care of the aged and infirm, our concept of individual rights and responsibilities, all came to us through Christianity.”

So this series is all about getting us back to our foundations, and this first volume starts where it all begins: with Jesus, his crucifixion, resurrection, and creation of the Church in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. From there it progresses to other historical happenings that are familiar to readers of the Bible. We follow Peter in and out of the Temple (and prison!). The majority of the rest of the book is then devoted to Paul. The title of chapter 4 is far from an overstatement when it describes Paul’s conversion to Christ as “the conversion that changed history.” Here we encounter a man whose zeal against Christ is transformed into zeal for Christ. The attractiveness and reality of Jesus were so great to Paul that he was willing to endure anything for the sake of his Lord. Sometimes the opposition to him was such that only the Lord was left standing with him:

With Barnabas now, for the moment at least, aligned with the Jerusalem faction, Paul found himself almost alone and surrounded by opponents: by hard-line Temple Jews who saw him as a danger; by the Christian legalists, both Gentiles and Jews, ostensibly backed by the Church authorities in Jerusalem, who considered him reckless and misguided; by pagans, who regarded him as an unpleasant rival and annoying threat; by Greek intellectuals, who viewed him as unbalanced, if not deranged; and, increasingly, by Roman authorities, who viewed him as a disruptive nuisance. (116)

And like his Lord, people have been opposed to him ever since (184-185). Yet he accomplished so much! The Taurus Mountains were a formidable wall discouraging travel from Tarsus to the north east. One single crack, the Cilician Gates, allowed admittance. Through these gates Alexander the Great led his army onward to conquer the world. “Now, through the same pass, the greatest conquest Europe would ever know was about to begin, and the force that would accomplish it was an army of two—Paul and, beside him, his companion Silas” (118).

Paul not only took criticism; he could also give it. Nero’s shenanigans were revolting to many of the Romans themselves; “they were un-Roman!” (218). But the Roman who most stridently denounced Imperial Rome was Paul himself in his letter to the Christian church at Rome. His letter “disclosed a distinct irony. For the Christians, who would be despised and persecuted by Roman officialdom for most of the next three hundred years, in fact stood for nearly all the virtues and principles which Rome had once enshrined” (219).

The last chapter, chapter 9, covers the fall of Jerusalem. It is a horrific tale. The citizens of that city had as much reason to be afraid of their own people as of the Roman army outside the city’s walls. Josephus says they ran out of both wood and room for crosses. Evil reached its lowest when an odour of fresh meat cooking came from the home of a woman named Mary. When a band of rebels demanded that she show her hidden store of food, she produced her roasted, half-eaten baby. The incident was so repulsive that “some Romans simply refused to believe such a thing could happen” (265)

I plan to continue reading through the rest of the volumes in this series. From what I have seen, each volume is well-written, interspersed with many attractive side bars, excurses, and pictures. I would highly encourage families to invest in this series. If Byfield is right, it will be an investment not only in history, but also in the future.

For more information see www.thechristians.ca

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of a slog for me - an eating-my-vegetables kind of book. The first few chapters pretty much seemed like a summary/retelling of the Book of Acts (granted, with some extra historical details thrown in). The final chapters were more interesting as they moved into historical details that I was not as familiar with.

Each chapter of this book was written by a different person, and I felt that the inconsistencies from chapter to chapter were a bit bothersome. For example, I would have preferred the authors to choose a Bible translation to consistently quote from rather than switching over the course of several chapters.

I did enjoy the many illustrations and the layout of the book. I may try the next one, because I really would like to learn more about church history.

[Josh Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had low expectations for this series, but wanted to give them a read as an overview of Christian history. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this first volume was an engaging read, and full of useful information. My knowledge of Christian history is fairly extensive, but reading this book felt like hearing the story again for the first time. The writers (and editors) have a way of making a familiar story seem fresh and new. The book also has a lot of great pictures and maps which are informative and interesting. I would recommend this first volume to anyone who enjoys history, especially early Christianity and the Jewish War.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Veil Is Torn is a well written and lively account of the years just after the resurrection. The narrative is both inspiring and troubling, which is an probably an accurate reflection of those years. The storyline gives one an opportunity to consider the intensity of those years for the disciples and other followers of Christ.

[James Outzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a very good historical overview of Christianity. The book has outstanding maps and illustrations. The journalistic style of writing makes for an easy read, but remains very informative.

[Cws]

XOS-270.1B

[Despond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable. Just read the last chapter on the destruction of Jerusalem based on Josephus’s writings. Well done.