Theophilos

by Michael D. O'Brien

Hardcover, 2010

Barcode

665

Call number

813 OBR

Status

Available

Call number

813 OBR

Pages

448

Description

St. Luke addressed his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles to a man named Theophilos. Who was Theophilos? Scripture scholars do not know, making him a fit subject for Michael O'Brien's vivid imagination. In this fictional narrative, Theophilos is the skeptical but beloved adoptive father of St. Luke. Challenged by the startling account of the Christos received in the chronicle from his beloved son Luke and concerned for the newly zealous young man's fate, Theophilos, a Greek physician and an agnostic, embarks on a search for him to bring him home. He is gravely concerned about the deadly illusions Luke has succumbed to regarding the incredible stories surrounding Jesus of Nazareth, a man of contradiction who has caused so much controversy throughout the Roman Empire. Thus begins a long journey that will take Theophilos deep into the war between nations and empires, truth and myth, good and evil, and into unexpected dimensions of his very self. His quest takes the reader into four ancient civilizations, the Greek, Roman, Jewish, and that of Christianity at its birth, where he meets those who knew this man that some believe is the Messiah. Though Theophilos is a man of the past ages, he is as familiar as the men of our own times. This is a story about the mysterious interaction of faith and reason, the psychology of perception, and the power of love over death. Schooled in the empiricism of both medicine and philosophy, Theophilos is well suited to speak to our own times, in which seeing cannot be the basis for faith, but rather hearing the witness of those who have been touched by God and opening ourselves to the possibility of an encounter with the living Christ.… (more)

Publication

Ignatius Press (2010), 448 pages

ISBN

1586173685 / 9781586173685

Collection

Rating

(13 ratings; 4.1)

User reviews

LibraryThing member dolphari
A fictional take on who Theophilos might have been, to whom Luke wrote two books of the Bible. It is told in the form of a diary, in a very effective way. Theophilos was a physician on the island of Crete. When he received word from his beloved sister that the plague was approaching their town, he
Show More
travelled there, to find that she and all her children and husband's family were dead--except for Loukas, who nearly died. Theophilos brought him home and raised him with his two daughters. He taught Loukas medicine. Ten years before the story begins, Loukas set off on a quest that Theophilos did not understand; he was going to interview people about Jesus. He writes his first book to Theophilos to tell him all he has learned about Jesus, and Theophilos is very concerned about his son's delusions. Theophilos sets out to find Loukas and persuade him of his error. Loukas asks Theophilos to also meet and interview people, in an honest quest for the truth. Theophilos does so, very skeptically, and writes about a variety of people with different perspectives on Jesus. It is an interesting journey, although with just a bit of Catholic theology mixed in: Jesus's siblings were really his cousins; Mary's body disappeared from her tomb (one would think Loukas would have written about that in his book instead of just telling Theophilos). On Theophilos's journey home, he feels the pursuit of Satan, and the attraction of Christ. Finally, he returns home to find his wife away visiting their daughter. Alone and haunted, he discovers his servant is a Christian. He asks him to take him to the Christian gathering, and is converted.
A cool story that makes real some Bible history.
Show Less

Language

Page: 0.1578 seconds