The Shadow of the Galilean," by Gerd Theissen

The book, "The Shadow of the Galilean," by Gerd Theissen is based on the story of Jesus through a historical and fictional perspective. Gerd assists the readers to imagine what life was like during the time of Jesus with historical facts and with his mythical creativity. The stories that are told throughout the narrative are events from the Bible and are experiences with people who were actually recorded in the Gospels, but with a twist of fictional characters and expeditions. The main character in Theissen’s narrative is a merchant named Andreas, who had never met Jesus personally, but later couldn’t help the fact that he was always running into Jesus' "shadow" throughout his travels through Galilee. During his journeys, he encounters many people who tell him stories of Jesus and how Jesus has influenced them specifically and how they came to support and follow Him whole heartedly. Through this, he learns of the many capabilities of Jesus and how powerful He is.

"The Shadow of the Galilean," explains the journeys that Andreas went through in order to obey the orders of Pilate of "researching" about John the Baptist and later, Jesus of Nazareth, both, movements that Pilate sought to be a threat to the Roman Empire. Once John the Baptist was executed (pg. 44), it impels Andreas to visit his Roman officer, Metilius, who accompanied him throughout his journeys, in hopes of being exempt from the job that Pilate had given him and able to go on with his normal life after his imprisonment. But instead, he was given another task to investigate Jesus of Nazareth and the movement He had created. New Testament Survey involves all of the stories of Jesus' life, all of the obstacles He had gone through, and tells of how people came to love, ...

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Reading, "The Shadow of the Galilean," was extremely different than what I was expecting this book to be. I was expecting to be reading of just the life of Jesus and the stories that are presented throughout the New Testament of how He brought people to follow Him and the struggles that He had gone through; not a book that contained both historical facts and fictional characters and events within it. Despite my initial reaction, I became thoroughly interested in this book once I began to read it because it was so different than what I was expecting. The fictional part of it kept me entertained throughout its entirety and made me curious to know what happens next at all times. All in all, I recommend that any person who is learning about the life of Jesus and wants a little "kick" to His stories, dive into Gerd Theissen's narrative of "The Shadow of the Galilean."