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The Quest
The Quest is the account of the long search by Jewish Rabbi Homer Ben Arden for religious truth. Homer is gradually led through all of the world's major religions to embrace Mormonism. Like Otto Shrag's The Locusts (1943), The Quest is a mid-twentieth century return to Nephi Anderson's technique of combining a good story with vigorous preaching of gospel truths.
289 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1945
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 12, 2008
This is my great, great, grandfather. I love this book.
June 12, 2015
Homer Ben Arden is a Jew turned Christian, and is determined to seek out Christ's church upon the earth. A well-researched and determined individual, Rabbi Ben Arden leaves his homeland in Palestine to research the world's religions to find what he is pleased to call the Priceless Pearl, and he will not stop looking until his questions can be answered to his satisfaction.
This is not a book I expected to read, and enjoy, but I did. I was captured from the first page, and enjoyed the reasonable, calm tone of the novel. The characters were very interesting, and I felt like the various religions were portrayed respectfully. It did get slightly cheesy at the end, but I was happy for Homer, who I actually would have been okay with whatever he chose to follow after, as I trusted his ability to make a decision.
Informative, and makes me wish it had a bibliography citing sources at the end. There was obviously a lot of research put into this book, and I would really like to know where the author got their information.
This is not a book I expected to read, and enjoy, but I did. I was captured from the first page, and enjoyed the reasonable, calm tone of the novel. The characters were very interesting, and I felt like the various religions were portrayed respectfully. It did get slightly cheesy at the end, but I was happy for Homer, who I actually would have been okay with whatever he chose to follow after, as I trusted his ability to make a decision.
Informative, and makes me wish it had a bibliography citing sources at the end. There was obviously a lot of research put into this book, and I would really like to know where the author got their information.
November 25, 2013
A Jewish Rabbi becomes convinced that his religion is missing key elements of how God wants people to worship and he renounces his religion. He begins a quest to travel the world, study all religions and find the truth, if it should exist.
The problem with the book is it was written a long time ago and the interpretation of religions is harsh and often unkind. Definitely politically incorrect usages and generalizations of peoples and cultures made me wince. Could have been treated with more respect for other's beliefs though the author did find some good in almost all the religions studied.
There was no deliniation of characters, everyone sounding the same. The writing was difficult, very formally written. The book is out of print and probably not worth finding.
The problem with the book is it was written a long time ago and the interpretation of religions is harsh and often unkind. Definitely politically incorrect usages and generalizations of peoples and cultures made me wince. Could have been treated with more respect for other's beliefs though the author did find some good in almost all the religions studied.
There was no deliniation of characters, everyone sounding the same. The writing was difficult, very formally written. The book is out of print and probably not worth finding.
March 25, 2008
This was a harder read for me, it was interesting in a way but less intoxicating because it was fiction. If this had been an actual person on a REAL Quest for the meaning of religion and how he found "The Truth" I would have liked it more but it was a made up story so it was less tantalizing for me. I have always wanted one of my Orthodox Jewish friends to read it and tell me why it wouldn’t go down that way, so if any of you read this book you must share with me your feelings.
December 7, 2010
Wow. This caught my attention in the first chapter. I love it! I love learning about religions, but it's even better if it strengthens your own faith. I'm LOVING this book.
A very great story of a man's search for the truth as he literally travels the world to find it and researches so many defining religions of our world. I was aw struck with the knowledge! LOVED IT! This author did years of research and it was beautifully written!
A very great story of a man's search for the truth as he literally travels the world to find it and researches so many defining religions of our world. I was aw struck with the knowledge! LOVED IT! This author did years of research and it was beautifully written!
June 4, 2010
A classic story of a man's search for religious understanding. A journey traveled around the world leads a Jewish rabbi to the understanding of modern revelation and that Christ has organized a church in contrary to his educational training.
September 14, 2010
I learned much about religions of the world. It helped me to see the similarities of my own religion compared to others. I liked the story format because the man asked many questions like I would have asked and things were explained in understandable ways for me.
May 14, 2012
Interesting example of 1940s LDS fiction. The dialogue is incredibly stilted, and the patronizing attitude toward some non-Western cultures would definitely not fly today. But I thought it was interesting to read the case it made for the restored gospel.
May 20, 2014
I really loved this book. Just learning about other religions in the world was so interesting for me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews