THE RICH MAN

by L. Stafford Betty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 9, 1984

In a very brief passage from the Gospels, one Jonah ben Jonathan is described as ""the rich young man"" who deigns not to join Jesus as a believer; and Betty, a professor of religion, develops that Biblical footnote into a scholarly if sludgy theological novel here. Attracted first to a pagan Greek philosopher/physician, Jonah tests his own Judaic ideas; the added enticement of the physician's daughter, Fulvia, keeps him additionally receptive. But, after marrying another woman, a Jewess, and coming to know his wife's cousin Mary Magdalene, Jonah is put in proximity to the even more radical idea of the carpenter Jesus--whom he finds fascinating but not quite convincing. So it is not until he experiences family tragedy and financial ruin that Jonah (by then married to Fulvia, who's become a follower of the already-crucified Jesus) ultimately turns to the new faith and grace that's been offered. . . at the cost of great suffering and loss: Jonah has now developed a case of leprosy. Betty's Biblical settings are solid-seeming and detailed, but a hermeneutical aridness plagues nearly all of the sustained dialogue: ""I'm saying that my conception of God is but a shadow of God himself. The best I can conceive--what could it be but a perfect person? And that conception is but a shadow of God as He truly is. But what a wonderful thing to have found that much! How much I know of God because I've known even his shadow! There's a living reality behind that shadow, and I know a little something of that reality because I've stood in His shadow.'"" Well-researched but quite schematic and stiff.

Pub Date: Aug. 9, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1984

Categories: FICTION