THE SINS OF HEROD

When the great wrecking ball of boredom finally strikes, as it does soon enough, this dogged reconstruction of the early Christian era collapses into yet another shambles of earnest intent. Prochorus, son of a steward to Herod Antipas, and both a Jew and Greek by inheritance, advances rapidly from scribe, to confidant and adviser to Roman administrators, to Deputy Governor of Jerusalem and Judea. Using his diplomatic talents wisely to hold warring princes to some sort of peace, Prochorus is yet punished for his Christian beliefs by being cast in prison by the mad emperor Caligula, but is eventually released to join his wife Mariamne, niece of Herod Antipas, whose hand was requested in the midst of overwhelming political difficulties. Through Prochorus' career weave the events of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and through his own spiritual experiences and the witness of friend John ben Zebedee and other disciples, Prochorus dedicates himself to the Word and the Way. Amateur Biblical scholars may be interested in Slaughter's interpretation of the act of Judas and some historical bobbing of Scripture, but this antiseptic unaccented unreeling, without passion, without grace, is predictably for the uncritically dutiful. Another detour in the Pathways of Faith series.